Resources

Using Technology to Streamline Your Entity Management

‍This article draws from Athennian’s webinar, “How to Streamline Entity Management through Technology.” You can access the video recording and supplemental materials here. Entity management is the practice of keeping a company’s vital information and documents in an orderly system that the organization can track and view, with the goal of keeping entities in compliance. According to research, legal professionals spend only 29% of their day completing advantageous and billable tasks. For the average 8-hour day, that amounts to only 2.3 hours of productive work. The other 71%, according to experienced law clerks, is spent on manual administrative duties due to friction in the entity management process. What Challenges Do Legal Teams Face in Entity Management?Most of the market’s entity management tools on the market were built before the turn of the century, which renders staying abreast of the rapidly-changing industry near impossible. In no other industry do pre-2000 technologies suffice, which explains the severe gap in legal teams productivity.Archaic Tools Pose 3 Major Challenges:1. Lack of Trust in Data‍Legal teams lack trust in the accuracy of their records. Bad data causes operational efficiencies such as poor data entry, duplicate, and invalid data, which can lead to loss in revenue and increased risk.‍2. Compliance Issues Without a change management process to identify and incorporate regulatory and legal changes, legal teams are at a greater risk of financial penalties and reputational damage. Without modern compliance solutions in place, missed deadlines and out-of-date corporate records can occur.‍3. Reporting Is UnreliableIn addition to manual reporting being laborious, it also drastically increases the chances of human error. Entering the wrong information without noticing has a domino effect that can lead teams to make bad decisions that can have a long and lasting impact on the business. How Can Technology Be Leveraged to Streamline Entity Management?A modern, cloud-based, and scalable entity management platform allows for controlled data management through a centralized online workspace. Accuracy, data integrity, and organization are just some of the benefits of a cloud-based single source of truth. Automated reporting eases and expedites the process for annuals, renewals, compliance, and documentation automation, leaving more time for billable tasks. The Benefits of Entity Management SoftwareA modern cloud-based entity management solution offers your team the efficiency and flexibility to thrive in today’s fast-paced legal market. Benefits of Entity Management Technology:Easily share business insights with internal and external teams.Ensure all levels of the organization, including governance, tax, and finance, work together more efficiently and proactively.Remove manual tasks from your workload.Provide up to date, accurate information to your entire team, regardless of where they are, globally.Ensure stakeholders and business decision-makers have the correct data when they need it.For more information on how automation can increase productivity and streamline workflows, download our webinar and supplemental materials here.

The Role of Subsidiary Management in Limiting Parent Liability

CANLIF Survey Suggests Tech Solutions to Combat Escalating Challenges

Last week the Canadian Legal Innovation Forum (CANLIF) released their first Legal Department Survey, comprised of data from over 80 decision-makers in corporate legal departments. Among those surveyed were general counsel, legal counsel, and legal operations from various industries, including financial services, education, technology, government, and real estate.In general, CANLIF found that legal teams’ primary sources of frustration were burnout, increased workload, and inefficiencies due to lack of innovation.41% of those surveyed reported that their teams have made strengthening their entity management a high priority this year. Still, 38% are finding that they have a hard time assessing the appropriate technology solutions. ‍Those surveyed also reported that the past year has introduced new challenges into their department’s daily workflow and put pressure on concerns that have remained stagnant over years past. ‍Some challenges that legal departments still face are compliance management, contract management, and data governance. Meanwhile, the sudden shift to remote work has integrated new frustrations, such as data management (staying on top of everything), data privacy compliance/work from home compliance, and managing growth with limited remote resources. Moreover, many cited that their innovation budgets have either stayed the same or increased minimally. In fact, 59% of those surveyed stated that budget has the most significant impact on innovation. One Senior In-House Lawyer said, “Firms need to recognize the cost pressures, and [. . . ] should only be undertaking work that adds value (i.e., we should be paying for expertise, and not administration).” With money being expensed toward low-level administrative duties, there is little room to focus on the high-value tasks that contribute to growth. ‍This lack of motion in budget increase, coupled with the past year forcing new challenges upon legal departments that are still struggling to combat perpetual problems, new technology solutions are more crucial than ever before. A platform that understands the need for automation and inherently offers the collaboration tools that the market demands are the first step in tackling these concerns. Take a quick product tour to see how Athennian’s efficient and intuitive software can transform your legal department.‍To read the full CANLIF report, click here.

