City National’s Integration Leads the Way to Create Advanced Am Law 200 Treasury Solution

Client Background

Collaboration with a forward-focused client.

One of City National’s prestigious law firm clients is ranked on The American Lawyer’s Am Law 200 list and regularly offers innovative solutions to their high-profile clients. But when it came to their own internal operations — like treasury management — there were opportunities to reduce manual processes and be more efficient.

After winning a competitive selection process, City National® undertook a high-level collaboration with the client firm to implement an integrated solution that would automate its treasury management.

Client Needs

Integrated, straight-through processing.

The firm’s goal was to fully integrate its existing accounting software with City National to automate payment processing and banking access.

Created by legal experts to drive growth and increase profitability, 3E is an accounting software¹ solution preferred by many Am Law 200 firms. With 3E’s advanced system and accounting integration capabilities, the firm can take advantage of more benefits like:

• Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software integration with automated workflows.
• Streamlined onboarding processes and access.
• Simplified initiation of payments and management of online banking, users and entitlements.

The law firm also wanted to enable remote work, a need that was greatly accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It turned out they needed something we had already developed,” said Robin Burton, senior vice president and head of the Legal Segment for Private Banking at City National Bank. “We had a 3E integration solution built and available for implementation. And we were the only ones who could deliver that solution. It allowed for seamless and secure connectivity between their treasury operations and City National.”

"It was exciting to see them progress out of a paper-based environment into all-digital workflows that they could control from anywhere.”

City National's Approach

A unique integration with 3E software.

With a long track record of providing sophisticated financial solutions to the legal profession, City National knows how to anticipate the industry’s needs. Banking integration with law firms’ existing software is the latest leap forward.

“Using our EASI Link® connectors, we delivered direct ‘plug and play’ integration with the firm’s 3E software,” said Natalia Lappo, senior product manager, Treasury Management Solutions at City National Bank. “We saved this client between two and six months of effort right up front — because that’s how long it can take to build direct integration from scratch.”

City National’s team of software developers established an extremely productive working relationship with the law firm’s IT group. One of the things that sets our developers apart is their ability and willingness to test options, quickly evaluate the results and make nimble adjustments as needs arise. This means clients get solutions tailored specifically to meet their needs.

The goal of the phased implementation approach was to create an end-to-end solution where the client could stay in their native accounting software. Next, the team worked on integrating check printing and domestic wire transfers — and the final phase included integrating international wire transfers.

“We held weekly project management meetings to stay on track with key requirements and next steps,” explained Trish Jackson-Posey, vice president, Treasury Management Solutions at City National Bank.

Industry-Leading Benefits

Reclaim unproductive time for more

The Am Law 200 client was extremely pleased with the outcome. As a result of the integration with City National through 3E and EASI Link, their treasury management operations became far more efficient and work could be managed from remote locations. Law firm staff reported feeling empowered by City National’s attentive support.

The integrated treasury management system created a streamlined receivables and payables process that fit the firm’s specific needs. This allowed for employees to spend less time on redundant, manual tasks and offered more time for important core activities. Also, the firm now has the ability to offer self-service products and self-enrollment for onboarding.

“City National even helped the firm transition some of its vendor payments from checks to electronic payments by providing them industry best practices,” added Jackson-Posey. “That’s one small example of how City National takes pride in going the extra mile to help our clients succeed.”

“We have a decades-deep understanding of the law firm environment.”

Conclusion

Clients can participate in co-creating solutions.

City National prides itself on understanding our clients’ business. We use ingenuity to build solutions that add value to our clients. We empower these firms to remain in the software environments where they are already comfortable, while being able to manage everything efficiently and remotely through secure automation.

“Our highly effective collaboration with this Am Law 200 client is typical of our consultative approach,” said Abel Montañez, executive vice president and head of City National’s Private Banking group. “Regardless of where a firm is in their tech-adoption journey, our team works to develop the right solution. In particular, clients tell us that our ‘plug and play’ integrations are game changers for their firms.”