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TitleACC Calgary ChapterLPM – What every in-house lawyer needs to know

Suzanne Wood, National Director (Canada), Legal Project Management

Rebecca Benavides, National Director (U.S.), Legal Project Management

October 2014

Exercise: project management in action

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Inside counsel

Standardize Services

Reduce Legal Spend

Improve Response

Time

Streamline Processes

Reduce Overhead

Increase Predictability

Deliver High Quality Results

Increasing Pressures

How do you respond?

Outsource

Change firms

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What is a project?

A project is defined as “a temporary endeavour undertaken to

create a unique product, service, or result”.

A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)

What is project management?

Project management is the “application of knowledge, skills, toolsand techniques to plan activities to meet project requirements.”

A guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide)

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What is legal project management?

Legal Project Management is “a proactive, disciplined approach to

managing legal work that involves defining, planning, budgeting,

executing, and evaluating a legal matter; the application of specific

knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to achieve project

objectives (the client’s legal organization’s); and the use of effective

communication to set and meet objectives and expectations.

The Power of Legal Project Management, Lambreth and Rueff, (2014)

Elements of Legal Project Management

While there is no industry standard approach for developing and implementing LPM, thefollowing are key areas that most firms and corporate clients have attempted to address:

• more in-depth understanding of the project/matter at the outset

• enhanced, effective, and timely communication with key stakeholders

• use of “scope of work” statements that defines what is “in” and “out” of scope

• developing templates for matters using a Work Breakdown Structure (“WBS”)

• budgets which are realistic, including identifying associated risks

• improved monitoring throughout matters, including budget to actual reports, milestonesfor progress on client objectives, and changes in scope, risk, and stakeholders, etc.

• end of action reviews to identify best practices, “lessons learned,” and other importantaspects for continued process improvement

The Power of Legal Project Management, Lambreth and Rueff, (2014)

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The four stages of a matter/transaction

Exercise: Identifying your current LPM toolkit

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Evaluating your current toolkit

Scoping Managing Closing

Engagement letters Early case assessment After action reviews

Scope of work statements Monthly / quarterly reports Internal evaluation process

Budget worksheets Detailed invoices Detailed financial analysis

Case management plan Budget worksheet External counsel performance review

Scope change request process RACI charts Knowledge capture

Communications plan Matter tracking database

RFP template responses Collaboration sites

Decision tree analysis Task trackers

Stage 1: Scoping the project

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• Why are we undertaking this project?

• What needs to be done?

• Who should be involved?

• When does the work need to be done by?

• How much will it cost?

• Who will be affected by the project?

• What are the end goals?

Scoping Considerations

Scoping – Establish Priorities

Time

CostQuality

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Scoping - what do you want / need

Scope of work statement

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Scope of work statement cont’d

Scope of work statement cont’d

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Exercise: Scope of work statement

Stage 2: Planning the project

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Identify and Plan for Risk

Impact - Severity

Pro

bab

ilit

y o

f O

ccu

rren

ce

Effective risk planning and

management aids predictability

and scope discussions

• Identify upfront those variables that may result in missing client expectations

• eDiscovery costs and disputes

• Aggressive adversary

• A slow or fast-tracked matter

• Post judgment proceedings and collection efforts

• Communicate risks to the business and outside counsel and adjust scope

• Provide a mechanism in the Statement of Work for handling scope changes based on risk assessment

Planning - Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

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Communications Plan

Communications Plan is a road map which defines:

•What needs to be communicated

•What is the purpose of the communication

•Who needs to be involved in the communication

•How often does the communication need to occur

•What format the communication should take

Sample Communications Plan

Audience Information Method Frequency Who is Responsible?

Matter Team Matter Status

update

Conference Call Weekly Team Leader

Robert Smith

(in-house

counsel)

Update on court

appearances

Email Within 1 hour of

court session

ending

Responsible Partner

Robert Smith

(in-house

counsel)

Detailed status

report

Email Monthly Responsible Partner

Client

procurement

director

Budget to actual

status report

Conference Call First Wednesday of

every month

Team Leader

Board of

Directors

High level status

report

PowerPoint

Presentation at

Board Meetings

Monthly Robert Smith

(in-house counsel)

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Stage 3: Implementing

Implementing - RACI charts

R

• Responsible

• The people who do the work

A

• Accountable

• The person who is answerable

C

• Consulted

• The people who need to weigh-in

I

• Informed

• The people who need to be kept in the loop

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RACI Charts

Tasks Jane

Counsel

Peter

Johnson

George

Meadows

Norton

Rose

Fulbright

Developing communications protocol A/R C I R

Coordinating with internal business contacts C A/R I C

Developing budget A/R I C R

Managing budget for phases A I I R

Develop litigation hold document R C I A/R

Implementing litigation hold A/R C C R

Responsible (R) Accountable (A) Consulted (C) Informed (I)

These are the people who actually do the work. There can be many people responsible for a single task.

This is the person who needsto answer for whether the taskhas been completed. Therecan only be one personaccountable.

These are people who need tobe engaged in the process andwhose feedback is required.

These are people who need tobe apprised of developments,but do not need to providefeedback.

Exercise: RACI chart

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Stage 4: Closing down/handover

When the celebrations are over, it’s time to conduct the matter closure

evaluation

Closure Evaluation

• Capture lessons learned on a variety of metrics

• Identify knowledge assets

• Refine standard case templates, scope, and budget forms

• Conduct a financial post-mortem – Could we have priced differently and/or

better?

• Can conduct both external (client) and internal (team) evaluations

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