Recently in Law Firms Who Get It Category

Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. share their version of the electronic-discovery process in a recent post to the firm's Outsourcing-Law.com blog,[1] which they refer to as the "Electronic Discovery Resource Model, not to be confused with the Electronic Discovery Reference Model ("EDRM"). Bierce & Kenerson's diagram provides another way of looking at the e-discovery process and may be more user friendly for some lawyers.  [1] Bierce & Kenerson, P.C., E-Discovery and Legal Process Outsourcing: ESIM Process Design and Choices between Outsourcing vs. Insourcing, Periodical Name, Dec. 21, 2009, available at http://www.outsourcing-law.com/2009/12/e-discovery-and-legal-process-outsourcing-esim-process-design-and-choices-between-outsourcing-vs-insourcing/ (last visited on Dec. 31, 2009).(Note, the title when I originally...

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...

Seyfarth Shaw is featured in the cover story of the current issue of iSixSigma Magazine.  Lisa Damon, Managing Partner; Andrew Perlstein, Partner; and Carla Goldstein, Director of Strategic Management, discuss the firm's Seyfarth Lean program.[1]  Seyfarth Lean is the firm's adoption of Six Sigma methodologies to the practice of law.This is the most detailed explanation of Sayfarth Lean that I've seen to date and is well worth a read for any firm considering Six Sigma. I took away two tips for successfully implementing Six Sigma in a law firm: adopting a less statistics-heavy training for attorneys, and making sure that implementation is a top-down, firm-wide initiativeFor the...

Laura Bandrowsky, Practice Support Director at Duane Morris, writes about her firm's search for a project-management solution for their litigation-support department and why they selected iFramework.[1] Like many firms, Duane Morris was using spreadsheets and a homegrown MS Access database to manage their litigation-support projects. Although these tools had served them well, as the firm began moving from traditional processes to electronic ones, their Litigation Support Department made a necessary move away from using multiple systems, such as paper, e-mail inboxes and folders and/or Excel files, and began implementing centralized, online, real-time technologies that include integration with processing tools and online review platforms that...

In a recent press release announcing a two-year contract with Tyco, Eversheds cites Project Management as central to the success of this relationship.[1] The firm's focus on metrics and project management is driven, I would argue, by the fixed-fee arrangement it has with Tyco. As I've recently discussed, adoption of legal project management will be driven by the move towards alternative billing arrangements.[2]Here is the section of the press release that pertains to legal project management: With an emphasis on transparency, control and metrics, in the past two years, the contract has achieved by way of example, a 27% reduction...

Law.com published a very interesting article by Gina Passarella today that discusses how firms are applying project and process management concepts to legal work.[1] What interested me most about this article was the description of how Seyfarth Shaw implemented Six Sigma and set up a legal project management office (LPMO).  I've written about Seyfarth Shaw's Six Sigma model ("Seyfarth Lean") in previous posts to this blog [2] and  Lisa Damon, Managing Partner at the Seyfarth Shaw's Boston office, was kind enough to take the time to provide more information on Seyfarth Lean with LPM's readers.What makes Passarella's article so interesting is its description of...

Seyfarth Shaw's Six Sigma program, "Seyfarth Lean", has been getting a lot of press recently. Following on a mention in BusinessWeek, the law firm's Six Sigma program was highlighted in a recent article in the ABA Journal.  Debra Cassens Weiss, Seyfarth Shaw Says Six Sigma Method Has Cut Client Fees by Up to 50%, ABA Journal, Law News Now, Sept. 14, 2009, at URL.I've written about Seyfarth Shaw's adaption of Lean Six Sigma principles to their legal work in the past and Lisa Damon, Managing Partner at the Seyfarth Shaw's Boston office, was kind enough to take the time to provide more information...

Does your law firm, litigation support bureau, or legal support services company employ project management standards or methodologies? If so, I would love to hear about it!One of my on-going series of posts is on "Law Firm PM Watch" where I post about law firms who have implemented a project management program and/or have made efforts to apply PM methodologies at their firms. I like to invite representatives of the firm to explain their thoughts and experiences in their own words. For examples, see:http://legalprojectmanagement.info/law-firms-who-get-it/To date, my focus has been on law firms, but I also want to hear from corporate...

I get excited when I learn of law firms who apply project management standards and process improvement methods to their services (I know, I'm odd). I get even more excited when the lawyers who are responsible for implementing these programs read and comment on my blog. Therefore, I was elated to see Christopher J. Spizzirri's comment  on my first post in a series on ABA material discussing Six Sigma.Chris is the e-Discovery Coordinator at Morris James LLP and author of the Delaware eDiscovery Report blog. I was interested to learn that his firm has begun a program of implementing Six Sigma techniques into its e-discovery...

The law firm of Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today that it is adding a "Corporate Technology and Outsourcing Team" to its Atlanta Office. What caught my attention in what is an otherwise ordinary law firm press release is the extent to which the firm highlights its adoption of Lean Six Sigma methodologies, dubbing the firm's methodology as "Seyfarth Lean."  According to the press release, the firm has 75 in-house Six Sigma Certified Green Belts (a certification with fewer requirements than the more advanced "Black Belt" certification, Green Belts typically take up Six Sigma implementation alongside their other work obligations and work...