Legal Project Management (LPM) Patricia J. Williams, PMP

Transcription

1 Legal Project Management (LPM) Patricia J. Williams, PMP

2 What law firms do: Provide professional legal services to companies and people. Advise clients on legal issues and represent clients in adversarial legal matters. Get the client s desired result at or below budget.

3 What is Legal Project Management? A disciplined, proactive approach to managing law firm resources: Define the scope of engagement (usually detailed in engagement letter). Estimate budget and client approval in engagement letter. Identify resources (human, technology, knowledge management). Schedule human resources (SMEs). Identify Budget Risks/Issues. Monitor budget and resources through close of the deal or end of the case.

4 Structured and repeatable processes: Plan the matter Manage the matter Regular and controlled communication with client Prevent scope creep Measure outcomes and close all loops 5 Case Phases: Initiate Plan Execute Monitor and Control Close

5 Why LPM is important: Law firms realize immediate value for their clients. Clients want to know two things can we win and how much will it cost? Allows law firms to serve clients more flexibly, effectively and efficiently. Law firms can provide predictable client service at lower costs. Encourages transparency and communication. Law firms stay attuned to client needs.

6 Shared Goals:

7 What successful law firms do: Reduce clients total legal costs (compared to past cases). Provide high predictability of success. Improve outcomes (i.e., leverage knowledge, reduce average costs and better settlements for specific types of cases).

8 Which size law firms benefit the most from LPM? Large (500+) multiple litigations and deals occurring at the same time with thousands of attorney hours invested. Medium ( ) several litigations and deals occurring at the same time with hundreds of attorney hours invested. Small (<100) limited resources and multiple litigations and deals. Boutique specialty firm can benefit when using a new fee structure for the firm.

9 Overall benefits to law firms: Gain competitive advantage over firms not employing this disciplined practice more competitive budgets. Distinguish firm s capabilities and strengths. Increase realization by reducing or eliminating write offs. Guaranteed case budget (no hidden costs). Professional development for Associates and other staff (task optimization driven while maximizing resources).

10 Overall benefits to law firm clients: Transparency in budget (no surprises). Law firms share more of the risk. Clear path to closure. Realize immediate cost savings. Whole case approach case planning, discovery and trial phases. Lessons Learned throughout the case (check points to gauge progress). Comprehensive case plan with accompanying process maps (scope, work breakdown structure, schedule, cost, communications, risks, and resources, etc.).

11 PM for different fee structures: Alternative Fee Arrangements much more risk of investment for law firms, so PM is essential for firm s realization. Hourly Billing much more risk of investment for client, so PM is essential for client s budget.

12 Keeping costs down: Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFA) are becoming more common. Classic example Contingent Fee (contingency or conditional fee). Law firm collects fee as percentage of amount won at trial or on settlement. Client usually pays nothing unless the legal action is financially successful. Fixed Fee law firm takes on single case (or portion) for a pre specified, negotiated amount of money cap on fees to be charged to client. Flat Fee law firm takes on multiple similar cases for an agreed negotiated amount of money, regardless of outcome and length of engagement. Bonus Arrangement law firm receives an extra payment that depends on case outcome (i.e. level of success, speed of resolution, or cost savings).

13 Impact of AFAs on law firm profitability: According to Altman Weil 2011 Law Firms in Transition survey, AFAs: Used by 95% of all participating firms. Used by 100% of firms with 250 lawyers or more. Non hourly billing in 2010, increased in 58% (measured as a percentage of revenue) for all participating firms, and in 81% of firms with 250 or more lawyers. Two thirds of law firms reported their use of AFAs is primarily in response to client requests, while only a third offer AFAs proactively as a means of creating a competitive advantage.

14 Keys to AFAs: Leads to better partnerships with clients. Engenders trust in law firm and attorney(s). Improves client retention. Encourages measuring and analyzing case outcomes (AFA budget to actual time incurred and billed). Shared risk between client and firm.

15 LPM best practices: PMs are not lawyers; can support implementation of strategy not lead it. LPM represents a culture shift be patient, open and receptive. Align law firm interests (client retention) with client interests (result and costs) to avoid excess of hours worked and billed (prevent scope creep). Use real time data (measure case progress and milestones). Consider an Earned Value Management (EVM) approach to budgeting. Implement an Integration tool to view information across multiple resources (drill down capabilities). Assign partners assistant(s) or Associate(s) to PM/Analyst role.

16 LPM best practices, cont d.: Leverage PM s/analysts to participate on pitches and Discovery sessions. Create template for Springboard Maps (Process and Mind Maps). Conduct regular case status meetings (risks and issues only). Use dashboards for quicker analysis to tell story. Debrief and debug (home in focal points, regularly conduct lessons learned). Be Flexible and clear (stakeholder management).

17 LPM Resources PMI.org Americanbar.org Tikit s Carpe Diem (time tracking) Thomas Reuters Elite (accounting and billing tracking) MS SharePoint Aderant (formerly Redwood Analytics extracts baseline data from Elite) MS SQL Integration Services SQL Reporting Services Analysis Services

18 Questions? Patricia J. Williams, PMP