5 ways HubSpot can enable lawyers

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools are underutilised by legal teams, but they can be extremely useful, especially for in-house legal teams. 

HubSpot is an excellent tool for smaller businesses, as it has a CRM ‘hub’ to connect marketing, sales, content management, and customer service in one unified space. 

This article will look into what HubSpot is, how you can use it in your legal team and the top HubSpot use cases for in-house lawyers. 

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a CRM, so its primary purpose is to connect teams to their customers. HubSpot does this via various ‘hubs’ including marketing, sales, customer service and content management hubs. These can all be connected under one platform so teams can find key cross-functional data with one click. 

Since it was founded in 2006, HubSpot has become a market leader in the CRM industry - now boasting a market share of around 35 per cent. During this time the platform has built up a fair share of significant customers including Eventbrite and DoorDash, oh and the legal team at Juro uses it too!

How to use a CRM in a legal team

A CRM is perhaps not the most traditional application for a lawyer to use, but it can be extremely useful. The main purpose of HubSpot is to help teams collaborate effectively, something in-house lawyers should always value. 

In private practice law firms, the use of HubSpot CRM might involve using it to manage engagements with current and potential clients, primarily by tracking and analysing these interactions. 

HubSpot can help to streamline client communication and build stronger relationships with key stakeholders which can lead to more sales, increased profits and improved customer service. 

Meanwhile, in-house lawyers can increase their visibility into what sales teams are doing and the status of various contracts. HubSpot offers centralised access to key insights, documents, deal tracking, a reports dashboard and help to manage the sales pipeline. These can all provide valuable insights for an in-house legal team. 

‍Use cases for HubSpot in legal teams

‍1. Contract renewals

Did you know you can streamline your contract renewal process in HubSpot? The platform has an add-on called RenewalSpot that automatically creates renewal notifications for each closed-won deal with a known contract end date.

This then generates a task with a reminder date 90 days before that contract end date to notify the deal owner that a renewal is coming soon. This feature is particularly useful for legal teams looking to simplify their renewals process. 

This can be an extremely useful tool for legal teams, especially in SaaS businesses. In 2023, over 70% of software used by companies was made up of subscription-based SaaS applications - making renewal management a big ask for lawyers in 2024. 

HubSpot can also help manage the renewal process through integrations with contract lifecycle management software. Integrating HubSpot with the right CLM means you can manage renewals by:

• Setting up automated contract reminders 
• Keeping track of contracts in a central repository 
• Streamlining your contract re-negotiation process

You can do all this and more by integrating Juro with HubSpot. To find out more about this integration check out this article, or if you’re already using HubSpot, book a demo via the link below. 

2. Contract signing

HubSpot also offers a built-in eSignature option, as well as several integrations that support eSignature. This saves you from moving platforms to review or sign important documents. For sales teams who work in HubSpot, this can be particularly helpful and as a lawyer reviewing the contract, it is useful to track it all in one place.

Signing on the dotted line is important, but some steps come before this. By integrating Hubspot with Juro you can automate the whole contract workflow, not just eSignature. This guide takes you through the process of managing contracts in HubSpot.

3. Consolidates customer data

In-house lawyers need to be on top of their customer data, be it for internal or external legal reasons. HubSpot CRM consolidates all of this data into one, readable space meaning lawyers can keep track of the key data without having to ask.

For law firms, HubSpot’s advanced search filters can enable lawyers to quickly find clients based on criteria including area of practice, case type, or client status.

Rather than guessing what customers need, HubSpot data can enable lawyers to view a client’s profile for more educated insights - enabling them to deliver a more tailored experience for customers.

This can also increase collaboration between legal and sales teams, as all of this data captured across emails, shared drives and other business systems is kept in one place. This creates a single source of truth for client data, making it easier for legal and sales to align and close more deals.

4. Compliance and security

HubSpot has to adhere to some very particular data protection laws, as it recognises here. These range from data protection laws and GDPR to jurisdiction-specific legal guidelines. This means you can rest assured that your customer's data is handled safely, and that you can evidence this.

The ability to store contact information, documents and notes in a secure space like HubSpot ensures that all data is easily accessible when needed. This can save your legal team time and energy, which is especially helpful if you are a startup GC.

5. Data-driven insights

Customer data, such as name, email, business name and website engagement. This data offers a useful insight into what your customers or clients are thinking and how you can improve their experience. In the case of SaaS businesses, data insights on HubSpot can tell you how customers are using your product, all of which are useful in renewal season.

One Forbes report noted that increased data use led to increased efficiencies within the legal team or law firm, which in turn helps to provide a more stable and improved working environment. This can also add a new level of insight and credibility.

If you want to learn more about HubSpot vs other CRMs, check out these comparison pages:

• HubSpot vs Salesforce
• HubSpot vs Monday.com
• HubSpot vs Pipedrive

Ready to use HubSpot to increase efficiency?

Integrating HubSpot with Juro means you can get real-time updates in HubSpot as your contracts are drafted, approved, negotiated, sent out and signed, helping you secure those signatures faster.

Legal should be able to collaborate with and enable sales teams. By integrating contracts with CRM, each team can stay in the system that works best for them, allowing you to hit revenue targets faster.