Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, Apr. 26, 2012
Law Practice Management Tip
Legal Project Management By Nana: A Stitch In Time Saves Nine
Part I of a series on
legal project management
Attorneys are using project management (PM)
techniques to work smarter, produce better results and win
clients.
Project management, at its simplest, is just determining how to
achieve a goal most efficiently. More comprehensively, it is a set
of practices to create a product on time and budget by systemic
resource management. We'll just stick with the simple version from
here on out.
To increase efficiency, project managers determine the steps
needed to complete a project, the logical order of the steps and
how much each step costs. For example, if our mill wants to sell
T-shirts at London's 2012 Summer Olympics, a project manager
ensures the shirts cost $10 apiece and are ready in July, not $150
in December.
The following PM idea can reduce unbilled time devoted to first
drafts. Rather than senior attorneys directing juniors to "take a
whack" at writing a first draft and senior lawyers making
subsequent copious revisions, PM suggests senior lawyers outline
the key aspects of a document. The juniors can fill in details,
such as case cites, cross references or attachments. Thus, junior
attorneys have a better understanding of the end product, will
guess less and bill more.
If you think attorneys can't revise their time-honored
procedures for modern ideas, just recall "The switch in time that saved nine."
Maybe your next case will bring you before today's Justice Owen J.
Roberts, Anthony Kennedy.
Tip courtesy of Scott L. Malouf, Law Office
Management Assistance Program.
Published April 26, 2012
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To learn more about the Law Practice Management
Section, which is complimentary for all MBA members,
contact LPM Section Chair Thomas J. Barbar or Vice
Chair Stephen
Seckler.