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Maer Budgets Maer: A Case Study You Can Take to the Bank
by Sco Peterson and David Rueff of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC
Matter Budgets Matter:
A Case Study You Can
Take to the Bank
All lawyers, whether in small or large firms, are feeling the
pressures of client demands to control costs. Most lawyers are
more than willing to provide the client with their best guess of
the potential cost of a maer. "Back-of-the-napkin" estimates are
risky because they are rarely qualified as to scope, assumptions
or risks. Even if a more detailed estimate is prepared, it might
be based on a maer that is not comparable, or the task of
preparing the estimate might be delegated to a less experienced
team member. The risk to the firm is compounded if the
client, especially non-lawyers, interpret the estimate as a
comprehensive cost.
Estimates and budgeting present a unique opportunity to
educate your internal team on a proper budgeting approach and
how budgets can be a tool to improve service delivery for the
client. The following case study demonstrates how investing in
the development of a reliable budget estimate can accomplish
these objectives and dramatically improve client trust, increase
client satisfaction and lead to additional work.
Steps Toward a Budgeting Process
A corporate client's legal department approached us with a new
mandate: All litigation maers must have a detailed budget —
immediately. The initiative was designed to provide another
level of transparency and, ultimately, control costs. We were
faced with implementing a new maer onboarding process that
would affect aorneys across the firm in a very short timeline.
The following steps had to be accomplished quickly:
