This is a great summary of what in-house legal teams should be considering for when it comes to legal project management (LPM). It is more than implementing a new technology or set of processes, but ensuring that the teams, both legal and non legal, external and internal, are involved in the strategy and clear on the expectations.
LPM strategy can be looked at in terms of ensuring that the supply chain meets customer demand; i.e. supply and delivery is undertaken on budget, on time and at a certain service level. However, the supply of legal services is not that straightforward and requires a strong understanding of risk, know-how and project management, creating some additional dimensions. Any LPM strategy should also consider the human factor; the skill set of the team, management, and how the in-house legal team are structured to ensure everyone is motivated.
For a successful LPM strategy that creates and maintains an efficient and effective in-house legal function, such factors need to be carefully considered throughout the work flow and long term buy in is required from all parties.
At the same time, there appears a growing disconnect between in-house attorneys, their outside counsel and internal support teams on how current systems and data should be used to manage budgets and promote process improvement. Once technology has been implemented, many attorneys expect their return on investment to bring about immediate change, only to find marginal and/or unsustainable improvement in spend and efficiency. It appears that performance metrics, financial analytics and periodic reporting are only part of the solution.
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