change management: getting lawyers to adopt lpm

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Change Management:

Getting Lawyers To Adopt LPM


Your speakers and moderator

Moderator: Scott David- VorysSpeakers: Scott Preston - ERM Legal SolutionsAndrew Terrett - Borden Ladner Gervais LLPJoshua Fireman - Fireman & CompanyHeather Eskra – Seyfarth Shaw LLP


Audience Poll

• I work in a…• We have been working on our Legal Project

Management initiative since:


Agenda

1. What is Change Management2. What is LPM and why is Change Management

so important?3. Real world situations and tactics


Change Management - the literature is immense...


Legal Project Management

Project management - the discipline of planning, organizing, motivating and controlling resources to achieve specific goals


Legal Project Management

Initiation

Planning

Execution

Monitor & Control

Completion


What Problems does LPM Address?

• Clients want:• Price Certainty / Predictability• Transparency• Communication / Involvement• Win / Win – they want to improve their

profitability AND they want their law firm(s) to be profitable


What Problems does LPM Address?

• Lawyers want:• Retain and Return Business• Client Satisfaction• Limit Risk• Help with Pricing / Make a Profit


Who benefits from LPM?

• Client• Rainmaker• Performer• Management


Why is Change Management important to

the adoption of LPM?• LPM represents probably the biggest change to

work methods - the actual practice of law in 50 years

• LPM impacts both the firm and the individual• LPM when properly implemented, will lead to

increased profits


Audience poll time again...

• In terms of overall optimism/pessimism around your LPM initiative...

• Where does your management team stand in relation to your LPM initiative...

• How would you describe the culture of your organization in terms of accountability...

• The Change Management literature talks about the need to create “a burning platform” ...


Change Management Factors

DM Email CRMTime Entry

Matter Intake LPM

Strategic valueNeutral Neutral High Neutral High High

Senior management support Low Low Neutral High Neutral NeutralCompensation impact Tough luck! Tough luck! Tough luck! High High Tough luck! Workflow impact

Neutral High High High High HighMetrics/measurability Bad Bad Bad High High High


Signs of Change

AFAs

Margin pressure

Legal project managers

Compensation alignment

Profitability measures

$$$ budget

Management commitment

Time


Characteristics of a Successful Legal Project

Manager• Credentials are important but not sufficient • Influence and Interact with Senior Partners• Ability to work within the Law Firm structure• Ability to understand Legal Processes• Being comfortable with being uncomfortable• Flexible not rigid


Eyes Wide Open

• Senior management support requires more than well-meaning bromides

• Strategic value remains poorly defined by most firms

• Compensation impact is hard to discuss with your head in the sand

• High workflow impact change is rarely supported

• Metrics are often unmoored and adrift


Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist?

• Be realistic about what your firm can achieve in the short-, medium- and long-terms

• All firms have caps on their ability to change

• Look to practices, client teams and industry groups – and pick likely winners (like IP at BLG)


Getting Started

• Identify areas where you can lesson the pain. Projects or Cases that contain:• Aggressive timelines• Budget Constraints- AFA’s, history of large

write-off’s• Large volume of documents / data to manage• Multiple parties involved – Internal SME’s and

External Stakeholders• Complexity (phases)• Consider a pilot


Transition through conversation

Moving one step from left to right per conversationshould be considered success…


Consider your demographics

Lawyers aged 60+ are likely to be less motivated.Lawyers in the 35-55 age range are likely to be moremotivated. But there are exceptions to every rule…


Understand lawyer personality types (Larry Richards)

*

According to the (Hogan Assessment)studies, lawyers are less sociable, Inquisitive, have less sensitivity but score higher on theirlearning approach.


Case Study A- Multi-Million dollar M&A deal

• Approach was Traditional Project Management

• Upon Reflection approach was not agile enough


Case Study A- Multi-Million dollar M&A deal

• Applied Agile techniques• phased approach• electronic scrum board• daily standups• two week sprints• retrospective


Case Study B- Large Insurance Provider

• Challenges• High volume of routine litigation work• Alternative Fee Arrangement• Need for consistency and efficiency

across nationwide engagement



• Services/Solutions Delivered• Legal Project Management

• Project Managers (and Legal Solutions Architect) involved in frequent VOC meetings with Client and Seyfarth partners

• Weekly meetings with lead Seyfarth partners to identify challenges and opportunities



• Technology Solutions • SeyfarthLink- Client collaboration

platform• Document Automation• Custom Metrics


Key Take Aways

• Change Management Literature- none written for Law firms

• Identify pain points in each practice areas• Be able to describe the benefits of Project

Management- gather metrics• Align compensation and credit to

incentivise commitment• Hire the right Legal Project Managers


Key Take Aways

• Share success stories • Just in time training• Engage with clients through RFP, Client

Audit and direct conversation• Review financial Data to identify potential

pain points• LPM brings solutions for clients and

improved life for the attorneys


Speaker contact information

• Heather Eskra – [email protected], (312) 460-6550

• Joshua Fireman - [email protected], @joshuafireman, (888) 701-4808

• Scott Preston - [email protected], @sapreston, (805) 262-7732

• Andrew Terrett - [email protected], @andrewterrett (416) 367-6497

mailto:[email protected]

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