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How To Do Legal Project Management
2017 ACC Legal Operations
Conference
Chicago, IL
June, 2017
Ravi Kiran Mamidanna is Operations Director & Senior Counsel,
International Legal Operations at Abbott. He has over 15 years’ of
experience as in-house counsel, in Singapore and India.
Ravi Kiran Mamidanna
224.668.2110
[email protected]
Ravi’s role includes developing and implementing processes and
collaborative tools for the international legal team at Abbott,
leading cross-regional knowledge management and efficiency
improvement projects, managing corporate governance projects
related to OUS subsidiaries, supporting integration of international
commercial operations in global M&A deals, etc.
Prior to joining Abbott, Ravi worked with PepsiCo, Philips Electronics
and Marico. He advised on a broad range of issues, particularly in
the areas of commercial and contract management, licensing,
regulatory, M&A, employment, competition and corporate
governance.
Ravi received a LL.B. from University of Mumbai and a LL.M. (US
Laws) from Washington University in St. Louis.
Scott Rosenberg
847.414.8500
[email protected]
Scott Rosenberg is Managing Director and Corporate Counsel at
LegalShift. He has 25 years’ experience helping law departments
identify and translate practice management needs into strategic
and actionable business and technology plans. Scott’s work allows
his clients to ‘do more with less’, creating improved process and
organizational models to support operational best practices. He is
highly skilled at developing state-of-the-art technology platforms
and implementing successful change management strategies to
ensure user adoption.
Scott served as Senior Manager of Legal Operations for Kraft Foods
Group, Inc. and as Managing Director of Huron Consulting Group’s
legal business consulting practice. He ran the corporate legal
practices of Project Leadership Associates and Baker Robbins &
Company.
Scott is a lawyer, CPA and certified project management
professional (PMP). He is the co-author of the book General
Counsel in the 21st Century: Challenges & Opportunities. Scott
earned a BS in accountancy and a JD from the University of Illinois.
Dan Safran is President/CEO at LegalShift, LLC. He brings over 30
years of services growth and enablement experience to LegalShift’s
clients. He is an advocate and solution innovator, targeting the
disruptive change facing the legal world. Dan and his team drive
legal operational improvements to global, national, regional and
local clients with an emphasis on improving collaboration and
enabling transparency between co-dependent legal players.
Dan Safran
312.560.8932
[email protected]
Prior to LegalShift, Dan spent 15 years as EVP at Project Leadership
Associates (at the time, the largest consulting firm serving the US
legal market) and led its Legal Market and Management Consulting
practice groups. From 2012-2014, he served as company coPresident. Dan was President of Project Leadership Consulting, a
pure play management consulting advisory business, until it was
sold to PLA in 2002.
Dan has held various positions as President, Chief Operating Officer
and Chief Information Officer at a variety of international public and
private companies and law firms. Dan’s classical consulting training
emanates from eight years spent at Arthur Andersen/Andersen
Consulting (now Accenture) early in his career.
Polling Question
What single initiative will have the greatest long-term impact
on law department operations?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Technology stack upgrade/optimization
Cost controls (in management of legal spend)
Legal project management
Process improvement (e.g., Six Sigma, Lean, Agile, etc.)
The answer is C …of course
“Our legal department experienced upwards of a 30% reduction in spend
and a corresponding 50% reduction in matter duration, directly through
the use of LPM”
The Truth About Legal
Project Management (LPM)
What is Legal Project Management (LPM)?
A proactive, disciplined approach to managing legal work that
involves defining, planning, budgeting, executing, and evaluating
a legal matter;
requires the application of specific knowledge, skills, tools,
and techniques to achieve project objectives;
requires the use of effective communication to set and meet
objectives and expectations;
facilitated by dedicated project managers and/or lawyers who are
trained in PM skillsets; and
does not require technology, but technology can enhance proactive
management, communication and data capture.
Project Management Is Not Complex
Misconception #1: A “Project Manager” spends most of his/her time
documenting and updating project plans
In reality, Project Managers build trust through transparency; they:
90%
communication
Statistic from
Wrike.com
• Define and manage the scope of the
work
• Make sure all those who need to be
involved are in the loop
• Provide status updates
• Facilitate project meetings and
discussions
• Communicate meeting minutes and
action items
• Make sure that risks are addressed on
time by the right people
Lawyers Are Indeed Project Managers
Common Misconception #2: At best, LPM need only apply to large matters
where a Project Manager is needed
• Many lawyers feel that project management is the domain of Project
Managers (PMs)—partially because lawyers have had not been trained
on project management.
In reality, in-house project management is quickly evolving to
accommodate the unique needs of the legal department.
− Project management is a well-defined and adopted discipline in most
industries—e.g. PMI’s PMBOK.
