Greater Atlanta HBA to Host Legal Project Management for Business Owners Lunch & Learn

Owners of successful businesses are generally adept at controlling costs, managing risk, verifying quality, and increasing proficiency. When it comes to their legal matters, however, that is not always the case. The main reason law firms have been slow to adopt project management and process efficiency best practices, I believe, is that clients haven't demanded it. This is changing, especially with the recession causing companies to cinch their belts even tighter and looking for new areas to squeeze out inefficiency. 

Smart business owners are not only pressuring outside counsel to lower bills and offer alternative billing options, they are also scrutinizing how their legal matters are being managed. Smart law firms are getting the message and marketing not only what services they offer and touting their success stories, but are also highlighting their effectiveness at managing the services they provide to contain costs, reduce risk, and estimate costs accurately.

Illustrating this is an upcoming "lunch and learn" session organized by the Greater Atlanta Homebuilders Association on "Legal Project Management for Business Owners."^[1] The event will take place on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM at The Housing Center in Tucker, Georgia. According to the Greater Atlanta HBA Web site, participants of this session will learn:

• The insider's view of how law firms profit from businesses.
• Specific, relevant criteria for selecting and hiring lawyers.
• The "metrics approach" to obtaining economical and efficient legal results from a legal team (e.g.: budget and cost containment).
• The best practices for assessing risk and reserving for losses and legal expenses/fees.^[2]

The cost is 50 USD for non-members. To register on-line, visit the following link:

https://builderfusion.atlantahomebuilders.com/bf/website/simple/eventView.jsp?event_id=34683&monthView=false

The session will be led by William T. Mitchell, a founding partner of Cruser & Mitchell, LLP. The law firm maintains a page on its Web site dedicated to "litigation management," which includes articles on Six Sigma as applied to law firms, why small firms are more cost effective, why outside ownership would benefit BigLaw, and similar topics. The articles do not seem to be authored by, or quote, Cruser & Mitchell attorneys. Rather, the pages seems to be a list of links to third-party articles that represent the firm's practice-management philosophy.^[3]

I was surprised that the firm's Web site does not mention the Greater Atlanta HBA event. It could certainly do a better job marketing the firm's project management expertise. Also, if the firm is going to link to articles on Six Sigma, it would be interesting to know whether the firm has launched any of its own six sigma initiatives.

I would love to attend the session and learn more about Mr. Mitchell's best practices for managing, and his metrics approach to, legal work. Unfortunately there is no Web cast available (another lost marketing opportunity for both the Greater Atlanta HBA and Cruser & Mitchell). Maybe I'll luck out and Mr. Mitchell will post the PowerPoint slides to SlideShare.com.