Three-Way Stop: Project Management, Technology and Process Improvement

Legal Project Management has seen an explosion of interest from the legal industry in recent years. It has been touted as the key to efficient legal work and a cure-all for the woes of fixed fees, fee caps, and lawyers who blow budgets. However, I think there has become a disconnect with understanding why legal project management has been beneficial in creating efficiencies, to the point where it isn't understood why it doesn't or won't create efficiencies in certain situations.

Legal Project Management (LPM) consists of conducting legal matters with project management principles; Initiating, Planning, Managing/Monitoring, and Review. Initiating is focused on the opening of the matter and clearing identifying client goals as well as the scope of the matter. Planning focuses on both an initial timeline of work, what work will be done, and who will be doing it. Many lawyers get hung up on the idea that they can't have a plan because you can't see months, if not years, into the future of litigation. However, a plan is meant to be based on the best information available combined with reasonable assumptions, and should be updated and modified as more information is available. Managing/Monitoring is doing the work that was planned and monitoring that the plan is being followed as well as monitoring that the budget is on track. Last, Reviewing takes place at the close of a matter to see how the matter went in regard to how accurate the initial plan was, how closely the budget was followed, how satisfied the client is, and what can be done better next time.

Legal Project Management can be a productive tool, and should be utilized; nothing I write should be construed otherwise. However, the expectations from LPM are often incorrectly pigeon-holed. The main selling point I keep hearing is that LPM makes lawyers more efficient. That isn't exactly true.

The focus of LPM is built around planning, following that plan, and learning how to tweak the plan next time. At best, you will never be more efficient than planned. The real benefit streams from reducing the unknown by having a plan. The reason LPM has a reputation for bringing efficiency is that having an actual plan that is followed and revised as needed is a new concept for lawyers and helps to eliminate time wasted conducting busywork while trying to figure out what should be done and who should be doing it. Another way to look at LPM is like a map. We could wander through the forest and eventually get to the other side, or we could use a map and get there in a more direct fashion. In this way, LPM does create efficiency. However, if the forest is really just a cluster of six trees, a map isn't really going to do much to help guide you there faster.

'Six Trees'

This example of “six trees” is representative of a lot of commoditized (higher volume, lower total time input) legal work: It is easy to see what needs to get done, and then simply do it. Of course, it still can take a high degree of specialized legal knowledge, but even in something like patent prosecution, there isn't a lot of doubt about what tasks are needed to get the patent application drafted and about how long those tasks will take.

This doesn't mean that having a plan, or tracking budget to actuals, is not beneficial, but the expectation that it will inherently create efficiencies compared with the tradition of wandering around the forest of litigation isn't warranted. Simply, the waste of working without clear direction didn't exist like it did for other types of legal work and that is a good thing! The benefits that are gained through project management are consistency of work product through fewer mistakes or missed tasks, but again, that doesn't necessarily translate into significant increased efficiency. Also, the same plan can probably be used again without changes, and that becomes a process.

When you have one of these “six trees” types of situations and you are looking to find increased productivity or efficiency, what you should be focused on is process improvement as perfectly executed Legal Project Management will leave you wanting.

Process Improvement

Process improvement comes in many forms and philosophies on how to go about it. Fundamentally, all process improvement is defining a process, and making it better. While often people imagine a manufacturing process with cogs getting spit off an assembly line, that isn't all a process can be. A process can be anything with repeatable steps, even if the end work product isn't always exactly the same. A sandwich artist never gets stumped in the process of making a sandwich when someone says no pickles. Every memo is different, but the process of writing is almost always the same. Every patent is unique, but the process is the same. Depositions are different, but the process is the same. Process can be found in all legal work, the only difficulty is defining where you choose to start the process, and where to end it.

The point of process improvement is to make a process better and that can mean a lot of things depending on the situation; faster, more accurate, fewer mistakes, cheaper, more consistent. Different philosophies such as Lean or Six Sigma can provide tools and methodologies to attain the desired goals, and sometimes process improvement lays the groundwork for something very powerful; technology.

Technology

Lawyers aren't generally known for being first adopters of technology and I can't blame them. When technology doesn't work like it is supposed to, or is clunky, it can be worse than not having it at all. However, the best technology is built or integrated with a specific process in mind which helps eliminate issues, excessive work-arounds, and only partial use of software. It is not uncommon for legal-specific software to be developed by those who have never worked in the legal industry and don't really understand how work is done so that their software ends up technically proficient, but a practical mess. Those who internally develop software at a high level, or vendors who truly understand the practice of law, will also understand how their technology fits into the process and hopefully designed it with that in mind.

While there are open-ended possibilities to process improvement and technology applications in law, they key is to be smart and focus on process and technology together instead of believing in a technical cure all. Once you have a process that is smooth, efficient, and consistent, layering technology into that process can be a beautiful thing.

One of the more recent technology tools that is growing in use is Legal Project Management and pricing tools. Project management doesn't need technology, but it certainly makes it easier to have automatic tracking, reporting, and budgeting/pricing tools tied together in one tool for project management purposes. Though, these tools are still young and none of them perfect, legal project management is new enough that how it looks in practice is changing as well. That said, trying to implement LPM without technology of some kind could very quickly become overwhelming, especially when trying to track numerous budget to actuals.

Conclusion

Project Management, Process Improvement and Technology all have a connection and tie together in different ways. As long as your expectations from each of them is appropriate and in context, they can be truly powerful tools to streamline legal services and reduce mistakes.

Micah Ascano, J.D.,LL.M.,LSSBB, is an attorney as well as a Certified Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt. Reach him at [email protected].