Peer to Peer Magazine

57 WWW.ILTANET.ORG Andrew: Yes, legal project management should be a billable client service. Aer facing a flat market for legal services for almost a decade, law firms can no longer rely solely on positive legal outcomes as they bale for market share. To gain market share, firms must outperform competitors. An improved, and perhaps unique, service delivery model is one strategy law firms could pursue to improve the client experience and outperform their competitors. As noted in the book "The Power of Legal Project Management," the American Bar Association describes legal project management (LPM) to be a requisite legal service and has defined the process to include: "(1) a proactive, disciplined approach to managing legal work that involves defining, planning, budgeting, executing and evaluating a legal maer; (2) the application of specific knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to achieve project objectives (the client's and law firm/legal department's); and (3) the use of effective communication to set and meet objectives and expectations." The likelihood that prior maer management efforts fell short of client needs explains the current hesitation of some clients and firms to embrace LPM initiatives as a billable activity. Here's why everyone should climb on board: » LPM builds trust through transparency. Law firms have an unprecedented opportunity to use LPM as the vehicle to improve the client experience. The demand side of the legal market has been very clear on the desire for beer managed and more efficient legal services. Too oen law firms assume cost is what defines value in the eyes of the client. However, clients value transparency above all else when evaluating legal service providers. Legal project management adds significant value through the strategic planning process, where law firms and clients work together to build detailed maer plans. These bespoke plans should present clients with a variety of options, Should LPM Be Billable? Two Sides to the Story FEATURES including staffing and pricing scenarios. A well-defined LPM process should include maer planning, monitoring of activities, scheduled client reporting and an aer-action review where learned insights and data are shared with the client. The primary motivation for an LPM program is to build trust through transparency. Clients will see LPM as a billable service if firms can demonstrate their LPM process beer ensures the firm will assist the client in meeting their strategic business goals. » Clients are demanding LPM. Perhaps the strongest argument for LPM as a billable service comes from corporate clients who have long benefited from Lean Six Sigma and process improvement strategies in all lines of their business, including their legal departments. The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) advocates for the interests of over 40,000 in-house lawyers at more than 10,000 organizations in 85 countries The ACC encourages all of their members to request and pay their legal service providers for LPM.

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