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Therese Linton
Strategy & Transformation l Legal Project Management & Legal Process Improvement l Program Delivery & Change Management
Understanding Legal Project Management – critical changes to the way that lawyers work!
Stand out from the crowd by delivering on time, on budget and delighting clients
Critical skills that ALL lawyers need today and tomorrow…
Legal teams and firms of all shapes and sizes to understand how Legal Project Management (LPM) and related disciplines will fundamentally change the way that lawyers work. These changes are critical to the sustainability and transformation of the legal profession.
There are many challenges faced by law firms when developing change programs that are designed to embed legal project management into the firm. This article goes back to basics and provides the awareness and understanding of LPM that is required for individual lawyers to start the change journey.
What is Legal Project Management?
Legal Project Management is an emerging discipline in the legal sector that utilises project management techniques and adapts these for application to the management of legal matters. Practitioners of legal project management apply it to the process of providing legal services rather than to the substantive legal work itself and it is becoming increasingly common, especially when faced with alternative fee arrangements or where there is a commitment to improving efficiency and client service.
Legal Project Management first appeared a decade ago after the Global Financial Crisis, as law firms and in-house teams were under significant pressure to change their approach and the fundamental cost models of legal services. Firms were going out of business; in-house teams were expanding, clients were demanding alternative costing models and better service; and the entire legal sector was being demystified. Firms started looking for better ways to engage clients and new ways to perform their work. They needed to be more effective and more efficient and reduce costs – so Legal Project Management was born.
Legal Project Management is a major innovation that applies project management disciplines to legal matters. The framework that I developed and published in Legal Project Management, Linton, 2014, Lexis Nexis draws on my work with lawyers and my experience as a project delivery professional and academic to provide a project management framework that is specifically tailored to the needs of lawyers and their clients. LPM is a pared back model that enables faster adoption by all legal professionals.
What are the benefits of Legal Project Management?
Legal Project Management (LPM) provides the framework, tools and techniques that enables lawyers to –
- Deliver on time;
- Deliver on budget
- Delight clients
The benefits of LPM for individual lawyers…
Through the coaching work that I do with lawyers and legal teams, I have also seen almost miraculous changes and amazing benefits for individual lawyers, including –
- Improved focus and prioritisation
- Reductions in stress and overwhelm
- Increased satisfaction
- Improved efficiency
- Ability to cope with increased volumes
- Clarity of client outcomes
One of my clients, a Managing Partner of a boutique firm, was amazed when the firm had a tripling of volume unexpectedly and the lawyers who had embraced LPM tools and techniques were able to cope with the increased demands whilst those that hadn’t adjusted their ways of working really struggled. They ended up working longer hours and being more stressed then their colleagues who were using LPM.
The benefits of LPM for law firms…
LPM also provides significant benefits for law firms by –
- Reducing write offs
- Supports alternative billing
- Improving profitability
- Improving efficiency
- Improving quality and effectiveness
- Retaining clients
- Retaining legal staff
The benefits of LPM for in-house teams…
LPM is likewise applicable to in-house teams and provides significant benefits for law firms by –
- Improving team work
- Improving efficiency
- Improving quality and effectiveness
- Aligning to organisational priorities
- Improving engagement with external counsel
- Supporting the adoption of alternative delivery models
What is Legal Project Management?
Legal Project Management first appeared a decade ago after the Global Financial Crisis as law firms and in-house teams were under significant pressure to change their approach and the fundamental cost models of legal services. Firms were going out of business; in-house teams were expanding, clients were demanding alternative costing models and better service; and the entire legal sector was being demystified. Firms started looking for better ways to engage clients and new ways to perform their work. They needed to be more effective and more efficient and reduce costs – so Legal Project Management was born.
Legal Project Management is an emerging discipline in the legal sector that utilises project management techniques and adapts these for application to the management of legal matters. Practitioners of legal project management apply it to the process of providing legal services rather than to the substantive legal work itself and it is becoming increasingly common, especially when faced with alternative fee arrangements or where there is a commitment to improving efficiency and client service.
Legal Project Management is a major innovation that applies project management disciplines to legal matters. The framework that I developed and published in Legal Project Management, Linton, 2014, Lexis Nexis draws on my work with lawyers and my experience as a project delivery professional and academic to provide a project management framework that is specifically tailored to the needs of lawyers and their clients. LPM is a pared back model that enables faster adoption by all legal professionals.
Legal Project Management Framework
How to implement Legal Project Management
Legal Project Management is here to stay and yet so many firms and in-house legal teams are struggling to introduce the concepts and very few have been able to change ways of working sufficiently to embed the new approach to legal work. The leading lawyers who are doing it well are delighting their clients, delivering on time and budget, stressing less and achieving a far better work-life balance!
Expert LPM training and support is key – of course, the best way to embed LPM in all sizes of firms and in-house legal teams is to undertake internal training and coaching programs with a true LPM expert.
As a project management expert, lecturer, author and trainer, I know exactly how to shortcut the competency building process, selecting and tailoring the LPM disciples and tools that will work for your practice and preferred ways of working. Immersion training on it’s own doesn’t embed the changes. A comprehensive change management approach is required that provides training, coaching and support with the development of key LPM precedents to enable knowledge transfer and accelerate adoption.
The most effective change model for lawyers is a five-step process from awareness to adoption, and it helps to avoid the relapse cycle –
- Awareness: Kick off and communicate benefits
- Commitment: Engage team members and concerns
- Knowledge: Training delivered by an expert
- Capability: Expert coaching and regular reviews
- Adoption: Processes and precedents; reinforce and reward
About The Author
This article was written by Therese Linton, Founder and Principal Consultant of The BASALT Group® encompassing The Positive Lawyer® and the Academy of Legal Leadership®. She is a global leader in the field of Legal Project Management and literally wrote the book. She also has unique expertise in Legal Process Improvement. Legal Portfolio Management, Legal Transformation and Legal Operations.
As a leading global expert in Legal Project Management, she has worked with thousands of lawyers to develop their capabilities and skills. As part of this work, she supports lawyers to improve their personal productivity and create habits that underpin their success.
Therese is a global leader in the field of Legal Project Management and literally wrote the book. Legal Project Management can be purchased from LexisNexis and Booktopia at the following links – LexisNexis – click here and Booktopia – click here.
Next Steps…
As part of this work, I developed a ground breaking Legal Project Management Competency Framework that I’d like to share with you. Please CLICK HERE to access my LPM Competency Framework
Downloading the LPM Competency Framework is the first step to becoming a better lawyer through the understanding and application of legal project management. Congratulations and I look forward to supporting you along the way.
My aim is to inspire lawyers to transform their working lives and to achieve great things. So stay tuned for the launch of my upcoming LPM online education and certification programs Cheers….T