Stop Reviewing the Small Stuff: How Conditional Logic Focused Legal on Conflicts That Matter
Academic Research Center
At a Glance
Physicians at an academic research center had complex external ties -- speaking fees, consulting arrangements, equity positions, research grants from pharmaceutical companies. The Sunshine Act required disclosure of all of them, and the center's process required Legal review of every single one.
The result was predictable: Legal was drowning in disclosures. A $200 speaking fee received the same review scrutiny as a $50,000 equity position. The attorneys reviewing disclosures couldn't distinguish signal from noise because everything was treated as equally important.
Ethico built a disclosure form with conditional logic that routed submissions based on their risk profile. The rules were straightforward and mapped directly to the center's policies:
If equity exceeded 5%, route to Legal. If a speaking fee was under $500, auto-approve with documentation. If the disclosure involved a company funding active research, escalate to the Conflict of Interest Committee.
Legal review volume dropped dramatically. Attorneys who had been processing hundreds of routine disclosures now focused exclusively on the high-risk items that genuinely required their expertise. The quality of their review improved because they weren't fatigued by low-stakes paperwork.
Processing time for disclosures improved across the board. Low-risk items were approved instantly, high-risk items received faster attention because they weren't competing with routine submissions for attorney time, and grant renewals stopped being delayed by disclosure backlogs.
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