Digital White Papers

15 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Enhancing Legal Operations by Integrating LPM Techniques with Maer Management, E-Billing and Financial Analytics spend (and therefore with the ability to make strategic decisions about the defense or prosecution of maers), but also serves as a management tool for the team who will work on the maer. Just as important, development leads to cost savings by identifying non-value-added activities for which general counsel will not pay. Execution: Implement the client's goals and communicate status. Execution done well results in significant savings by removing waste, such as high cost, low value and duplicative efforts. Proper execution also builds trust between the client and firm. The relationship changes from one of wariness and cynicism to 2 "management by exception," where only significant deviations are the focus of client managers. Execution further reduces cost by reducing the time spent overseeing project resources. Closure: The measurement of client satisfaction determines the degree to which services meet client expectations. Measuring and discussing work performance reduces costs of the next development effort by accounting for lessons learned, and it forces outside counsel to recognize where they stand in the eyes of the client, which is critical in maintaining a good ongoing relationship. While designed to achieve performance efficiency, risk avoidance and/or cost reduction, LPM is really about client satisfaction and seing expectations before work begins. Through LPM, the relationship between in-house and outside counsel changes from an audit-driven reactive response to a proactive partnering based on clarity, transparency, confidence and trust. Matter Management ≠ Legal Project Management Rather than Lean, Six Sigma or other process improvement methodologies, corporate counsel would be best served by focusing on their most important operational procedures: » Daily maer administration » Work allocation » Oversight of internal resources » Building trust with external partners. 3 Through LPM, the relationship between in-house and outside counsel changes from an audit-driven reactive response to a proactive partnering based on clarity, transparency, confidence and trust. The Three Stages of Good LPM According to Baker Donelson's internal LPM methodology, BakerManage™ Predictable Costs Team Efficiency Shared Information Real-Time Updates BakerManage Ex ec uti o n P has e Deve l op m en t Phase Phases C l o su r e Phase I m p l e m ent C li ent Goa l s and Co m m un i cati on I den tify C li en t Needs and Crea te P r o ject P l an Ob j ecti ves C li en t So l u ti on and Sa ti s f acti on

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