Case Study: ZS Associates achieves automated, scalable contract workflow and 30% more legal capacity with Onit

Small Department Stretches to Meet Demand Growth

ZS Associates, a growing professional services firm, faced rapidly rising demand for legal work while its in-house legal team size stayed flat, creating a “free legal services” problem and pressure from a company-wide cost-cutting initiative. To improve efficiency and self-service for client contracting, ZS Associates partnered with Onit to deploy an automated customer service portal and a legal work request submission and tracking tool.

Working with Onit, ZS Associates implemented the portal and tracking system as part of a broader transformation that also included outsourcing and process playbooks; the result was faster turnaround, more predictable outside costs and better internal visibility via dashboards. The legal team now manages significantly more work—a 30% increase in matters in 2013 (including a 13% rise in MSAs and 34% more confidentiality agreements)—and client contracting staffing dropped from four U.S. attorneys to 1.5 U.S. plus one offshore attorney, demonstrating measurable efficiency gains tied to the Onit-enabled automation.

ZS Associates

Jennifer Billingsley

Chief Legal Counsel