As a first-generation pricing director in a major international law firm, I spent
considerable time in the pioneer age of legal pricing, responding to questions from the
firm's lawyers such as "My client wants an AFA. What should I do?"
It didn't take long to add a new topic to the agenda: "We need to train all of our
lawyers in legal project management." Soon after, a mandate to implement a tool to develop
and monitor matter budgets came down from firm management. These were all valid efforts
for which I guided the development and deployment of a variety of processes, policies,
training materials and technology solutions, but they did not always feel connected. While
there were successes in the various programs we developed, I have often reflected on the
following question: If presented with another opportunity to start a pricing or legal project
management (LPM) program from the ground up, what would I do differently?
ILTA WHITE PAPER: OCTOBER 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG
5
About the Author
Michael Byrd has 20 years of experience in finance, operations and strategy in the
legal industry, including various roles at Baker & McKenzie, serving as Mayer Brown's
first pricing director and experience supporting the outside counsel program for the
in-house legal team at Accenture. He is the founding principal of Soar Legal Consulting,
which focuses on pricing, profitability and legal project management topics for law
firms and in-house legal teams. Contact Michael at mbyrd@soarlegalconsulting.com.
Developing a Pricing
and Legal Project
Management Program
