Category: Business Process Management

The Virtual Corporate Counsel Forum begins tomorrow in a location that is extremely convenient: Your office.

The ALM event offers seven webinars throughout the day, all of which are CLE-eligible. Not surprisingly, a main theme of all the presentations centers on taking control of challenges – some familiar and some new. Legal spend and managing outside counsel have been on the forefront for close to a decade, with programming focused on controlling costs and creating strong, efficient relationships and processes with outside counsel. Other topics – such as social media and cloud-based technologies – hold legal implications that are just now cresting into sight.

Missing from the line-up? A session focused on the numerous benefits of legal project management.

Given the throngs of corporate counsel and in-house personnel that are flocking towards legal project management events and the numerous articles published about it, this seems a significant oversight – especially when you consider that legal project management plays a significant role in almost every topic scheduled for Forum presentations.

Regardless, Onit will be “on-site” to support the Virtual Corporate Counsel Forum. Come visit our booth and we can fill you in on the latest updates, practices and success stories surrounding legal project management.  You can also register for a $100 Apple gift card and watch some screencasts.

We’re looking forward to seeing you “virtually” tomorrow.

It was the bastion of a successful, busy lawyer as little as 15 years ago. It sat on desks, was cradled by counsel, paralegals and secretaries and, undoubtedly, caused many backaches.

I am writing of the humble Redweld – that brown, expanding folder that housed nearly every aspect of a matter from motions to correspondence to billing. During the heavy-paper heydays, Redwelds ruled legal offices.

And they had a good run.

Now, with smartphones, iPads, laptops, email and the Internet (or the Interweb if you’re truly old school), a lot of information is electronic and it’s not quite as easy to build a comprehensive view of an ongoing matter.  Information is fragmented, with electronic documents, conversations and billings anchored to various legal contributors and programs within the law department.

The Redweld isn’t enough. Having something to unite electronic information – say a portal or SharePoint – is not enough. Today’s successful law department needs processes and tools to effectively manage all aspects of their matters – from budgeting to performance to time management to spend … and beyond.

Sunsetting Redweldian Processes

Like the rapidly retiring Redwelds, the processes used to manage matters 15 years ago no longer support the business principles that are prevalent in law departments today. There’s a fundamental difference between the business of law and the practice of law. The business aspect creates a succinct overview of matter performance – versus only the outcome of the matter itself on the legal side.

Building off of these basic business principles is the growing adoption of legal practice management.  Matters are no longer opened, worked and closed. They are evaluated, budgeted, measured, reported on and compared to similar matters and industry benchmarks.  Project management supports these efforts with disciplined, task-based and systematic approaches towards the legal work process. In many ways, it can help to “standardize” the process by:

• Establishing manageable and clear protocols for managing various legal projects, including the process of budgeting, reporting and communication
• Defining objectives
• Identifying potential constraints and building up a plan that will help in creating a working map for clients and lawyers
• Analyzing bills to help understand the costs, budgets and potential alternative fee arrangements

The New Tools

New disciplines necessitate new tools. In order to surpass Redweldian expectations, a law department needs to have software that not only supports project management best practices, but supports it for the legal environment. It’s not enough to have a shared portal of information (don’t get us wrong – if you’re migrating from a pure-paper Redweldian environment, this is still a huge first step. However, it’s only helpful in uniting information, not true project management.)

Here are some questions to ask when evaluating legal project management software:

• Can it support specialized or standardized billing codes?
• Can it appropriately associate documents with the correct matter?
• Is it showing – and have the capacity to report on – the information that corporate counsel need on a day-to-day basis?
• Does the software offer the security that is mandatory for you, your clients and your corporation, non-profit, organization or university?
• Can you look at one screen and see an accurate overview on the matter’s status, budget and progress?
• Does the software play nice with the technology you already have? For example, does it integrate with Outlook?

