Innovations in Legal Project Management

Harnessing legal project management as a strategy that is explicitly aligned to a law firm's or legal department's business objectives and culture.

The organizational competence of project management provides a solid foundation for every activity conducted by a business and the practice of law. Legal project management (LPM) provides the discipline that enables lawyers and those who manage legal work - in law firms, law departments and alternate legal services providers - to define, demonstrate and deliver greater value by balancing the scope of work, time, and resources as they strive for optimal efficiency, outcomes and client satisfaction. Although many distinguish the business of law from the practice of law, innovators in legal project management take an integrated approach. In commercial and governmental settings, practicing law is not an academic exercise, nor an end in itself. Effective legal services address a client's business needs, opportunities and risk profile, and may also implicate public policy and legal precedent. The client experience is personal as well as professional. LPM provides a framework for meeting all these challenges. Innovations in Legal Project Management profiles those who have done the difficult work of harnessing the relevant aspects of legal project management as a strategy that is explicitly aligned to a law firm's or legal department's business objectives and culture. The authors describe communication strategies and techniques to train, coach and mentor those acquiring the skills to implement legal project management practices as a core aspect of the firm's business strategy, operations, quality legal services, and focus on the client experience. All the contributors to this book are professionals who continuously see around corners in improving the legal profession. They have created value for their firms, clients, and organizations; others have advanced the legal profession. They have systematically: - Used deep insights about particular clients to create new services and ways of doing things that impact the client's business goals; - Incrementally improved the speed, value (cost/margin), and quality/ benefits of the product or service they deliver; and/or - Relied on technology that is homegrown or highly customized to meet users' needs.

Chapter 1: Making legal project management work - a custom approach inspired by Einstein By Meredith Wise Mendes, executive director and chief operating officer of Jenner & Block Chapter 2: Innovations in legal project management - a law firm case study that focuses on client needs By Randall Brater and Katie Heilman, practicing lawyers at Arent Fox LLP Chapter 3: Putting legal project management principles into practice for M&A By Bryan S Kalogerou, partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and Dennis J White, senior counsel at Verrill Dana LLP Chapter 4: Innovations in professional development for legal project development skills By Todd Hutchison, founder and leader of the International Institute of Legal Project Management Chapter 5: Daily management - meetings that matter By Thomas Agostinelli, director of practice management at Butler Snow LLP Chapter 6: Increasing profits with LPM practices By Kathleen Thompson, formerly senior manager of client value and matter at BakerHostetler Chapter 7: Close collaboration drives successful outcomes By Kevin Bielawski and Lann Wasson, director and associate director of legal project management at Husch Blackwell Chapter 8: Legal service delivery innovation By Sam Davenport and Brian Fanning, director of legal business solutions and director of practice economics at Davis Wright Tremaine Chapter 9: How law departments use LPM to improve the corporate bottom line By Aileen Leventon, principal of Edge International management