Legal Paraprofessionals: The Constant Amidst a Changing Market

With clients & internal teams seeking lower costs and higher efficiency, the legal industry has seen a spike in demand for skilled paraprofessionals. This has caused the paraprofessional role to evolve in unprecedented ways. In this post we will discuss: The evolution of the paraprofessional role.Paralegals and Remote Working.How paraprofessionals can manage and thrive amid this changing landscape.What technologies can be leveraged for excellent efficiency?How to adapt to new technology platforms. How Has the Role of the Paraprofessional Evolved?Paraprofessionals are no longer just law clerks, paralegals, legal specialists, or any other non-lawyer professionals who docket their billable hours. They have rapidly evolved to become technology ambassadors, custodians of client relationships, and mentors to the new generation of legal professionals. Today, legal paraprofessionals have the qualifications for early involvement in the decision-making process and the skillset to play a strategic role in growing organizations. Transactional tasks that do not require contextual knowledge are no longer the majority of a paraprofessional's workload. In one of our recent polls, 71% of paraprofessionals said they were involved in decisions relating to their role. Still, 21% are left out of the decision-making process. Type image caption here (optional)No longer do paraprofessionals play an ancillary role. As companies become more client-focused, paraprofessionals and their long-standing relationship with the clients are more important than ever. Additionally, as experts in technical procedures, their job as mentors to early-career paraprofessionals is crucial.How the Shift to Remote Work Has Impacted Firms and Working Relationships for Paraprofessionals The shift to remote work has accelerated what was already afoot in the industry, hastening the rate at which legal organizations are going digital. In another recent poll conducted during the Optimizing Paraprofessional Workflows to Help Law Firms Gain Competitive Advantage webinar, 82% of paraprofessionals reported that the shift to a remote working environment was the biggest change they’d seen at their law firm or legal department.Like most industries, the shift to remote work has forced modifications everywhere, from client relationships to team dynamics. The three main areas that have been impacted by remote work are: 1. The Transition from Paper Intensive to Paperless: Historically, law firms and legal departments were ill-equipped for remote work. Taking “work home” meant the paraprofessional became the sole custodian of the physical file with no ability to collaborate. But 2020 empowered companies to go paperless, adopt e-filing, and use digital signatures rather than lengthy back-and-forth email correspondences. Adopting these changes enabled the most seamless transition from the office to the home. 2. Team Collaboration:Technology has not just eased the transition for processes but also has aided interpersonal work relationships. Paraprofessionals are learning new ways to connect online, such as Zoom calls or online webinars and networking events.Favorite tips for collaboration (suggested by a recent panel of esteemed paraprofessionals) include: It’s helpful when lawyers include paraprofessionals on the file as soon as it comes through the door. This fosters team spirit and a feeling of connectedness and ensures a better end result. Upon receiving a file from a lawyer, paraprofessionals can reach out to better understand their colleagues' tone and style of communication. This helps aid the creation of working norms and mutual understandings for the team across a range of simultaneous channels of communication—from calls, online meetings, emails, messaging platforms and more.3. Creating Work/Life Balance in a Remote WorldThe changing role of the paraprofessionals, coupled with the new virtual working environment, has blurred the lines between professional and personal life, challenging the way we manage our time and schedules. Some suggestions made by our panelists during “The Remote World’s Reality: Connected or Micromanaged?” were:Be sensitive to everyone’s remote working situation; not everyone is comfortable being on video. Set aside time blocks dedicated to certain projects. This helps you to stay accountable and manage your time.Schedule your emails, messages to sync with working hours. Be cognizant of the fact that people have different work schedules, and communications sent outside of normal working hours can cause unnecessary anxiety in recipients. How Paraprofessionals Can Manage and Thrive Amid This Changing LandscapeAdapting to new environments can be tedious without a plan. Paraprofessionals can adopt the following practices suggested by experts in the legal industry. Organize your calendar by asking yourself these questions:How much time am I spending in meetings versus how much focus time do I have?How many projects/files am I currently working on? What time commitment is required for each one?Who am I working with, and what is their working style? How can I organize myself to optimize both our time together? What other requests do I have coming my way? If you see an unexpected influx of requests coming in and are struggling to complete everything on your to-do list, follow these three steps:Determine: What exactly is this person asking for?Dismantle: Is this a high-priority-high-impact request? How does this rank against other projects I am working on?Diffuse/Delegate: Am I the only person who is capable of helping the requestor? No- Who can I direct them to the right resource? Yes- What is the latest by when I can get this done? Does it have to be today? If you have a small team and can’t delegate requests to other team members, learn the personality type of the requestor and communicate with them in a way that helps them understand your current priorities and workload. Leveraging Technology As the laundry list of requests and responsibilities increases, paraprofessionals find themselves relying more on technological solutions to manage their day. Some of the technologies that have witnessed massive adoption are:ITimekeep for legal assistance used for scheduling DocusignCloud-based-Certalized Entity Management platforms like AthennianWebex teams Microsoft teams for CollaborationAI & E-discovery: E-discovery is at the forefront of the technology landscape because a linear review of cases is a thing of the past.RPA: Removes a lot of mundane work and lets automation take away that burden. As the tech stack expands, so does the amount of accessible client data. As technology ambassadors, paraprofessionals become custodians of this vast amount of valuable data. Managing and Learning New Technology PlatformsWhile some paraprofessionals are comfortable with new platforms and technology, others may find it daunting. Below is a guide for utilizing these new technology solutions to feel empowered and not overwhelmed. The first step to being an effective technology ambassador is acknowledging that there is a wide variety of solutions in the market. The sheer list and number of options available can be overwhelming. Moreover, evaluating each technology to find the best fit is tedious, given its massive impact on business. Determine the “Why”First, determine the need for new technology. Technical market offerings help solve the issue of “How” in a process, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the “why.” “Why are we using this technology, and how does it align with our business goals?”Determining the answer to this question is often a group activity involving other teams and decision-makers. To ensure the success of this exercise, follow the steps listed below:Identify and Include all key stakeholders in the decision-making process.Collect different use cases for the technology in question.Build a business case with real tangible results.Have A Plan for Implementation As organizations realize the importance of technology, they increasingly spend more on its implementation. In the past, paraprofessionals were expected to implement all the software from the sidelines. In the present day, it is a collaborative effort of the paraprofessional and IT teams. Paraprofessionals are often evaluating, recommending and implementing new technologies for their firms & teams.A major component of the implementation plan is dealing with resistance from teams. Learning new technology is a significant challenge, and the fear of the unknown can cause friction among the teams. It is vital to:Set an implementation plan with a defined timeline that factors in the onboarding process. Consider everyone’s learning style while developing a communication and learning plan. We need to involve paraprofessionals in design thinking and demos, as well as using them as SMEs. Identify the stakeholders and keep them informed about the process. Create content and learning material to match various learning styles (e.g.,instructor-led training, convention labs, working sessions, simulations, cheat sheets, workbooks, manuals, etc.). In conclusion, A strong onboarding plan and open communication between teams can bolster the adoption of new technologies and ultimately make organizations more efficient. ConclusionThe landscape of the legal industry is changing, and paraprofessionals are at the forefront of this evolution. Organizations are starting to recognize the true value of paraprofessionals and are striving to use their qualifications and expertise in new ways. As a result, they are included in buying decisions and strategic conversations much earlier than they historically were. In the future, paraprofessionals will seek more training in legal operations and project management as they develop their careers. Technology vendors can be valuable partners for paraprofessionals to further this training and skill development.