Curious about legal project management? Start gathering information by viewing some of these demos. They’ll help you get a feel for the process and tools available today.

Have more questions? Reach out to us at [email protected].

Preparing for a project today led me to an interesting article (thank you, Twitter): The Eight Most Secure Places in the World. Naturally, the article covered places such as the United States Bullion Depository (often referred to as Fort Knox), Colorado’s ADX Florence Supermax Prison and NORAD. Unexpectedly, it included a vault that protects more than 250 million seeds and a parking garage.

What unites these juggernauts is not necessarily the independent security measures each took to secure its premises, but the uniform thoughts that drove the creation of these processes.

For example: Battening down the hatches at Fort Knox includes resources such as gates, cameras, armed US Mint Police, artillery support from the nearby Army base, a 22-ton vault door and a combination split between 10 separate people who must all be present to unlock the vault.

Clearly, prior to building the depository and setting up these tactics, the government needed to create the plan and its desired outcome, agree on a project plan, resources, goals and deliverables, execute and monitor on these principles and then drive the project to completion. This includes everything from site evaluations, budgets, building plans and a tight oversight to ensure a timely and exact execution. After all, they were building this to protect more than 4.6 thousand tons of gold bullion.

So how does this relate to legal project management?

Like the development of these fortresses, there are basic components for successful legal project management.

The Right People – The Project Management Institute blogged about what qualities good project managers have and these are definitely relevant in legal project management. The best candidates have long-term vision balanced with an eye for detail and the drive to ensure projects stay on time and within budget. The project manager needs to have a strong commitment to see projects through to the end and the patience to methodically plot them out and assign deliverables.

And then there is communication. Yes, we hear this skill paired with almost every profession but in this case it rings especially true. An individual who is handling a project that spans an entire corporate legal department – and often includes participants from multiple departments and outside counsel – requires the ability to alternate communication styles like a switch hitter.

Experience is important. Does your project manager know the processes that comprise the planning and execution of this particular project? Does the project manager know your unique needs as a corporate legal department that must be taken into account? Is your legal project manager credentialed (PMP, CAPM, etc)? Has your legal project manager handled projects such as this successfully? If there is no one that suits these requirements within your organization, consider hiring a consultant or outsourcing your project management needs. Another option is to identify your department’s budding project managers and arrange for professional development opportunities for them.

The Right Tools – Did they bore out the Cheyenne Mountain for NORAD HQ with spoons? Did they use paper mache to build fences for Area 51? Of course not! In order to ensure quality results, you must have the right tool to help you plan, collaborate, execute and measure your projects. In this case, I’m talking project management software. First and foremost, ensure that the software you choose is specific to legal project management.

There are many tools out there that address the needs of project management in general but if they are not tailored specifically to legal project management then you’re starting out your project with an unnecessary deficit. What good is your software if you can’t use it to plan or track important elements of your project such as e-invoicing, alternative fee arrangements or matters, tasks and timekeeper management? It should also serve as a centralized repository of information for authorized participants – a home for your documents and conversations around the project that can easily establish processes, players, deliverables, next steps and reports.

Finally, consider cloud-based applications. Cloud-based software gives you the agility and collaboration capabilities of in-house applications without them being leashed to your computer or including expensive, department-wide implementations.

The Right Resources – Project management is an evolving discipline for the legal industry, one that requires corporate legal departments to learn the ropes while also adapting the process to meet their unique needs. If legal project management is a new concept for your department, then turn to the right resources to help you develop it successfully. Here are a few ways to help you acclimate:

• Attend legal project management seminars such as these that can address the practice from a beginning to an advanced level.
• Look outside the legal industry to find inspiration of other project management success stories. Although the exact execution of a software development project may not speak to your legal projects, the vision and outcomes may provide helpful references.
• Go to professional organizations to catch up on the latest news and events within the industry. Great examples of project management organizations include the Project Management Institute and the International Project Management Association.
• Ask your peers how they are implementing project management in their corporate legal departments and what successes they are hearing of.
• Turn to industry experts to learn more about project management and its trends and applications in the legal industry.