− Current LPM practices evolved out of the needs of innovative law firms—
particularly in litigation support and eDiscovery.
• To succeed, LPM must:
 Have demonstrable impact to the work I do
 Be readily understood
 Be easy to implement
LPM Is Not Process Improvement
Common Misconception #3: We have already instituted process improvement
initiatives—e.g., Six Sigma, Lean, or Agile
Process Improvement purpose: remove waste from repetitive processes
• Waste includes:
− spending more time that necessary, i.e. “gold plating”;
− duplication in effort by timekeepers who are unclear as to their
responsibilities;
− workflows that are random and inconsistent; and
− assignment of higher rate resources to tasks that can be completed by
lower rate resources.
LPM purpose: clarify expectations in delivery of a singular, specific process—
the design and management of a legal matter
LPM Need Not Involve Technology
Common Misconception #4: We already have a matter management and
eBilling system
In reality…LPM does not require technology
eBilling serves an auditing system…
…LPM serves as an early warning system
Integrating LPM Into Existing
Matter Management
Workflows
Matter Management Lifecycle
Current State
3 ways a Lawyer/Project Manager can lead:
• Hindsight:
• Insight:
reflect and learn from the past.
interpret and respond to the present.
• Foresight:
predict and prepare for the future.
Current State:
Intake
Execute
Measure
Review
Hindsight
We call this way to manage a project
“matter management & eBilling”
Matter Management Lifecycle
Future State
LPM is a supplement/complement to existing
matter management workflow process!!
Future State:
No Change
Needed
Assess
Plan
Execute
Close
Measure
Change
Needed
Insight
Control
Review
Foresight
We call this way to manage a project “legal
project management”
Overview of the
LPM Reference Model
Intro to LPM Reference Model
Three Stages of LPM Maturity
Basic – Manage Your Time
• improve your own ability to manage time and work
• repeatably apply to the important, evolve to further
control the urgent (Covey).
Intermediate – Manage Your Team
• improve the performance and efficiency of internal
legal teams and help to quantify value add.
Advanced – Manage Your Vendors
• expand LPM processes to include the rest of the
supply chain—e.g., outside counsel.
 Log issue and intake
information.
• Triage issue (classify,
compare and prioritize).
• Identify internal
capabilities, capacity
and cost of handling
issue.
LPM Reference Model
Process Group Overview
Assessment
Communication
Closure
 Evaluate performance.
• Capture lessons
learned.
• Gather reusable
documents.
C
o
m
m
u
n
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
 Reach agreement with
client.
• Perform resource
allocation.
• Distribute
communication plan.
Planning
Communication
Execution
 Monitor against project
plan.
• Measure against
desired outcome.
• Communicate progress.
• Track and manage
change.
Basic LPM “Tips and Tricks”
•
Triage the issue—classify, compare and prioritize; “matter intake” is not enough.
•
Don’t just prepare a schedule; a project plan also includes…
– a scope statement, stakeholders list, budget and communications plan.
•
Create a “bottom up” budget and schedule; it’s the best way to determine/
validate cost and timeline.
– “top down” budgeting/scheduling is just a guess
•
Clarify expectations in writing.
•
Adhere to change control policy and procedure; it’s critical to avoiding “scope
creep”.
•
Adjust the project plan as authorized/approved; repeat the process group
lifecycle.
•
Capture lessons learned (e.g., opportunities encountered, challenges overcome,
templates developed, and best practices instituted)—it only takes minutes.
Making LPM Work
Create an LPM Culture
Tales from the Front
LPM is as much a mindset as a process!!
How to get buy-in and achieve long-term behavioral change?
• Put more emphasis on LPM process, less on performance metrics.
– Time management alone is a worthy goal.
– Explain that LPM will have a demonstrable impact on smaller matters as
much as on larger projects.
– Create a process that is systemic, sustainable and repeatable.
• Make it personal.
– Understand the communication needs of the individual.
• Tailor your client and team Communication Plans accordingly.
– Promote LPM adoption by tying its benefits to individual motivations.
Create an LPM Program
1.
Identify your LPM needs and maturity level
2.
Adopt/develop an LPM methodology – e.g., ACC, CLOC, LegalShift
reference models
3.
Create your LPM program – think holistically; modify people
(roles/responsibilities), process (workflow diagrams) and technology
(optimization of current toolsets)
4.
Conduct LPM training – train staff on LPM (principles, desired
objectives, action items, tools and techniques)
5.
Facilitate an LPM pilot – select a couple of matters in validation of LPM
program adoption
6.
Get started today (hint—you don’t need technology)
Feel Free to Reach Out
Dan Safran
312.560.8932
[email protected]
Scott Rosenberg
847.414.8500
[email protected]
Ravi Kiran Mamidanna
224.668.2110
[email protected]