The Future of Legal Technology

Legal Tech TrendsLegal departments have seen a surge in technology spending, finally investing in solutions that not only fix unforeseen problems, but make day-to-day operations function more efficiently. Below you'll find the newest, most relevant data on today's trends in legal technology.

Legal Technology Round-Up

Historically, legal departments have been resistant to technological change, leaning on the long-standing motto: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” However, the economic transformation over the past year has shown us that the motto should actually read: “if it ain’t broke yet, it might break soon, and your business will fall behind because of it.”With the pandemic changing how we work, legal departments have seen a spike in technology spending, finding solutions that not only fix unforeseen problems but make day-to-day operations function efficiently and without friction. This article rounds up the best sources on tech trends, the most accurate statistics for upcoming changes, and critical thoughts on the future of legal technology. 5 Legal Technology Trends Changing In-House Legal Departments | GartnerThis article, derived from Gartner’s 21 Corporate Legal Tech Predictions Webinar, discusses five key statistics for the future of legal technology. It includes predictions on legal tech spending, which will be up threefold by 2024, and the future of legal team staffing. Gartner predicts that because of the pressing need to maximize lawyer’s skills and expertise, 20% of roles will be filled by non-lawyer candidates. “Advancing key improvement and innovation efforts will likely require a different set of skills or perspectives than those typically groomed in a traditional legal education.”The survey also predicts that by 2024, 50% of the corporate transaction workload will be automated. Further, the same study but from 2 years prior finds that 55% of the legal workload can be automated, leaving only a 5% gap for inefficiencies. With this shift toward automation, legal teams are leaving time-consuming administrative duties behind to focus on high-value and billable tasks.Contract, Document Management Top Legal’s Priorities as Tech Spending Ramps Up | Law.comLaw.com’s analysis on the Wolters Kluwer 2021 Future Ready Lawyer Report finds that 57% of legal professionals plan to increase their tech investments in the next three years (up 6% from last year.) This increase is unprecedented, as legal teams are notorious for slow technological changes. In fact, 78% of the 700 surveyed plan to adopt collaboration tools, and 77% plan to employ automated contract drafting solutions. Adopting both solutions makes communication between parties more efficient and allows legal teams to use their skills on high-value tasks rather than day-to-day minutiae. Moreover, 81% of those surveyed will invest in E-signature solutions, which is a significant way to increase efficiency and maintain security. 2021 Future Ready Lawyer Survey | Wolters KluwerWolters Kluwer offers their own summary on the 2021 Future Ready Lawyer Survey, which provides insight on client-firm relationships. With corporate legal departments turning to tech solutions, law firms are compelled to do the same. Wolters Kluwer reports that 91% of legal departments intend on asking prospective firms about their use of technology in the next three years. 78% will expect their employed law firms to use technological solutions to deliver the best service possible, and 76% expect their firms to increase efficiency and productivity through these solutions. 24% of legal teams are prepared to switch firms based on their current expectations.ABA 2020 Legal Technology Report | Law Technology Today The American Bar Association’s 2020 Tech Report provides an analysis of the for purchase, ABA 2020 Legal Technology Report. Included in this report are statistics gathered from attorneys who, at majority, hail from small firms (under 50 attorneys) and who, on average, have been admitted to the bar for 30 years. ABA reports that 62% already budget for technology, with a direct correlation to firm size––the larger the firm, the more likely they are to employ technology solutions. It also reports that only 7% found that technology problems often impact their productivity. Most legal technology is outdated, fragmented, and lacks an intuitive interface. Athennian, with its user-friendly platform and expert engineering, offers the best-in-class solutions for those affected by technology problems.Will Lawyers Use Technology Differently After the Pandemic? Survey Says Maybe | Above the LawAbove the Law offers insight on a recently released report by American Legal Net (a survey based on interviews with attorneys from large-scale legal firms). ALN reports that almost 50% of those surveyed found that a year of remote work did not impact their yearly profits. “[The] feared drop in productivity never materialized … By June [of 2020], we realized that we had not slowed down as much as I thought, and by September or October, we realized that we were actually having a pretty good year....”- Attorney interviewed by ALN ‍79% reported using technology to aid the shift to remote operations, and 64% are considering upgrading their technology based on their experiences during the pandemic. Notably, 52% have allotted a higher technology budget already. In SummaryThe legal industry, just like the rest of the world, is changing––rapidly. With new technological solutions emerging, and the attitudes toward them transforming, it can quickly feel daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. Athennian makes migration easy––take the first step to enhancing your team’s productivity by contacting Athennian for a demo. 