So build your own Fort Knox of legal project management by ensuring you have the right people, tools and resources. Your gold bullion will thank you.

Do you need to reduce legal costs?

Do you need better transparency into your legal matters?

Are Microsoft Outlook and Excel your primary tools for matter tracking and reporting?

Would automating your legal processes make you more productive?

Today is your lucky day!

We want to model one of your process for FREE!! We want to show you how Onit Premium can give you the tools your corporate legal department needs to simplify project management, automate legal processes and demonstrate your legal department’s value to the rest of the organization.

How do you get started? Simply choose one of the processes below or think of a legal or business process you are struggling with internally.

• Incident or accident report

• Ethics violation

• Employee termination

• Litigation

• Loan modification

• Trademark

• NDA

• Contact negotiation

Next, email me and I’ll schedule a time to discuss the process you’d like us to model in Onit Premium. Don’t worry, you don’t have to buy anything! Within a few days, you’ll get to see what your process looks like in the application.

It’s that simple. Oh, and more thing – feel free to tell all your corporate colleagues about this special promotion. It’s only available for a limited time.

It is with great pleasure that I am announcing we have successfully completed our open beta. During the twelve-month program, we secured a few thousand subscribers from a cross section of industries including, associations, consulting firms, corporation legal departments, government agencies, law firms, non-profit organizations, vendors, and universities. Nearly 41% of the participants were employed with corporate legal departments or law firms. Interesting enough, 8 of the top 20 highest grossing law firms, (AmLaw200), were participants.

When we officially launched the beta last February at LegalTech NY 2010, we couldn’t anticipate how many users would actually register. More than a year later and a couple thousand users, we would like to personally thank all of the legal and business professionals that participated. This enthusiasm tells us two things — 1. users are willing to embrace new technology and 2. legal project management is here to stay.

We believe that the legal industry is at a critical tipping point, especially related to the procurement of legal services. When legal project management tools like Onit are implemented effectively, legal and business professionals can not only yield better outcomes but they see significant cost savings. LPM tools can also significantly increase project transparency, simplify business collaboration and enhance overall team communication.

Even though the beta is officially over, all of the existing collaboration and project management functionality will remain FREE. If you still haven’t signed up for an account, register today. All you need to get started is an email address. Watch this short video tour to see a quick overview of the application.

If you are managing a legal matter, then you will realize that irrespective of whether it is a transaction or a dispute, it can be equally important as doing the actual legal work. Attention to both the planning of the project as well as its execution will ensure that the expectations and needs of the clients are met in a timely and cost effective manner. Recent surveys, however, have concluded that the majority of in-house counsel is usually dissatisfied with their outside law firms.

Some of the main reasons behind this point of disagreement are poor communication, lack of responsiveness and high cost. As a result, clients are addressing their dissatisfaction through various measures including task-based budgets, scheduled reviews and the creation of clearly-defined scopes of work.

If you are managing a legal project, then you need to first understand that it is not very different from managing a construction project and development program. Focus of these activities is mainly directed on monitoring, controlling, planning and closing a scope of work within a certain time period and within a specific budget. These professionals often refer to the schedule, scope and budget as the three main constraints of any project.

Legal project management is mainly concerned with monitoring the project and it does not focus much on the execution of the work. Efficient and effective management involves business tools and skills that are slightly different from the legal tools and skills that are used by legal attorneys or professionals.

Legal project management tools are important for many reasons but primarily because they allow lawyers to spend less time doing administrative activities and more time doing their core competency — practicing law.

Scope of work in legal project management is basically the project plan. It acts as a road map to show how a legal matter or project is going to be executed. It defines the overall objectives and goals and asks questions like, How will the work be conducted? Who will do the work? How will changes in the scope of work be addressed? How will status updates be reported? How often will we communicate about the project?

