Project management skills for lawyers

Dr. Stefan WinghardtManaging Director, Head of BT Legal, Germany and

Austria, Munich, Germany

“Successful Projects require the legal department to provide more than just

traditional legal advice…”

Bundeskanzleramt Berlin

Construction start Feb 1997

Completion (planned) April 2001 (end of 1999)

Forecasted costs 205 mio Euro

Real costs 238 mio Euro

Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung 2./3. März 2013/Nr. 52

Jakob-Kaiser-Haus Berlin

Construction start Feb 1997

Completion (planned) Jan 2002 (1999)

Forecasted costs 454 mio Euro

Real costs 577 mio Euro

Hauptbahnhof Berlin

Construction start Sep 1998

Completion (planned) May 2006 (2002)

Forecasted costs 700 mio Euro

Real costs 1,2 billion Euro

Some typical Projects…..

Typical Flaws in Projects

Wrongful Performance/

Bad Service

Additional costs incur

Service Gaps

Late Delivery/Roll-Out

Milestones are missing

Project

Project Management

Legal Project Management

is any undertaking characterized by the singularity of its overall requirements, in particular regarding objective, conditions and constraints (time, resources, budget, scope)  - DIN 69 901

is the entirety of lead functions, organizations, techniques and means to handle the project  - DIN 69 901.

is the organized, coordinated treatment of legal issues within a project, a system of problem identification and solution- Kappellmann, Juristisches Projektmanagement

Definitions

Project Management deals with the question how to meet given objectives (obligations) efficiently.

Legal in its traditional role deals with the question what are the legal obligations.

Legal Project Management identifies what are the problems along with the legal obligations and how can they be resolved organizationally.

In other words:

Legal Project Management ensures

Balanced Contract Content

AND

Successful Implementation of Contract Deliverables

Interfaces Project Management & Legal

Differences between Legal Project Management and traditional Legal Advice – Role:

Organizational task

Ex-ante provisioning (pro-active)

Information gathering

Risk mitigation strategy

case-based solution

ex-post clarification (re-active)

“da mihi factum, dabo tibi ius”

legal analysis

vs.

Business expectations to Legal RoleMost relevant contract related risks

Source: Survey Contract Management 2010/ Bearing Point

Tips – Tools for Legal Project Management

Make Pursuit Hand over GateContract Sign OffBid Sign offMid PointQualification & Bid sign On

Internal Authorisation Gates1

Negotiation tracker on key assumptions & dependencies, terms

2

Tips – Tools for Legal Project Management

Example Risk Register:

Tips – Tools for Legal Project Management

Risk Register with weighted risk impact/ probability and with mitigation strategy

3

Tips – Tools for Legal Project Management

Handover Documentation4

Tips – Tools for Legal Project Management

Action List5

Owner Activity Due Date Review StatusOpen Closed

Tips – General Aspects

1. Have a clear Risk Strategy in place!

2. Ensure transparency of team collaboration!

3. Apply two-man rule on any binding commitments!

4. Don‘t miss legal check for technical documents!

5. Establish personal contact to your legal counter-part as early as

possible

BACKUP

Business expectations to Legal Role

Areas of law mainly covered

internally vs. externally

Source: ACC Legal Department Survey 2012/ Laurence Simons

„There is nothing like an ironclad contract, but…“

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1. Prevent Additional Costs

Pro Customer Pro Supplier

• TCO Model (As-Is Model)

• Scope Sweep Clause

• Flexible Resourcing Clauses (Termination)

• Due Diligence

• Value for Money Mechanisms(Benchmarking, Price Indexation, Price Adjustment, Open Book Calculation, Most Favored Customer- Clause)

• Technical Refresh/Upgrade/Update

• Green Field Approach (Bottom Up Calculation)

• Delimitation Clause

• Minimum Commitments and Exclusivity

• Assumptions & Dependencies

• Change Management

© BT Germany

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2. Avoid Service Gaps

Pro Customer Pro Supplier

• Functional Service Description

• Integrator Model (Prime Contractor end-to-end responsibility)

• Acceptance Procedure

• Joint debtors

• Exit Clause

• Individual Performance Description

• Co-operation / Supplier model

• Delivery Clause

• Single contract relationships

© BT Germany

Pro Customer

• Binding Dates

• Milestone Penalties

• Mali Provisions

• No payment during Ramp Up Phase

Pro Supplier

• Target Dates

• Co-operation / Supplier model

• Boni Provisions

• Milestone Payments

3. Reduce Risk of Late Delivery / Missing Roll - Out Milestones

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4. Ensure contractual performance / good Service

Pro Customer Pro Supplier

• SLA Penalties

• KPI / Balanced Scorecards(Customer Satisfaction)

• Step-In-Rights

• Withholding payments

• Warranty (fault repair, termination) / Liability

• warranty scheme under governing law

• Limitation of Warranty /Liability

© BT Germany

• Condition Precedent

• Due Diligence / True Up

• Lab test / pilot phase

• Compliance Obligations

• Audit (Transparency, Compliance)

5. General Measures to deal with uncertainty