How FirstRand Bank Centralized Legal Workflows and Improved Collaboration

Industry

Financial Services

Challenge

Prior to the implementation of Co-Flo and iManage, FRB’s legal teams worked in silos using an array of inconsistent tools from RSA Archer and SharePoint to S-Drives, OneDrive, and manual Excel trackers. Documents and emails often lived on personal desktops, creating major risks when employees left.

Results

Today, FRB’s legal team describes Co-Flo and iManage as “critical to daily work.” For Center of Excellence's like Litigation and Enablement, productivity gains are estimated at 15–30%. Audit and reporting processes that once took days are now completed in minutes.

Key Product

iManage + Co-Flo

www.firstrand.co.za

“If Co-Flo isn’t available, productivity stops. It’s become invaluable because we know exactly who’s working on what, and everything has a home.”

Judy Naidoo

Legal Support Specialist, Group Legal Team

About FirstRand Bank

FirstRand Bank (FRB) is one of Africa’s largest financial institutions, operating across multiple brands including FNB, RMB, WesBank, Ashburton, and DirectAxis. With a legal function spanning South Africa, Mauritius, India, and subsidiaries across Africa, FRB’s Group Legal team faced the challenge of unifying dispersed lawyers, support staff, and processes into a single, reliable system.

The Problem

Reporting was incomplete, collaboration between teams was patchy, and critical matters like litigation could be spread across multiple systems, making it difficult to ensure visibility and control. Physical files were sometimes the only fail-safe.

“We had litigation matters sitting in multiple places; shared drives, inboxes, personal desktops. If someone left, their emails were gone into the ether.”
— Judy Naidoo, Legal Support Specialist, Group Legal Team

Key challenges:

No central repository for legal matters or documents
High risk of data loss when employees left
Inconsistent processes and tools across geographies and brands
Poor visibility and reporting, especially for high-value litigation
Manual, time-consuming responses to audits and risk committee requests.

The Turning Point

A legal operating model overhaul, including the creation of Centres of Expertise (COEs) for litigation, regulatory, IP, procurement, and other functions, created the perfect moment to adopt a unified legal operations platform.

Co-Flo and iManage stood out for their:

Seamless integration with Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel
Centralized matter management with a familiar, user-friendly interface
Customizable taxonomy to support diverse legal workstreams
Integrated e-signature capabilities (SigningHub)
Scalability across legal and non-legal teams.

The Solution

Working with Cooperative Computing, FRB rolled out Co-Flo and iManage over 18 months during COVID, and entirely remotely. The rollout involved designing nine tailored taxonomies, applying an 80/20 approach to standardization vs. specialization, and appointing super users in each COE to drive adoption.

Key solution elements:

Centralized, secure matter management for all legal workstreams
Structured collaboration within and between COEs
Integrated digital signing directly from Co-Flo workspaces
Governance via a Change Advisory Board to control taxonomy changes
Phased onboarding for non-legal teams such as Africa Recoveries, Commercial Recoveries, IBD, and Financial Crime.

The Impact

Today, FRB’s legal team describes Co-Flo and iManage as “critical to daily work.” For COEs like Litigation and Enablement, productivity gains are estimated at 15–30%. Audit and reporting processes that once took days are now completed in minutes.

“If Co-Flo isn’t available, productivity stops. It’s become invaluable because we know exactly who’s working on what, and everything has a home.”
— Judy Naidoo, Legal Support Specialist, Group Legal Team

Before Co-Flo:

Litigation information fragmented across systems
Manual, inconsistent reporting for finance, insurance, and risk committees
Limited visibility across teams and regions

After Co-Flo:

All matters centralized with high-value litigation instantly visible to all relevant parties
Monthly litigation reports generated in minutes, tailored to PwC’s audit requirements
Audit responses significantly faster and less stressful
COEs able to hand over work seamlessly, with full matter history accessible
Growing adoption in non-legal teams, driven by built-in signing capabilities

Impact at a glance:

15–30% productivity gains in key teams
Audit prep time cut from days to minutes
High-risk matters instantly visible for risk committee review
Expanded beyond legal to multiple business units
Mature governance ensuring consistent taxonomy and process control

Why It Worked

Co-Flo and iManage succeeded because they aligned with how FRB’s lawyers already worked. Familiar Microsoft integration minimized disruption, while strong governance and super-user support ensured adoption stuck. The platform’s flexibility allowed FRB to centralize its legal operations without forcing a “one-size-fits-all” model, giving teams both structure and the freedom to work efficiently.

Now, FRB is looking to take the next step; leveraging dashboards, advanced reporting, and streamlined taxonomies to gain even deeper insights and further enhance collaboration across the bank.