Efficient legal project management requires a mix of tools, techniques, knowledge and skills. But that’s not all. A project manager can truly only be successful with open and frequent communication. Without this basic concept firmly in place, no online tool, widget or application will make a difference.

All of a sudden, there has been a steep increase in the popularity of legal project management. You will find many attorneys undergoing training on the subject, attending day-long seminars, tuning into web casts and getting certified as project managers. The topic seems to be top of mind in the legal community and is on the rise.

Interesting enough, the principles and concepts of project management related to legal issues were unheard of just a few years ago. Today, however, lawyers and corporate legal departments alike understand the tremendous change when the subjects are linked.

It will not be wrong to say that it all started when the economy forced corporate legal departments to get serious about reducing their outside legal costs. Initially, attorneys were interested in legal project management because they needed to gain great visibility into their legal matters and projects and have a means to better predict future legal spend. This spurred general counsel to aggressively negotiate fixed prices for standard legal work. Hence, the rise of alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) finally.

From the law firm perspective, attorneys are under a lot of pressure to bill more hours, produce exceptional work and maintain profitability in the law firm. On the flip side, their clients want them to work smarter, harder, faster and at a reduced rate.

Enter the need for legal project management.

Most firms can achieve a much higher return on their investment if they apply the techniques of legal project management appropriately. There are many training programs that are being conducted on the topic. With a little guidance and expert advice, most can quickly come up with hundreds of ways to save money and time. You just need to ensure that the course or training program is led by someone who has good knowledge about the unique needs of legal project management.

Project management is still a new concept to the legal profession and everyone is still trying to figure out how to make it work and what it can do. It is no doubt a key component and it is just starting to transform how legal professionals operate. It will ultimately require top-to-bottom, comprehensive and long-term changes in the way all lawyers do business.

Unfortunately, many lawyers are reluctant to change but the tipping point has already come and now is the time to get onboard or risk getting left behind. Embracing legal project management principles is not a matter of when, but how quickly it will become customary for lawyers to practice law and be project managers.

Project management is a difficult area of study and when we are talking about legal project management, it becomes even more critical. If you are not clear about what legal project management is, let me explain. Simply put, it is the application of project management principles but in the context of the legal world – cases, matters, litigation, transactions or projects.

Lawyers and in-house attorneys are beginning to understand why project management tools are critical, especially with the rise of alternative fee arrangements (AFAs). For example, how can a law firm measure whether or not it is profitable if they can’t distinguish what drives more revenue — hourly billing, AFAs or blended approaches? Enter project management.

Legal project management tools can provide insight into all areas of billing whether they are fixed fees, AFAs or blended arrangements. In fact, this type of management is becoming a significant means to help many law firms and corporate legal departments limit their risk and exposure, reduce excessive spending and improve collaboration among team members.

Irrespective of what profession or business you are in, we all manage projects. It doesn’t matter if they are legal, business, school or home-improvement related. Having a clearly defined process and ability to continually monitor, access and evaluate the process will define the outcome and success of the project. From our perspective, it seems easier to rely on technology to simplify the process.

Project management involves the consideration of the following aspects:

• Define Project Terms. Defining the project scope early on is critical to ensure all team members are aligned on the goals and objectives. This task alone can eliminate many unnecessary hours of wasted work.

• Assign Project Tasks. A clear time line of project deliverables and tasks is necessary for a successful project execution. This also gives ownership to the various team members and eliminates any confusion about who is completing the various tasks. When implemented correctly, the project manager can quickly determine if expectations are being met.

• Communicate. Communication is the cornerstone of managing a project. When working on projects with multiple team members, written communication is preferred. In fact, centralizing all the notes, documents, conversations and status updates in one place will make it easier to manage the project.

I asked a similar question when I really came to understand that legal case/matter management offers few tools to help a lawyer do anything better. “Why isn’t matter management just project management?” I asked.

