Legal Project Management: Thoughts, tips, and discoveries related to the management of legal projects.

May 2009 Archives

Two Webinars You'll Want to Check Out if You Outsource Legal Work

By Paul C. Easton on May 22, 2009 4:53 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
If you manage large electronic discovery projects, you will likely find yourself working with off shore vendors at some point. As corporations continue to look for ways to drive down legal costs; more coding, data processing, and document review work is being sent overseas--especially to India.If you are unfamiliar with outsourcing, you might want to check out two webinars that the Project Management Institute's Services & Outsourcing Specific Interest Group (PMI SAO SIG) will present back to back on June 17th. While these do not specifically address legal outsourcing, they provide valuable insights into what a successful outsourcing relationship requires...

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Of project management, the lawyer doth protest too much, methinks.

By Paul C. Easton on May 15, 2009 3:53 AM | No Comments | 5 TrackBacks
One of my pet peeves is when project management is watered down, sugar coated, or subjected to the literary equivalent of cosmetic surgery to make it more acceptable to lawyers. I don't object to summarizing complex project management theories and techniques using simple English. This is laudable and necessary if we want lawyers to understand and embrace legal project management. What gets under my skin is when obviously informed and experienced project managers buy into the argument that legal projects are somehow unique and that project management standards are not suitable for legal work. Instead of attempting to correct such ignorance, many...

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Matthew Lane on "The Making of a Great Project Manager"

By Paul C. Easton on May 13, 2009 2:26 PM | No Comments | 1 TrackBack
Matthew Lane, Director of Client Services at Fios, Inc. discusses the elements of a great project manager on a post to the Discovery Resources blog. I especially like his description of the "project management brain." Communication skills, the ability to regularly shift from diving in detail to a soaring up for a birds-eye view, and likable obsessiveness are traits of all the great project managers, regardless of training and experience. ...

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The Sedona Conference presents "Achieving Quality in the E-Discovery Process"

By Paul C. Easton on May 13, 2009 12:00 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Just a heads up that on May 20th at 13:00 US-EDT, the Sedona Conference is presenting a webinar entitled "Achieving Quality in the E-Discovery Process."The very first item on the agenda is: "The importance of project management and the need for a well-defined process, including an attorney in charge".The Sedona Conference is a non-profit organization that has published a number of influential electronic discovery references. Anyone with an interest in managing electronic discovery projects should consider attending this event.I'll be traveling on the 20th so I'll be unable to attend live. I hope they make it available on demand afterwards.There is...

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Fios Presents a Webinar on Litigation Project Management

By Paul C. Easton on May 13, 2009 9:47 AM | 3 Comments | 2 TrackBacks
Earlier today I attended the Fios webinar "Practical Tips on How to Lead Project Management Planning to Balance Scope, Time and Budget," presented by Amy Catton, Litigation Support Quality Coordinator at Kilpatrick Stockton and Kate Billera, Client Services Manager at Fios, Inc.  It was an informative and well-presented program on how to apply traditional project management principles to litigation projects. I recommend it to anyone who would like a basic introduction to legal project management. Fios generally makes its past webinars available on-demand for free at the Fios E-discovery Knowledge Center. Kudos to Fios for not being afraid to subject a legal audience to project management speak. Amy and Kate did a great job explaining traditional...

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Planning for the Consequences of Your E-mail Retention Policies

By Paul C. Easton on May 9, 2009 7:02 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Perry Segal raises an important point in a recent post to his excellent E-discovery Insights blog. In a post titled "Baby? Meet Bathwater..." he responds to an article by Stephen Lawson recently published in Computer World that has been widely linked to in the e-discovery blogosphere: "Why IT Should Start Throwing Data Away..." Lawson makes the argument that companies should delete as much data as legal possible to contain storage costs and minimize e-discovery cost and risk.  Segal takes exception to Lawson's recommendations, finding them one-sided, and argues that "[s]ome of that data may exculpate the company and you may...

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Law & IT: Can't We All Just Get Along? With Project Management, Yes!

By Paul C. Easton on May 7, 2009 4:25 PM | 2 Comments | 2 TrackBacks
Much has been written about the communication and cultural barriers separating legal and IT departments and the risks this creates for corporations struggling with the growing burden of electronic discovery. This isn't particularly surprising, given that most attorneys come from a liberal arts background with only minimal exposure to science and technology and most computer science majors have minimal exposure to the law. Ignorance often breeds contempt. This, I believe, is further exacerbated by the overall low opinion that engineers, IT professionals, and other "techies" have of lawyers. I remember telling an old high-school buddy, who was and is an engineer, that I...

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Debbie Westwood Presents "Project Management for Litigation Support"

By Paul C. Easton on May 5, 2009 12:18 AM | 4 Comments | 1 TrackBack
I just discovered Debbie Westwood's blog "Two Wheel Geek". Debbie runs InTechGration, an e-discovery and litigation technology consulting company. She blogs about cycling and legal technology for all those who love technology, the law, cycling, or all three. I live in Taiwan, home to manufacturers of many of the world's bikes. Some of my clients are bike manufacturers. So I feel a connection already. But what really excited me was that the sidebar of her blog highlights her presentation "Project Management for Litigation Support," available on SlideShare.net. I'm always happy to see litigation support and e-discovery consultants educating their law firm...

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Are project management certifications mere "window dressing"?

By Paul C. Easton on May 4, 2009 5:44 PM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
Reese Morrison raises a good point in a recent post to his Law Department Management blog. His brief post discusses how more firms are pursuing project management credentials, but warns that marketing certification without demonstrating greater quality and efficiency is just "window dressing." To read his post, click HERE.The irony here is that firms will have difficulty demonstrating greater quality and efficiency without an active and effective program for monitoring, measuring, and reporting on the legal services provided. Most law firms are woefully unprepared to give objective proof of the value of their services or to quantify claimed improvements in...

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Follow the Legal Project Management Twibe

By Paul C. Easton on May 3, 2009 6:09 AM | 1 Comment | No TrackBacks
For those of you using Twitter, I've created a new Twibe (a Twitter group service) on Legal Project Management. To join, follow this link:http://www.twibes.com/group/legalprojectmanagement...

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Should Law Firms Outsource Project Management

By Paul C. Easton on May 1, 2009 6:54 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Thanks to Jeffery Fehrman of EDD Blog On-line for bringing to my attention the recent IT World article: "Tasks you fear to outsource but should try".Among the areas the article suggests companies consider outsourcing are: project management and electronic discovery. Both corporate legal departments and law firms should take heed. Increasingly, companies are outsourcing electronic discovery, but usually not enough thought is given to the management of discovery projects. Most legal departments and law firms would do well to outsource project management to service providers with deep experience managing complex discovery matters. Outsourcing the project management doesn't mean in-house and outside...

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Total Attorneys uses Agile Project Management

By Paul C. Easton on May 1, 2009 2:04 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Edmund Scanlan of Total Attorneys, writes how his company uses the Agile software development methodology to speed up product development, increase responsiveness to customer needs, and keep employee morale high.http://www.edscanlan.com/wordpress/2009/04/21/agile/Total Attorneys provides services that help small law firms outsource many practice management processes. Mr. Scanlan's post and accompanying video give an easy-to-follow summary of the Agile project management philosophy. Let's hope that some of this rubs off on Total Attorney's law firm clients....

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