German labor and employment law market leader KLIEMT.HR Lawyers uses BRYTER legal technology to affect a holistic mindset change and transform its market presence both internally and externally: Client requirements become clearer through data-driven analysis, meaning services can be provided with an enhanced value proposition.
Furthermore, KLIEMT.HR Lawyers uses BRYTER to transform the skills and mindset of its attorneys, enabling them to provide excellent legal expertise tailored to future customer requirements.
KLIEMT.HR Lawyers (KLIEMT.Arbeitsrecht) is Germany’s premier employment law boutique and the sole German member of the international employment law alliance IUS LABORIS. The firm is consistently ranked in the top tier of all relevant legal handbooks and its lawyers are recognized as experts in their respective fields.
We spoke with Michael Kliemt, the founder of KLIEMT.HR Lawyers; Markus Janko, a partner at KLIEMT.HR Lawyers’ Dusseldorf office; and Till Hoffmann-Remy, a partner at KLIEMT.HR Lawyers’ Frankfurt office.
Rooted in Legal Innovation
Michael Kliemt explains, “From the very beginning in 2002, we focused strongly on innovation. The ideas we now implement using BRYTER were created years ago, and we were just waiting for suitable technology. Now, we are keen to offer new service models to our clients.”
Through various cooperative ventures, such as membership of the ELTA, along with their own initiatives, KLIEMT.HR Lawyers drives change and is helping shape the legal market of the future.
Till Hoffmann-Remy adds, “Legal Technology plays an important role in changing the mindset of our attorneys and helps train them in the skills required to be successful in the future.”
What made KLIEMT. HR Lawyers consider Legal Tech in the first place?
Client requirements are constantly evolving as markets becomes increasingly global. In the past it was considered acceptable for law firms to provide a high degree of expertise (associated also with a high price for said advice) within a turnaround time of a few days or weeks. Now, however, clients are increasingly cost-sensitive due to budget constraints, want advice in close to real-time, and expect that information is provided in a manner that can be easily understood, visualized, and shared.
Understanding and effectively utilizing Legal Tech solutions helps us to provide better, more focused, and more cost-efficient client service – both locally and as part of the IUS LABORIS global alliance.
Markus Janko, Partner, KLIEMT.HR Lawyers
KLIEMT.HR Lawyers, like any law firm, continuously refines its procedures and processes. In light of Big Data and data-driven processes, using technological solutions to increase efficiency, scalability, and standardization was a natural next step. While the firm was an early adopter in terms of technology, using customized programming in many cases, administration of these tools quickly became inefficient and is being replaced by state-of-the-art standardized software – including legal tech areas, such as document automation and client-specific tools.
Finally, lawyer training in Germany follows a very classic framework, training young professionals in legal skills and legal skills only. The market, however, will not only demand excellent lawyers, but also other experts who are able to work with, analyze, and visualize data to render efficient legal advice. Training attorneys in the use of Legal Tech helps strengthen the firm’s market position by ensuring that its lawyers will be ready to tackle the challenges of the future.
How does BRYTER technology play into this, and what other avenues does the firm explore?
“Using BRYTER technology, we have conducted the firm’s first ever legal hackathon in April 2019,” says Janko. “Attorneys, armed with only basic knowledge of the system, learned to set up employment law related tools in a matter of hours that would allow clients to perform legal compliance checks. The experience was exciting for the whole firm.”
The firm is looking to launch a complete suite of BRYTER-based tools later this year, offering certain tools on a free-access basis, while increasing value for its client base by providing them with exclusive access to more complex tools.
“We will expand these tools on a regular basis,” adds Hoffmann-Remy. “This will help them reduce legal spend and increase efficiency; on the other hand, our firm will free up time for non-commodity, high-expertise business, which plays to our strengths.”
In essence, our clients will be able to use them to receive guidance on many commonly occurring questions wherever they are, whenever they need it, without having to consult a lawyer.
Till Hoffmann-Remy, Partner, KLIEMT.HR Lawyers
As part of its continuing effort to shape the legal market of the future, the firm has launched further initiatives that, among other things, deal with document automation, data and contract analysis, artificial intelligence, and automated client communication.
About KLIEMT.HR Lawyers
Michael Kliemt is the founder of KLIEMT.HR Lawyers and one of the leading employment lawyers in Germany. He advises national and international clients, with a wealth of experience regarding restructurings, transformation, outsourcing and integration projects.
Markus Janko is a partner at KLIEMT.HR Lawyers’ Dusseldorf office, and heads the firm’s IT strategy and innovation efforts. He advises national and international clients with a strong focus on restructurings and change processes.
Till Hoffmann-Remy is a partner at KLIEMT.HR Lawyers’ Frankfurt office, and co-heads the firm’s innovation efforts. He advises national and international clients especially in the technology sector, with a strong focus on transformation, IT and new work processes.
With around 65 attorneys working exclusively in employment law, KLIEMT.HR Lawyers is the largest law firm in Germany specializing in labor and employment law. The firm was founded in 2002 as a spin-off of a team led by Prof. Dr. Michael Kliemt and Dr. Oliver Vollstädt from the Düsseldorf office of Clifford Chance. With offices in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Berlin and Hamburg, the firm is now one of the market leaders in labor and employment law. More than half of the DAX corporations and a large number of successful German medium-sized companies and a number of globally active corporations rely on the employment law expertise of KLIEMT.HR Lawyers.
KLIEMT.HR Lawyers advises on the implementation of restructuring and integration projects as well as on collective bargaining issues. Other focal points include works constitution law, company pension schemes, temporary employment, Code of Conduct, compliance and data protection. In addition, the firm supports companies and top executives in all questions of manager liability, including the assumption of litigation.
KLIEMT.HR Lawyers is the German member of IUS LABORIS, a worldwide alliance of leading labor law firms in more than 55 countries and associated law firms in another 60 countries, covering over 1400 lawyers. The alliance’s distinct competitive advantage is its national expertise. Clients choose to work with IUS LABORIS because they are guaranteed on-the-ground support, paired with the power of a worldwide alliance that brings together the world’s best employment and labour lawyers.
www.kliemt.de / www.arbeitsrecht-weltweit.de / www.iuslaboris.com
For more information on the technology projects at KLIEMT.HR please reach out to Markus Janko.