Well, here I am again, questioning what seems to be the status quo. Why isn’t project management really process management? As I survey the leading tools for project management, I find that they are great at aggregating project knowledge and dissemination of roles, responsibilities and timelines. But they don’t fundamentally help you do anything better. What they all lack is a focus on “process management.” In addition to the online project management tools that I am referring to, I also include Microsoft Project. Microsoft SharePoint is more about process management than Project is.

When we think about lawyers, primarily ones who work inside corporations, we see departments that run on process. Most of these processes are manual, paper intensive and cumbersome but they are effective on the margins. But why couldn’t they be better with technology?

Corporate legal departments have processes for everything — hiring law firms, terminating employees, collecting information about potential claims, collecting data about legal department costs, etc.

What if:

• A corporate legal department could automate and manage those processes as part of their primary project management functionality?

• The processes could be dynamically created, with custom forms and workflow added, in minutes?

• They could deliver those custom processes (forms and workflow) to anyone in their company without them having access to their project management system?

• They could deliver those custom processes in any manner they wish such as SharePoint, a company intranet/extranet or other applications?

It begs the question – Do legal departments need project management or process management? I think we need both, but my definition of project management now very much includes process management.

The harder part is trying to find a system that does both functions well (or at all). I couldn’t find it! But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Process management is foundational to Onit’s premium product scheduled to be released next month. Register today for a free trial and you’ll be one of the lucky few to get advance notice about our new product for both project and process management.

The discipline of project management is not new – it is just becoming the latest buzzword in the legal industry – and for good reason. As many of you know, traditional project management emerged out of the construction and engineering industries and has never been really suitable for the legal industry. The IT industry, however, has in the past 20 years taken to a modified project management process that is lighter and more suited to lawyers. Although legal has been somewhat slow to embrace this discipline, the landscape is changing and there has been a fundamental shift in how law is being practiced today and in the future. (Just look at all the articles about alternative fee arrangements).

Why Now?

Even before the recession, corporate legal departments were being asked to reduce their total legal spend, bring greater control and predictability to their legal budgets and demand greater efficiency from outside counsel. The recession escalated this mandate and there continues to be immense pressure to control and manage legal costs. Whether corporate legal departments like it or not, legal project management is here to stay.

3 Key Benefits of Legal Project Management

Change is difficult for any corporation or law firm but with it comes the possibility of great innovation. Implementing basic project management fundamentals in all of your legal projects will help you work more efficiently, increase your productivity and improve how you interact with your legal and business teams. Here are 3 key benefits of legal project management and why it’s necessary in the legal arena:

1. Managing Expectations

Project management is all about managing expectations – whether it be with internal or external stakeholders. This seems like a simple concept but how many times have you received an invoice from an outside law firm or vendor and it was more than you expected? Implementing project management discipline in all your legal projects, whether they are matters, litigation, deals, or transactions, will ensure that your projects are on track and that milestones and deadlines are met accordingly. It will also help alleviate those awkward conservations with the senior management team about why your legal departments spend dramatically increased with little to no advance warning.

2. Updating Project Stakeholders

Communication with project stakeholders is important to the success of any project, legal and otherwise. Keeping a team well-informed ensures there are no surprises at the end of the project or in this case, billing cycle. Regular and consistent communication is a simple enough concept but it takes discipline to do it right. Besides, isn’t it easier to be proactive rather than reactive?

3. You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure

Although this cliché gets touted like a mantra in some organizations, it’s true when it comes to legal project management. But the reverse is true also: you can’t measure what you don’t manage. You must agree to the scope of work, objectives, key performance indicators and success criteria in advance and review them regularly as your legal project hits milestones. It’s critical to take action early if you are failing to achieve any of your goals or performance targets and alert the team. Tracking, assessing and measuring legal project status can be summed up in a one of Albert Einstein’s concepts, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.”