Global Insights: How Legal Case Managers Drive Change in International Law

Ensuring that all matters are dealt with in a timely and effective manner requires each party to communicate properly with one another. If you’re dealing with multiple parties, that can present a challenge. For example, you will usually have the parties from your side of the case that are communicating with the others in your jurisdiction, but who’s coordinating within other jurisdictions? Who’s making sure that the right information is being conveyed and translated properly? This is where case managers in the legal field can make the entire process faster, more efficient and eliminate a lot of the extra work from your plate as the attorney. The legal case manager will liaise with relevant legal staff to ensure that the necessary information is being transmitted and received in order to deal with the matter. To better understand what a legal case manager does, let’s take a look at Why does your law firm need a case manager? Even in local cases that involve multiple parties, it is very easy for information to get mixed up, or for one party to miss critical information. The problem is even worse in international cases, which can involve multiple parties communicating from all over the world. It is absolutely imperative that the proper information is communicated between all involved parties. Allowing information to get lost in translation can lead to many problems down the line on a legal matter. Even the most experienced attorneys can miscommunicate with clients, which is why legal case managers should be utilized to ensure that there is no miscommunication occurring on international cases. A legal case manager can serve as a hub for important information, translating information to and from parties, and ensuring no critical details are ever missed. When dealing with multiple jurisdictions, it’s important that the various parties communicate properly with one another, but only sometimes is the legal staff and parties involved in the case directly available to do so. When an important detail regarding a case comes to attention, how do you ensure that it is immediately communicated to all relevant parties? The use of a legal case manager ensures that no information is ever lost in translation and that all relevant parties are always informed of any important developments with the case. This is especially important when the case involves cross-border legal issues. As the legal landscape continues to change, the role of a legal case manager has become more complex and varied than ever before. With new technologies now being utilized to make legal matters more efficient, case managers must also be employed to operate these technologies, as well as work alongside them. Finding a case manager who has the requisite skill set suitable for your firm means that everything on your plate can be seamlessly completed by the legal staff. When was the last major change that occurred due to the work of a legal case manager? You may know of The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R v Jordan, which can be boiled down to this: “The court must stay charges if the case is not tried within a reasonable time.” Why did this major change occur? Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin appointed a case manager to monitor the case and make sure it proceeded in a timely manner. The appointment of the case manager was based upon Sections 482 and 483 of the Criminal Code of Canada; however, it was the case manager that made the difference in this case. Technology has played a major role when it comes to the efficiency of legal case managers working around the world. But, it has also made a big difference to their efficiency. There is always a time when technology is not available or fails for any reason and this is when efficient case managers shine as they can utilize their knowledge and contacts to carry on completing the work that they are accustomed to. One of the highlights in the Arab world for the use of legal case managers and their financial impact includes the major breakup of Qatar alone with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Before the separation: Qatar was the 2nd highest lender, owed more than any other Arab country, which was 1 Billion + now after the split, Qatar owes around 12 Billion Dollar to these four countries. In future the role of legal case managers will become more automated, so they should embrace the change and be ready to learn new skills to support the future of their unaware legal industry.