Editor’s note: Latest in a series. Read the prior installment here.
Foundation, Litera’s knowledge management platform, doesn’t just have customers — it has superfans. These are law firms that continually find new, creative ways to use the platform to boost efficiency and foster cross-departmental collaboration.
So passionate is this community that it even has its own annual gathering, Trailblazers Summit, where firms independently share best practices, tips, and tricks for getting the most out of Foundation.
At the heart of this enthusiasm is Foundation’s simplicity and adaptability. The platform gives users a unified, intuitive interface to access all data related to firm matters, clients and people — eliminating the need to juggle sprawling spreadsheets or reconcile disconnected data sources.
This shared access to clean, centralized information empowers firms to adopt a data-first approach across a wide range of functions — from pricing and pitching to client development. And because Foundation integrates seamlessly with other tools, firms can tailor it to fit their unique workflows.
To help firms unlock the full potential of Foundation, Litera recently launched the inaugural Foundation Innovation Awards. The awards are a celebration of inventive use cases from firms that have moved beyond the basics and into more transformative applications to encourage incremental value and knowledge-sharing across Foundation’s customer base.
One of Foundation’s standout features is its flexibility: Firms can bring in virtually any data source and configure the platform to align with their specific processes. As a result, customers are constantly uncovering new use cases — ranging from simple enhancements to complex, firmwide transformations.
“That’s why Foundation is so great,” says Litera’s Ashley Gibbs. “You don’t have to build a rocket ship and fly to space to make an impact for your firm.”
To kick off the awards, firms submitted examples of how they’re using Foundation beyond its traditional applications in marketing, business development, and knowledge management. The submissions showcased the platform’s broad impact — aiding lawyers, staff, pricing teams, business developers, and knowledge managers alike.
Examples included advanced matter profiling, streamlined pitch and content organization, and even a complete overhaul of an industry taxonomy.
At the Innovation Awards, Troutman Pepper Locke took home first place, with Arnold & Porter, Cleary Gottlieb, Frost Brown Todd, and Perkins Coie named as finalists.
The Winning Use Case
Troutman Pepper Locke took the top spot in the Foundation Innovation Awards for the firm’s innovative and resourceful approach to integrating litigation matter data into its existing Foundation instance.
This accolade particularly recognizes the firm’s innovative use of Foundation to tackle data challenges including inconsistency and fragmentation, integration with existing systems, and accuracy in supporting decision-making.
The award was presented to Carrie Remhof, Director of Firm Intelligence at Troutman Pepper Locke, at the Trailblazers Summit in Atlanta.
“By innovating across firm intelligence and knowledge management, Troutman Pepper Locke is setting a new standard for how firms capture, govern, and apply knowledge at scale,” Carrie says. “We’re proud to be leading this work and shaping what excellence looks like in the industry — building trusted knowledge foundations that will define how firms compete, serve clients, and leverage data and AI well into the future.”
While Foundation had long supported litigation matter tracking, the firm lacked a consistent, scalable way to capture and integrate court docket information into its experience management ecosystem. To address this gap, Troutman Pepper Locke implemented an approach that leverages third-party data, normalizing docket data across jurisdictions to seamlessly integrate it into Foundation and other firm systems.
To streamline litigation data capture, the firm established a hybrid profiling model that combines limited attorney or paralegal input with automated docket data enrichment. This allows knowledge managers to build comprehensive, reliable matter profiles using only a small amount of initial information — dramatically reducing friction while improving consistency and reuse of litigation experience data.
Before such a system was implemented, gathering this data would require busy lawyers to fill out multiple forms in detail — a highly difficult request.
The new process, however, allows this information to be quickly gathered and normalized before being integrated into Foundation, ensuring compatibility with all of the law firm’s systems.
This integration also enhances the firm’s data retrieval, resulting in better support for decision-making and case management.
Ultimately, this breakthrough addresses the long-standing legal industry issue of fragmented and inconsistent data, providing a unified and reliable source of information for the firm and its clients.
Troutman Pepper Locke’s innovative use of Foundation positions it as a forward-thinking organization that leverages advanced technology to deliver elite client service, and Litera is pleased to recognize the team’s achievements.
In fact, this particular use case has since inspired Litera to partner with similar solutions to streamline docket information retrieval, as shown in a recent webinar.
This and other use cases will form the basis of a business of law eBook this year. You can pre-register for your copy by filling out the form below.