Article
Say goodbye to inefficient document review and close M&A deals faster
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) can be complex, requiring significant due diligence to understand risks, synergies, and scalability; accurately valuate target companies; and gain transparency and a complete picture of the deal. This process is typically tedious and time consuming — in fact, it has rapidly become the slowest and most painful part of a deal.
Market trends estimate that the majority of attorneys are writing off around 25% of their time. When resources are tight, this becomes increasingly problematic. Deals take longer to close, the chance of potential risk being missed increases, and client satisfaction decreases. Statistics show that the longer a deal takes to close, the less likely it is to close.
Intelligent technology is the key to:
- Faster and more accurate and efficient due diligence
- Enhanced profit margins
- Savings that can be passed on to clients
- More time spent on legal work, not paperwork
These are just a few benefits that will add value to make your firm stand out above the competition.
How long does it take to close an M&A deal?
According to Gartner in 2019, the average time to close an M&A deal has risen more than 30% in the past 10 years — now taking around 38 days. Of these delays, 22% stem from inadequate technology supporting the due diligence process. Accelerating the due diligence process, increasing its accuracy, and effectively managing complexity has become critically important.
Deals are becoming increasingly complex, not just because of the business environment we operate in but because they are increasingly cross border. This means more — and longer — documents, as well as a more multifaceted regulatory environment and more stringent compliance requirements. Due diligence remains a tedious task and this is compounded by disorganized, duplicated, or missing documents.
What are some of the pain points around M&A deals?
Aside from the complexity of a traditionally manual process, there is also increased risk involved with M&A deals today, including the risk of human error as well as inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the drafting process.
Due diligence is a key feature of the deal process, essential for revealing opportunities and risks. When the process is inefficient, not only is it tedious and costly but there is also an increased chance that potential risks will be missed — and failure to identify risks that could make the deal unviable or expose liability can be catastrophic. The true value of due diligence is only revealed when such elements are uncovered and it plays a pivotal role in closing M&A deals quickly and expediently.
Hear from experts on how you can alleviate these pain points and deliver superior service to your clients and win more business, watch on-demand webinar.
What do attorneys need?
Attorneys need to be able to review documents with greater speed and efficiency, spot inaccuracies, inconsistencies and deviations quickly, increase the efficiency of contract drafting, and address risks quickly and securely.
They also need to be able to increase their profit margins; spend less time on tedious, manual tasks and more time adding value; and reduce the time that gets written off to the due diligence process.
In short, attorneys need intelligent technology solutions. The right solution can look at all relevant documents — across the board, at the same time — to greatly improve speed and accuracy and streamline the due diligence process.
Why isn’t everyone using legal tech?
Legal tech solutions for the due diligence process are nothing new, so why doesn’t every law firm make use of them? Often, there are hurdles to adoption of technology, which means that law firms stick with what they know, rather than investing in a new solution that could cause more problems than it solves.
If the deal size doesn’t warrant the cost and effort of implementing a technology solution, this can be a hard sell. There are also frequent issues with point solutions not being effectively embedded into current workflows, making it more difficult for users to accept. Lack of integration also proves challenging, since the data extracted from the document review process may not be able to be pulled easily from the system, making it difficult to use from a practical point of view.
What’s the solution?
Harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) for document intelligence and contract analytics with Document Intelligence. Realize value from day one with pre-built AI models trained by Practical Law experts and backed by a century of legal expertise.
Confidently perform accurate due diligence by identifying, organizing, and reviewing critical information in seconds; surface risk; deliver accurate and effective reports; and strategically advise clients as to the most effective way forward in an M&A deal.
Want to know more? Watch Close M&A Deals Faster and Exceed Client Expectations with Thomson Reuters Document Intelligence for further insights on how to reimagine your due diligence process and set your firm apart from the competition.
Improve your M&A due diligence process with accelerated document review, reduced time to value, and trusted legal work expertise