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21
The Legal Project
Management,
Characteristics of the
Right Candidate
B Y A P R I L H E I M E R L , B R I T TA N Y I V Y, A N D A N N E C H R I S T M A N
L
egal Project Managers (LPMs) work with
the business to help define a project.
They guide the project priorities and
development, manage resources, time, and work.
In the high precision world of legal, having the
right project manager in place can set a firm apart.
Defining/determining project
priorities
Organizations may use different methodologies
to manage their projects, like Waterfall or Scrum,
but the right project manager will know how to
adopt project timelines to the organizations needs
and change management procedures. Sometimes
this is a series of incremental changes (or roll-
outs) to build momentum and other times it's
delivering a flashy, mostly-done product to excite
employees and gain buy-in.
Resource management
LPMs are adept at assigning the right employees
to a project, identifying the best communication
strategies, defining a plan for completing work,
and removing roadblocks to keep the team
on track. Managing time and effort can be
challenging but having the right team in place
and a manager that knows each member's
strengths, weaknesses, and communication styles
is critical to having successful projects.