Wesgroup Brings Entity Management In-House to Save Money and Manage Property Information :heart: 1

Wesgroup, one of Canada’s leading real estate firms, leveraged Athennian to streamline entity management for its 300+ entities, saving over $10,000 in external counsel fees while improving operational efficiency

How a Compliance Officer is Saving 8 Hours a Week With AML and KYC Requests Using Athennian

Discover how a Compliance Officer saves an hour daily by replacing manual spreadsheets with Athennian's centralized platform, leading to a 20% time reduction in handling AML and KYC requests.

Bosa Properties Securely Scales Automated Entity Data Across Legal, Tax, & Finance Teams

Before Athennian, Bosa Properties’ tax team was troubled with the paper chase that was particularly challenging during tax season. Finding a specific record could take up hours or a string of emails to other team members. With Athennian, the process is cleaner and more simplified.

How A Telecom Company Went From Scattered Entity Data to Unified Business Insights

See how a leading digital infrastructure and communications services provider adopted Athennian to replace paper binders and spreadsheets with Athennian’s automated entity management solution.

Graymont Replaces Document Chaos with Virtual Minute Book & Automated Compliance Tracking

Graymont resolves its disorganized document management challenge with Athennian, leading to improved efficiency streamlined compliance tracking.

Fengate Boosts Compliance Tracking & Data Ownership with Athennian

Fengate's legal team centralizes control on entity data and boosts data security by reducing reliance on outside counsel

NorthRiver Saves Money, Increases Accuracy, and Reduces Costs With Athennian

After experiencing a number of mergers and acquisitions, NorthRiver’s administrative workflow was disrupted in 2019, when the company’s external counsel took on responsibility for housing the minute books.

Large Construction Firm Achieves Annual Savings of 240k with Athennian

This company is a leading infrastructure construction company with projects that range from renewable energy infrastructure to complex transport networks and landmark skyscrapers. Their 2022 revenue was $4.7 billion.

Moodys Tax Law Reduces Transaction Closing Time By 99% With Athennian

A tax and accounting law firm with clients around the globe, Moodys’ trans-national tax law services are in high demand.

Chiang Consulting Clients Decrease Non-Billable Hours with Athennian

A legal technology consultant requires best-in-class entity management software. Read about Chiang Consulting and how they use Athennian's entity management with their clients.

Benevity Uses Athennian to Streamline Document Management

Benevity is the global leader in corporate purpose software, with clients that include brands such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Merck, and Visa. Since its founding in 2008, Benevity has expanded to over 1,000 employees in many countries around the world. As a result of the expansion, Benevity's in-house legal team realized that their legacy entity management software would need to be updated and found Athennian to be the right product fit.

Tech-Savvy Oziel Law Automates Workflows Using Athennian

Despite the team’s deep technological expertise and focus on innovation, Oziel Law struggled with its previous entity management platform. The software was not user-friendly and lacked a data backup mechanism. It was clear that the company needed to implement cloud-based business entity management software.

Dentons Cuts Entity Creation Time by 87% with Athennian

After their merger into Dentons, Bingham Greenebaum LLP (DBG) learned that their legacy corporate subsidiary management software was phasing out of business. A transition to modern business entity management software was both critical and time-sensitive. See how Athennian brings productivity and time savings to the DBG team. 

Commvault Anticipates Cutting Legal Operations Research Time by 75% with Athennian

Commvault's operations require numerous corporate compliance processes, often with short timelines that require speedy delivery of sensitive documents. See how Athennian reduced costs and improved processes for this legal operations team.

Case Studies: We Upgraded!

Here are real stories from Athennian users who've upgraded their entity management to a cloud-based, secure, and intuitive software!

Migrating a National Law Firm

Discover how Athennian helped a national law firm in Canada migrate data from two regional databases to create a collaborative, secure and cloud-based entity management environment for their national team of paralegals and law clerks.

Performance Paralegals

Learn how a small paralegal company with a commitment to technology solutions and up-to-date workflow, leveraged Athennian’s features to suit their unique needs.

Inter Pipeline

Learn how a one-woman paralegal team at Inter Pipeline, a mid-sized company with 20+ subsidiaries, uses Athennian to expedite and ease her entity management workload.

A Multi-Strategy Alternative Asset Manager

Learn how an in-house legal department migrated their data from spreadsheets to Athennian’s cloud in order to better manage their data, collaborate more efficiently, and save time in their day-to-day processes. 

A Multi-Location Healthcare Organization

Discover how a large healthcare organization with locations around the U.S. uses Athennian to maintain compliance & onboard new paralegals seamlessly.

KMSC Law LLP

After working with an outdated database that required cumbersome and manual processes, KMSC Law LLP decided to upgrade to the cloud, and reap the benefits of modern technology. Discover how Athennian supported KMSC Law LLP in their migration from ALF.

Canadian In-House Legal Department

Discover how Athennian helped one of the largest private Canadian companies migrate from a counterproductive and fragmented cloud-based entity management provider to save time and optimize workflows. 

Abrahams LLP

Discover how Athennian supported Abrahams LLP in their transition from MinuteBox, after experimenting with the platform and realizing it could not support their modern team.

Dunn Carney LLP

Discover how Athennian helped Dunn Carney LLP gain more control over their work day by upgrading to Athennian, and eliminating cumbersome processes in their previous entity management system. 

FBC

The Next Generation of Corporate Entity Software

MoneyKey

"Athennian helps us toscale our entity management program for over 2,000 entities."

The Corporate Compliance Companion

Your Essential Guide to Streamlining Processes, Reducing Risk, and Centralizing Data

Introduction to Transfer Pricing and ICAs

Transfer pricing, also known as TP, is a set of international tax laws that determine a company’s charges, such as royalties, service fees, and goods prices. These decide what is paid between connected entities within a multinational group and influence where profits are made and taxed.

