Recently in Careers Category

The increasing importance of project-management skills to legal and legal-support careers is a common theme on this blog.[1] I was happy, therefore, to see this observation corroborated in Jerry Kowalski's new report for Managing Partner magazine, Navigating the Perfect Storm: Recruiting, Training and Retaining Lawyers.[2] The report, which serves as a law-firm-HR guide for the "Great Recession," includes project-management among the competencies law firms must acquire in the new economy. Jerry Kowalski is the principle and founder of Kowalski & Associates, a law-firm-management consultancy. Mr. Kowalski was gracious enough to share his thoughts on the lessons learned from the global recession,...

In an article posted to its Career Central Web site, the Project Management Institute lists the legal sector as one of the hottest job sectors for project managers right now.[1] TextThe short blurb points out that while project managers looking for work may not have considered the legal industry, there is "increasing demand for their skills as players in the legal field adopt project management methodologies to more efficiently deliver services and control risk." It goes on to quote Adam Seskis, Senior Vice President of Epiq Systems, who discusses how effective project management can "win cases and trim costs."The article includes...

I am often asked by people looking to get into litigation support and electronic discovery, or those looking to take their career to the next level, whether they should consider obtaining a PMP or other project-management certificate. Generally, I advise that those newer to the field to focus on gaining relevant training first and software certifications second.  Your overall experience and familiarity with specific software applications tend to matter more for these positions. Also, until recently, I've advised that other than some litigation-support vendors, project-management certifications are generally not valued in the legal industry. Recently, however, this has changed. Attorneys and litigation-support professionals looking to bolster...

According to a survey conducted by RecommindRecommind, an e-discovery-tool vendor, the disconnect between IT and legal is getting worse:  While legal and IT have been historically disparate, the exponential increase in content creation and the rising complexities and risks of eDiscovery and regulatory scrutiny have inexorably linked the needs and responsibilities of each department.... Recommind's survey reveals that communication between legal and IT has become decidedly worse in 2010.[1] It seems years of hand-wringing on this issue is doing little to move these two camps closer together. But, as I've discussed before, the growing trend of legal-project management provides our best...

The Cowen Group has just released a snapshot of its fourth annual salary survey for litigation support professionals and the job market for litigation-support project managers is looking strong.[1] Their salary findings support their predictions in their "Critical Trends" report, published in January, which noted the increasing need for litigation-support project managers, stating that the role "will gain greater prominence in the industry due to the increasing size of datasets and heightened concern around controlling cost, limiting risks, and guaranteeing  outcomes."[2] According to this survey, salaries are projected to increase by eight to fifteen percent. Unsurprisingly, salaries are highest in the Eastern...

The Project Management Institute's Project Management Salary Survey for 2009 was recently published and is now available for purchase at the PMI Web site.[1] The survey, "based on self-reported data from 35,000 project management professionals" from 19 countries, measures "salaries across eight major position description levels" and includes a number of key demographics, including work experience, PMP status, industry, department/function, and highest formal education level obtained. What, if anything, does it have to tell legal-project managers about their earning potential?  For this post I only looked at the Salary Survey Country Report for the United States. The U.S. Report draws upon data...

While folks have strong opinions about the worth of PMP certificates to employers,[1] it seems they bring value to the employees who hold them. According to the 2010 Global Knowledge/TechRepublic IT Skills and Salary Survey, salaries for PMP and other business-improvement and project-management certifications increased from 2009.[2] One interesting finding is that employers are increasingly looking for people possessing a good mix of business and process improvement skills. If you already have a PMP, the addition of Six Sigma credentials make you particularly marketable. Linda Leung, reporting on the survey for Global Knowledge, writes:  The average salary of this year's survey respondents who...

There has been a bit of buzz about e-discovery project manager qualifications in the blawgosphere following my recent post about Kroll Ontrack's job requirements for Litigation Support Project Managers and Case Consultants, based on a recent discussion on the e-LEGAL group on LinkedIn group.[1]The E-discovery Trends blog takes issue with Kroll Ontrack's PMP preference, arguing that "this use of certifications certainly isn't helping hire the best and brightest in the ediscovery field."[2]  This discussion was also noted in a post on the Posse List blog, which discusses the challenges attorneys face when transitioning from law practice to more technical litigation support/project management...

Craig Blakeley, an e-discovery project manager at Kroll Ontrack provides Kroll's job requirements for Litigation Support Project Managers and Case Consultants in a discussion thread on the e-LEGAL group on LinkedIn. They are: Bachelors degree in Business or related field required Required - 3 + years in a law firm environment providing litigation support specialist Preferred - 3 + years of project management experience with external clients in a service delivery environment is required PMP certification desired but not required IT systems and document management technology experience and/or understanding of litigation support and document review process are highly desired Excellent communication skills are a must...

It seems that one of my recent posts has caused some of Toby Brown's suppressed memories related to mental abuse suffered while studying economics to resurface. I feel awful and will consider including a prominently displayed warning on my blog. But out of this painful experience has come another source of hope for all the careers of all legal project managers. In a recent post to the Three Geeks and a Law Blog, he discusses the concepts of "market requirements" and "market differentiators" and concludes that, currently, project management skills and experience are an important differentiator for lawyers.[1]   [1] Toby...