CASE STUDY – MATTER MANAGEMENT
From Invisible Costs to Total Control
How a leading chemical manufacturer transformed legal spend management with DiliTrust’s tailored solution.
AT A GLANCE
INTRODUCTION
Picture a leading north American chemical manufacturer (with over 20,000 employees), lacking clear visibility over legal spend. With legal teams often being considered as cost centers, the legal leadership team knew it was time for a change. What could be better for this organization than to provide backed insights on their legal spend and ROI? With more than 150 years of presence in the U.S., the company combines science and innovation with a strong commitment to sustainability and transparency. Their legal department shares this vision: seeking smarter tools to support operational excellence.
THE CHALLENGE
A Lack of Visibility and Transparency Over Legal Spending
When the new Deputy General Counsel for Litigation stepped into her role, she quickly uncovered a major operational gap: there was no clear visibility into legal spend. Internal legal teams faced serious challenges tracking legal spend, generating reports, and were still manually reviewing and entering invoices. Too much time and resources were spent without clearly knowing how much outside counsel was being paid and which matters were creating greater costs. Additionally, there was an acute lack of invoice detail visibility, often with missing line items, making reporting a harder task than it already was.
For a company in the chemical manufacturing industry, providing a secure way to work remotely while not blocking operations such as invoice approvals was a necessity. With the right tool, they aimed to be able to track spend per matter, per vendor, and track counsel rate increases, because yes, they were often overlooked since no formal approval workflows existed.
THE SOLUTION
A Robust and Flexible Matter Management Tool
Not only was the organization looking for a solid and secure tool, they also needed one that could adapt to their existing workflows. Besides that, the chemical leader had a precise list of capabilities and goals with the solution. After assessing the market, they selected DiliTrust Matter Management and achieved:
Centralized visibility into global legal spend with automated, export-ready reporting.
Fit seamlessly into their existing processes, allowing immediate adoption across teams.
A centralized system that prevents external parties from raising costs without going through system approval.
With personalized 24/7 support, the organization benefited from expert guidance that extended well beyond the implementation phase. For example, when the company considered changing some of its internal processes, DiliTrust’s implementation team recommended leveraging the industry best practices already built into the system, a recommendation the organization was happy to adopt.
THE RESULTS
Greater Control, Speed & Transparency at a Reasonable Price
This Chemical manufacturer leader sets a great example for effective legal spend management in action. By transitioning from manual billing to DiliTrust e-billing solution, the legal department gained full transparency, prevented unauthorized rate increases, and eliminated off-system payments. Automation replaced time-consuming manual tasks, allowing for better control and reduced compliance risks. Opting for the solution created a sustainable framework for continued innovation in legal operations still to this day.
rate increases and timekeepers, then we need this type of a system. DiliTrust had a more flexible platform and seemed more adaptable and better able to incorporate existing processes.
Deputy General Counsel
Learn more about what DiliTrust can do for you, whether it’s accelerating processes, efficiency gains, cost savings or all the above mentioned.