Experience
Sam Chadwick leads the Group's external facing strategy looking at how we can deliver solutions for our clients, rather than being purely inward focused as is often the case. Sam has built on her own personal experiences as a transactional lawyer to take on key roles in both the design and management of the delivery of volume real estate portfolio services to our clients.
Our approach focusses on having the right people, the right processes, the right technology and the right data to deliver focused solutions, on time and on budget. Sam works with some of DWF's largest real estate clients to ensure that the way we work also works for them. The emphasis is on driving efficiency and reducing transaction timeframes. By way of example:
- We design instruction methodologies to ensure that all the information we need to support our clients is delivered first time, and is easily stored and capable of automation;
- We develop precedents which balance industry standards and client risk appetites;
- We work with individual clients to agree settled positions on likely points of negotiation and accepted compromises;
- We agree "escalation points", linked to timescales and points of negotiation, to ensure sticking points or slow progress is on the radar of the right people;
- Exception reporting, to enable quick sign off and assessment of key risk. Aligned to process efficiency is the use of technology. Sam works closely with DWF's award-winning technology and information services team to use the right technology (not just high-profile or fashionable systems) in a designed way to integrate with the delivery of our legal services. By way of example:
- We design on-line instruction portals with specific input form clients, which is fully integrated with our document automation and case management platforms.
- Document automation technology allows the data received on instruction to be added automatically into template documents to produce a suite of first-draft transaction documents in a fraction of the time.
- Case management software facilitates real-time matter status reporting, both to the DWF management team and to client teams, allowing us to focus our efforts on matters requiring prioritisation and supporting clients in effective use of their time.
- Alignment with electronic signing platforms means that documents can be readied for signature in a fraction of the time, while also reducing the carbon emissions associated with the transporting of physical documents for signature. This systematised approach to both process and technology produces data which is hugely beneficial to our clients. Sam works alongside specialists in data analytics to identify opportunities for the development and refinement of our service delivery and streamlining with our clients. For example:
- Data on transaction lifecycles can help us to see opportunities for delivery enhancement. That might be at an organisation, team or individual level.
- Commercial data on issues such as difference between instructed and achieved consideration for transactions can reveal how specific agents might be agreeing deals which are regularly renegotiated, suggesting that other agents might be preferred.
- Analysis of positions achieved relative to pre-agreed positions can show where perception of a client's risk appetite differs from reality, leading to a change in the captured pre-agreed position and driving improvement in transaction lifecycles.