The Value of a Central Source of Truth

Entity management software is a business-critical tool for collaboration and compliance that aligns legal, tax, and finance departments. Having a central living source of truth where data can be accessed securely from anywhere allows organizations to increase business velocity while maintaining clean corporate data.

The State of Entity Management in 2023

Download our 2023 report for upcoming trends, industry benchmarks, and more relating to the state of entity and subsidiary management.

The Role Technology Plays In Employee Morale: How Legal Teams Can Improve Efficiency, Operations and Increase Employee Engagement With Tech.

This eBook, written by Ginevra Saylor (National Director, Innovation and Knowledge Programs at Gowling WLG & President of the International Legal Technology Association) describes how legal teams can improve efficiency, operations, and increase employee engagement with technology.

Entity Tracking Spreadsheet Template

Leverage this template to manually track entities, ownership structures, and compliance requirements. Organize percentages, entity types, critical dates for filings and renewals, and more!

Navigating the Future: Entity Management Software for Long Term Success

Entity management software plays a critical role in enabling companies to optimize operations for organizational success. It’s a business-critical tool that helps companies stay prepared for a host of concerns and issues that span all aspects of operations, such as:Compliance and regulatory changesEvolving corporate governance needs Economic uncertainty and financial distress Unexpected lawsuits and legal issues Cybersecurity concerns and data breachesOwnership and management transitionsMergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and other exit events

Software Essentials for UBO Compliance

Simplify your compliance journey and ensure seamless UBO reporting processes. This guide provides practical examples from various countries' UBO regulations and covers the key facets software should possess to assist you in complying with UBO regulations effortlessly. Gain invaluable insights into UBO compliance, empowering your organization to meet regulatory requirements effectively and avoid potential penalties.

Legal Innovation: Where to Begin?

Traditionally, the legal industry has been hesitant to embrace technology due to its longstanding history of ceremony and heritage. Commitment to technology is a new milestone in the legal landscape that is rapidly growing each day; however, an industry as novice to the benefits of technology as ours is may need guidance navigating different service providers. In fact, 38% of legal professionals struggle to assess the appropriate software solutions for their organization’s needs.

How Mature Are Your Legal Operations? | Interactive Assessment

Curious to see how your organization’s operations function when compared to industry benchmarks? Take our short, interactive assessment to determine your legal operations maturity status, and receive customized recommendations and improvement areas. ‍

Is It Time to Upgrade How Your Entities Are Managed?

Is your current entity management system functioning the way it should? Take our short assessment to discover where and how to upgrade your existing system to maximize productivity and profitability.

Master Your Compliance: The Ultimate Checklist

Strengthen your organization's compliance framework with our comprehensive checklist. Designed to guide you through essential aspects of corporate compliance, use this checklist to identify areas for improvement and potential enhancements.

Entity Management Software: A Buyer's Guide

Entity management software responds to a growing need across industries. From major corporations and financial services providers to tax and legal organizations, entity management challenges impact many aspects of business function. The right EMS is mission-critical.But in a marketplace crowded with software options, what should a buyer consider before purchasing?

How Legal Technologies Bolster Corporate Compliance and Mitigate Risk

Written by Peter Nguyen (SVP, Legal, Associate General Counsel, and Assistant Corporate Secretary of The Descartes Systems Group Inc.) this eBook outlines how changing regulations have stress-tested the ability of corporations to respond swiftly. Meanwhile, reputation management has never been more important - as the lines between negative public sentiment and regulator enforcement grow closer. Good corporate governance is both increasingly more demanding and more difficult.

How Mature Are Your Corporate Governance Practices?

Complete the assessment below to gain access to practical resources for improving your corporate governance maturity, including expert advice on corporate governance frameworks, ESG compliance, risk management, & more!

Guide: Athennian for Asset Managers

Increase client confidence and find the answers you need in seconds by centralizing business data in Athennian. Unlock best-in-class security standards and workflows to automate reporting, compliance, regulatory workflows, ownership, and more

Getting Started With Athennian: A Comprehensive Guide

In this guide, we'll cover the key basics you and your team should know before you begin the onboarding process. First, we'll introduce you to the Athennian teams who will support you throughout migration. Next, we'll give you an overview of the various levels of migration support Athennian offers, and a guide to the Athennian training process. Finally, we'll provide you with an onboarding roadmap, migration checklists, and tips and tricks from the experts on the Athennian team.

Entity Management Starter Kit

Jumpstart Your Entity Management TransformationInvesting in a purpose-built entity management system is the best way to ensure that you have the specialized functions you need to optimize your team's productivity. Ensure you find a platform that mitigates legal compliance risk, increases efficiency, and has top-tier security systems by downloading our Entity Management Starter Kit, where you'll find case studies from real users, an assessment checklist, and more.Download the Starter Kit

Due Diligence Checklist for M&A

The journey of mergers and acquisitions can be complex and overwhelming, but we've streamlined the process for you with our Due Diligence Checklist––a comprehensive guide designed to simplify your process and maximize your chances of success. Identify potential risks, seize hidden opportunities, and navigate the intricate web of legal, financial, and operational considerations. Download our checklist now and empower yourself with the knowledge and insights needed to conquer M&A due diligence.

