Digital White Papers

I L T A W H I T E P A P E R | P R A C T I C E M A N A G E M E N T 12 Not getting the right investment in legal operations Lawyers are trained to solve problems quickly and efficiently. But this same mindset can prove to be fatal for change initiatives, especially when you are trying to deliver sustainable and holistic change. So, what should you do? Ready, Aim, Fire. Great - another easy solution! Well, not quite... There is a current surge of interest in how to 'fix' the legal profession - usually distilled into a list of 'lessons learned' about the importance of client-centricity, leadership engagement, pilot projects and the like. However whilst these learnings are often relevant, they certainly do not provide the whole picture for legal teams. It's not surprising that 60-80% of change programs 'fail' - to-date there is no single industry-recognised methodolo for delivering sustainable, integrated change programs within the legal sector: everything out there has been created for other departments, other industries and other people. Within the realm of organisational change, there are many different species - ranging from simple changes involving a single isolated process or workflow (and to which approaches such as Lean and Six Sigma apply), through to complex cultural, behavioural and structural changes involving new ways of working, new roles and new strategic directions. This white paper focuses on the grey area between these two extremes - on 'complicated' transformations involving a collection of integrated processes (most typically - such as a legal matter type), and which may involve significant changes in mindset and behaviours, but which generally build upon or evolve the organisation's existing culture (rather than completely changing the culture). These types of complicated change transformations are best served by a continuous improvement approach that is enabled by a robust change management strate and governance structure. Based upon our deep experience in transformation across the legal sector, and also informed by best practices from other sectors, we have developed PwC's own continuous improvement ('CI') approach. This approach is how we achieve our results, and can be applied to the many processes and systems that in-house lawyers interact with. The approach distills and combines key elements from Lean (which uses a customer centric view to make things more efficient), Six Sigma (which uses data to improve quality), design thinking (which focuses on the human approach to create solutions that are fit for purpose), project management (which provides rigour around planning and delivery) and change management (which ensures that your change is successfully embedded). You won't hear about us talking about bespoke technical terms - this 4 "It's not surprising that 60-80% of change programs fail."

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