Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/74024
www.iltanet.org The client's request helped demonstrate that these changes are in fact a commitment to meeting the demands of the marketplace. communicate the proper phase and task, and to provide a description of the work performed. In some contexts, phase codes alone could provide a solid start. Over time, the budgeting information developed on a phase-by-phase basis for similar matters would provide substantially more guidance to the budgeting of new ones. In other instances, some use of task codes seemed very important. For example, within the discovery phase of a litigation matter, many types of events occur, and for purposes of building a detailed budget, a more specific task-based approach seemed important. For instance, it would be valuable to know the average cost of taking a deposition in a complex litigation matter, and that would be difficult to determine without using a task code specific to depositions. As the implementation of project management proceeds across the practice groups, it has been helpful that our clients have reinforced the need for significant changes in how we do business. While we were working to develop phase codes for a group that was not ready to immerse itself fully in task codes, a new client of that group requested the use of both phase and task codes. The timing and specificity of the client's request helped demonstrate that these changes are in fact a commitment to meeting the demands of the marketplace, and not simply an internal administrative initiative, or a set of buzzwords that will eventually be abandoned in favor of the next consultant-led business movement. 34 ILTA White Paper Building a Better Budget An additional client-driven change in matter management has focused on budgeting disbursements alongside legal fees by phase and, where appropriate, by task. In the past, matter budgets have in many instances focused exclusively on the firm's legal fees, and have excluded disbursements such as travel, court fees and (most significantly) discovery services. As the market for document review and specialized electronic discovery tools has increasingly developed outside of law firms, a significant percentage of the cost of a matter is concentrated on the vendors who coordinate with the law firm and client to provide these services. From a client perspective, it is critical that disbursements be predictable and be managed to a budget just as any other line item in a budget would be. However, it is particularly challenging at the beginning of a matter — before a full case analysis or any discovery has occurred — for a law firm to predict how many documents will need to be collected, reviewed, culled for privilege or produced for other parties. And if the costs are underestimated in the budget, the entire budget could be vulnerable to overruns, potentially resulting in reduced flexibility on the legal services piece of the budget. In response to this trend, savvy law firms will likely develop protocols for estimating discovery costs (and other types of disbursements), and could benefit from creating partnerships with the vendors to share