Case Study Bundle

Real Experiences with a Modern and Intuitive Entity Management SoftwareIt’s never been more necessary to access documents remotely and with ease. And with today’s rapid pace and the demand for swift and streamlined collaboration and communication, cloud-based data management is integral to efficient business.Below is a compiled list of success stories from customers who transformed their daily workflow by switching to a modern and scalable entity management system. ‍Download Here

CANLIF Survey Suggests Tech Solutions to Combat Escalating Challenges

Last week the Canadian Legal Innovation Forum (CANLIF) released their first Legal Department Survey, comprised of data from over 80 decision-makers in corporate legal departments. Among those surveyed were general counsel, legal counsel, and legal operations from various industries, including financial services, education, technology, government, and real estate.

Best Practices for In-House Entity Management

Without proper entity management, an organization can face reputational and regulatory risk that hinders their operational function. In a recent survey conducted by EY, 89% of companies reported escalating challenges in managing their legal entities. Learn more about how an in-house team can best manage their entities to combat these rising challenges by downloading this eBook.

A Brand New Day in Entity Management

Learn more about maximizing your efficiency with best-in-breed software by downloading our eBook which includes the benefits of cloud-based software, Athennian case studies and more!

CANLIF Legal Department Innovation Report

The Canadian Legal Innovation Forum published its first annual "Legal Department Innovation" report, focused on measuring innovation in Canadian Legal Departments.The report, released on July 13th, is free to download and provides key insights on the future of legal technology and innovation.Download Here

Best Practices in Corporate Subsidiary Management

Avoid friction and delayed transactions by unlocking the legal industry’s best practices for corporate subsidiary management.Corporate entity information is business-critical data that makes its way into nearly every business process. Most seasoned legal professionals have seen transactions delayed because subsidiaries are not in good standing, have outdated appointee records, or encounter other administrative friction.Download the eBook‍This eBook Covers:Why subsidiary management is so hard to operationalize.Alignment on subsidiary governance framework.Why subsidiary management is important.Data governance in legal entity management software platform.Ongoing management of subsidiaries.

Advancing ESG in 2024

A Guide to ESG Reporting, Investor Expectations, & Governance Best Practices

The Company Secretary's Unique Challenges

This webinar, featuring Chartered Corporate Secretary and International Governance Professional, Onyeka Nweze, will explore the day-to-day challenges of the Corporate/Company Secretary. Engage in discussions on subjects such as technology trends, tips for effective leadership, strategies for personal growth, and the future of corporate compliance. Learn how this critical role contributes to your organization's overall compliance and governance and discover best practices and tech secrets for eliminating complexities.

Explore Athennian: Live Demo

Gain exclusive insight into our product in this Live Demo featuring Athennian's product specialists and corporate governance experts. Explore specific pain points, dive deeper into our powerful solutions & get to know how Athennian can work for your organization in a low-commitment & hands-on way.

M&A Must Haves: Why Entity Management Software is Business-Critical for Due Diligence

In this webinar, attendees will gain invaluable insights into the crucial role of entity management in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) landscape. Learn the essential features and functionalities of software that streamline and enhance the efficiency of corporate transactions. Discover how entity management software empowers organizations to effectively manage entity data, ensure compliance, mitigate risks, and optimize post-merger integration processes. Don't miss this opportunity to acquire practical knowledge and best practices to maximize the success of your M&A endeavors.

From Chaos to Compliance: Streamlining Global Operations with Entity Management Software

This webinar, featuring Republic's legal operations manager Caroline Keller, will provide professionals with valuable insights into how entity management software can help maintain efficient global legal operations. Discover best practices for managing legal entities across multiple jurisdictions and hear real-world examples of how software has helped organizations transform their legal operations from a state of chaos to one of compliance.

Market Insights & Expert Advice | Athennian Unlocked

The Athennian Unlocked series provides valuable insights and practical advice for organizations looking to improve entity management processes, streamline business workflows, and learn from industry professionals about upcoming market changes. Experts share their expertise on a range of topics, including compliance, corporate transparency, governance, and risk management, and provide actionable tips for businesses of all sizes.

Athennian Next Generation: 2023 Release Webinar

Access Athennian’s Next Generation showcase webinar! You’ll get to see our top product innovations of the last quarter as well as a glimpse into what’s coming in Q2. Our product and product marketing teams will present live demos and end the session with a Q&A. Get ready to discover even more ways to scale your central source of truth!

The Devastating Effects of Mismanaged Subsidiary Governance: How You Can Learn from The Mistakes of Large Corporations

This webinar, hosted by Adrian Camara (Co-founder & CEO of Athennian) and Paul Sutton (Founder of LCN Legal), will dive into a causal analysis of corporate scandals and oversights that have led to severe financial and criminal penalties. Discover tangible ways to prevent the mismanagement of corporate data that befell companies like BlackRock & Holcim.

Adopting Entity Management Software for Tax, Legal, & Financial Compliance

In this webinar, Kirsten Hansen (Director of Customer Success, Athennian) will outline best practices for adopting new technology, including change management, goal setting, and drafting a communication plan.Learn about the first-hand onboarding experience of Caroline Keller (Legal Operations Manager, Republic) and discover how her team’s technology choices have improved the operational challenges she faced as her organization grew. Unlock practical solutions for legal challenges, tips for taking on a technology project, and specifically, the pain-points that led her to adopt a cloud-based entity management software.

Making Moves In Your Career

Hosted by Nicole Burch (Athennian) and featuring guest speakers, Tara Kim Eberhart (IPMA) and Mary Munro (Borden Ladner Gervais LLP), this webinar will outline best practices in making the most of a career as a paralegal or corporate law clerk. Learn the strategic career moves of senior-level professionals, discover essential tools to network effectively, and understand how to leverage skills to make your own strategic moves.

