On January 10, 2017, iManage announced that the Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Office (ACCRALAW), a top tier Philippines-based firm servicing local and international clientele, has chosen iManage Work for document and email management. Since its establishment in 1972, ACCRALAW has grown into a celebrated and multi-awarded service organization with over 140 lawyers today. True to its vision of “setting the pace in excellence in the practice of law,” ACCRALAW has pioneered the use of technology in the legal profession.
“The delivery of legal services should leverage technology. We believe in taking advantage of the latest technology not only to improve the efficiency of rendering legal services but also to reduce cost for the benefit of our clients and to ensure our lawyers have a more conducive environment within which to work,” said Leland R. Villadolid Jr., litigation senior partner with primary field of practice in Telecommunications and IT and Head of the Firm’s MIS Department. “The Firm recognizes the advantages of today’s technological advancements. Technology is used exhaustively in ACCRALAW to improve the skills of its lawyers and to render the best legal services to clients at a managed cost. In iManage, ACCRALAW has deployed a sophisticated Work Product Management system that encompasses document management, email management, knowledge management, analytics, process automation and more.”
In the first few months of going live with iManage Work, ACCRALAW has already experienced significant benefits. iManage Work integrates seamlessly with ACCRALAW’s existing practice management system, so that when a new matter is created, a workspace is automatically generated in iManage Work, without the need of manual intervention. Within minutes, users can start saving and publishing documents to this centralized repository, allowing anyone connected to the matter to search, access, and view the related files — saving valuable time and enabling more efficient collaboration.
iManage Work has been rolled out across all of the Firm’s practice departments. As a result, the Firm can better carry out work on behalf of its clients in areas ranging from Litigation and Dispute Resolution, Corporate and Special Projects and Intellectual Property, to Labor, Tax and other specializations.
Before deciding on a Work Product Management system, ACCRALAW exercised due diligence by visiting several legal firms in neighboring Malaysia that were iManage customers, to hear their opinions first-hand. “We talked to our peer firms about iManage, and the feedback we got was very positive,” said Emerico O. De Guzman, the Firm’s Managing Partner. “As we got deeper into the evaluation process, we saw for ourselves what iManage Work could do and the way it could make our professionals more efficient.”
iManage partner Business Network Solutions (BNS) — headquartered in Malaysia, and serving Southeast Asia — assisted ACCRALAW with their implementation of iManage Work. The entire process — from information gathering, to go-live date —was completed in approximately four months.
“Forward-looking firms like ACCRALAW pay attention to what other firms are using to help their busy professionals get work done more effectively,” said Dan Carmel, iManage chief marketing officer. “With iManage Work, ACCRALAW is now using tools designed for the modern workforce to improve productivity, make better decisions, and work smarter.”