Dive into Athennian: Live Demo

Dive deeper into Athennian during this live demo hosted by product marketing specialist Sydney Lawson and featuring panelists Kyle Marks (Director, Product Growth) and Jay Hedges (VP, Sales). Explore Athennian's most popular features, discover it's transformative workflows, and learn why hundreds of business professionals choose Athennian to power their entity and subsidiary management.

CLOC Talk – Leveraging Entity Management Software for the Legal Ops Role

CLOC talk host Jennifer McCarron is joined by Carl Morrison, Director of Legal Operations and the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, Tom Stephenson, Director of Legal Operations at Credit Karma and Kyle Marks, Director, Customer Success at Athennian. They discuss why legal operations professionals can leverage a tech stack, and why entity management software should play an integral role in that tech stack.

U.S. Corporate Transparency Act

This webinar, hosted by Athennian CEO Adrian Camara and Customer Success Manager Charlé West, featuring guest speaker Michael Kline, Partner, and Assistant General Counsel at Fox Rothschild LLP, will provide a high-level overview of the new U.S. Corporate Transparency Act. Learn what FINCEN's Beneficial Ownership regime means for legal teams and how best to approach these upcoming challenges. Determine the risks and penalties for non-compliance, and unlock tech best practices to stay abreast of the new changes.

Leveraging Technology to Avoid Mismanagement of Corporate Subsidiaries

In this webinar, hosted by Nicole Burch (Athennian), Lindsay Bushong (Athennian), and Paul Sutton (LCN Legal), learn why businesses with out-of-control legal entities lose millions of dollars, what critical pieces of data to watch for when managing your entities, and how to avoid lapses in management that leave devastating results.

The Importance of Growing Your Soft Skills

In this community webinar, hosted by Nicole Burch (Athennian), Tony Sipp (Manning & Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez, Trester LLP), and Karen Tuschak (Spider Silk Innovative Solutions), learn the significance of soft skills. Discover ways they can unlock career opportunities and learn tactical ways to identify the skills you already have and the ones you hope to develop.

Learnings From Legalweek

In this webinar, Terry Falk, Nicole Burch, and Lindsay Bushong (Athennian) spoke with Legalweek speaker, Karen Tuschak (Spidersilk Solutions) about industry topics, upcoming legal trends for the year ahead, and a deeper exploration of what was covered at Legalweek 2022.

How to Successfully Adopt & Onboard Legal Technology

For most legal teams, partnering with a new technology vendor is a huge undertaking that goes far beyond the simple signing of a contract. In fact, successfully adopting and onboarding a new technology requires healthy preparation, strategic change management strategies, and thorough technical practices. This webinar, hosted by Karen Tuschak of Spider Silk Innovative Solutions and Nicole Burch and Kirsten Hansen of Athennian, will outline best practices to ensure your new technology partnership is streamlined, effective, and destined for success.

Spreadsheets vs. The Cloud: The Benefits of Automating

In this webinar, Nicole Burch and Terrie Williams will discuss the benefits of transitioning to cloud-based entity management software, compare spreadsheet workarounds to automated solutions, and hear from real legal professionals who have upgraded to the cloud and enhanced their daily productivity and profitability.

Capturing Billable Time

This webinar, hosted by Nicole Burch (Athennian) and with guest speakers Angela King (Dentons US) and Laura Hopkinson (Dickinson Wright LLP), will discuss best practices for meeting your 2022 billable hour requirement, how to manage lawyer and client expectations, and more!

How to Secure Budget for Legal Technology

In this webinar, hosted by Athennian’s Nicole Burch and Terry Falk, and thought leader Karen Tuschak (Dentons & Spider Silk Innovative Solutions) we’ll discuss the intricacies of budget planning. Learn what to prioritize in terms of financial investment and how to advocate for your most pressing needs. Discover positioning strategies for explaining ROI, and unlock best practices for using tech solutions for future-proofing your legal operations.

Performance Reviews: How to Set Yourself Up for Success

Bring Confidence to Your ReviewIn this free webinar, hosted by Nicole Burch (Athennian), Angela Darrah (Gowling WLG), and Kathy Anderson (Bennett Jones LLP), we’ll discuss the importance of a paralegal or corporate law clerk’s performance review. Learn best practices for preparing for your review, tips for giving and receiving feedback, and how to hold yourself and your team accountable with a follow-up plan. Discover ways to use your review to your advantage, advocate for yourself, and more with three high-level and experienced corporate services professionals.What We Covered:The significance of performance reviews.Setting the right environment for your review.Feedback: How to give and receive positive and negative feedback.Staying accountable with a follow-up plan.

Mastering Legal Document Automation

In this Webinar, Kenny Laurin and Nicole Burch (Athennian) discuss the benefits of document automation with Karen DiMartino (Cassels LLP). Learn why consistency and efficiency are critical to daily workflows and how you can achieve it through leveraging technology. Discover best practices for successful document automation, unlock tips for grasping the learning curve, and hear how a legal professional with a limited tech background was able to transform her productivity through mastering legal coding. Access the Webinar‍What We Covered:The common challenges in legal document coding.How to be successful in document automation through repeatability and clearly defined processes.How to evaluate the scope of your automation project.How to approach document automation with limited prior coding knowledge.

How In-House Legal Teams Can Improve Operational Efficiency Company-Wide

In this webinar, Charlé West and Lindsay Bushong of Athennian will discuss the benefits and practical implementations of department-wide operational alignment. Discover solutions for optimizing workflows, developing and maintaining auditable systems, collaborating on standardized documents, and more! Learn practical ways to actualize company-wide efficiency for a streamlined and profitable department.Access the Webinar‍What We Covered:How to organize task management, such as corporate transactions & annual report filings.Tips for improving interactions between legal teams and other departments.Processes for maintaining consistent legal documents and forms.Automated solutions for efficient workflows that maintain data integrity.

How to Streamline Your Entity Management with Technology

What We Covered:What is entity management and current challenges facing legal teams?How technology can be leveraged to streamline entity management.Why legal teams should invest in entity management software?How Athennian can help.

Balancing Priorities & Deadlines

Paraprofessionals know how complex it is to balance a laundry list of priorities and, at the same time, manage “urgent” tasks assigned by various lawyers and clients. It can feel daunting to ensure that everyone’s needs are met while maintaining a steady workflow and efficient time management. How are paraprofessionals navigating these tricky situations?Join Canada's top law firm managers in discussing their experiences. We'll also be evaluating topics such as: How to work and communicate with different personalities in the workplaceHow to establish strong and long-lasting professional relationships while creating a brand for yourself in the industryAccess the WebinarWhat We CoveredHow to work and communicate with different personalities in the workplace.How to establish strong and long-lasting professional relationships while creating a brand for yourself in the industry.

Docketing Your Time: Issues and Solutions

What We CoveredThe stress of docketing.Solutions to help capture billable time.

Look back on Coca-Cola's IRS Transfer Pricing Dispute

What We Covered:What went wrong during Coca-Cola's IRS transfer pricing dispute.How to avoid that moving forward.Technology's role in eliminating risk.

The Remote World's Reality: Connected or Micromanaged?

What We Covered:Feeling overwhelmed by an increase in meetings?How to stay productive without feeling overwhelmed by demands.and more!

Unlock Precise Control: Athennian's Enhanced Roles & Permissions

In the rapidly changing world of corporate governance, streamlined data access isn't just a perk—it's a necessity. Enter Athennian: reshaping the landscape with its latest roles and permissions enhancements, giving administrators unparalleled control over data access dynamics.But what does this mean in real-world scenarios? How does Athennian's advanced system play out on the ground, whether you're in the heart of a bustling law firm or the complex web of a multinational corporation? Let's dive into a couple of illustrative use cases that showcase Athennian's adaptability.

August Updates at Athennian: Enhancing Efficiency and Functionality

As we strive to provide you with an exceptional experience, we're excited to announce a series of updates and improvements to Athennian this month. These updates are designed to make your workflows smoother, document generation more versatile, reporting more insightful, and navigation more intuitive. Let's dive into the details of what's new:

Athennian's Q2 Release Recap

Tailor your Athennian experience with new data customization and viewing capabilities.

Athennian Next Generation: 2023 Release

We’re excited to introduce the latest version of our cloud-based entity management and business workflow platform: Athennian Next Generation. Athennian Next Generation allows business teams to scale their central source of truth.

Improved Charts: Summer 2022 Release! 

n August 2020, Athennian acquired Redox Technologies, a software company focused on building corporate org charts. This was our first step to offering org charts that represent the corporate structure of a group of entities better, more efficiently, and more intuitively than before. The main initiative of this project was to replace our initial org charting engine with Redox, enabling us to ensure data integrity in org charts and more accurately structure data in an easy-to-use interface. With this new engine, we have opened the door to take our org charts to the next level. At first glance, this will be most noticeable through the cleaner and more modern appearance. You can expect to be able to do everything you can do in our existing org charts, plus more. With the upgraded engine comes some new and exciting features. Read on to learn about what you can expect with this new update in Athennian.

Athennian + iManage Cloud

The Athennian integration with iManage Cloud makes maintaining documents and managing entities even easier by enabling the products within your daily workflows to communicate with one another.

Introducing the Athennian Resource Center!

We are always looking for ways to better serve you. With our all-new Athennian Resource Center, you’ll be able to reach our support team and access missions, videos, and help articles all in one place!

August Product Update from Athennian

In the month of August, Athennian’s product and customer success teams worked hard to bring significant updates to the platform, based on user feedback. We focused on improving the most commonly used features in Athennian: Document Automation, Transactions, Virtual Minute Books, and Entities.

July Product Update from Athennian

Athennian is the best place to manage documents, transactions, share certificates, org charts, and other types of dynamic entity data. As we quickly progress through the summer months, our product team has made great strides towards building out important new features that will exponentially increase flexibility and customization in Athennian.

Latest From Product: Introducing Bulk Edit Stock Transactions

Closing dates, per-share purchase prices and other variables often change during a transaction. Updating each variable one-by-one across dozens or hundreds of issuances is extremely time consuming.

Signature Blocks: Consistent, Professional, Easy

Signature blocks are a critical component of high-volume documents used in legal entity and corporate secretarial management (for example, board consents, shareholder resolutions, and stock certificates).

June Product Update from Athennian

Athennian users provide us with thoughtful, practical feature updates that we aim to incorporate into our product updates. Athennian’s platform updates makes entity management even easier, with updates and new feature releases occurring every week.

May Product Update from Athennian

In the month of April, Athennian’s product and customer success teams worked hard to bring significant updates to the platform, based on user feedback. We focused on improving the most commonly used features in Athennian: Custom Reports, Virtual Minute Books, Transactions, and Teams.

April Product Update from Athennian

In the month of April, Athennian’s product and customer success teams worked hard to bring significant updates to the platform, based on user feedback.