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Search - The Legal Process Improvement Toolkit

The Legal Process Improvement Toolkit
Author: Chris Bull

The term 'business process' continues to be viewed with distaste by lawyers. It does not fit with the worldview that practising law is essentially an intellectual and perhaps individual activity. Yet some form of consistent process must exist behind the scenes, underpinning the legal work being done. Without it, law firms would never have been a... more »ble to sustain growth or profits. I would go further to say that the law is a classic process business, characterised by: A clear chronology to every case, structured by numerous milestone and filing dates; Multiple regulations, legislative requirements and rules which set boundaries for legal work; A reliance on (typically paper-based) forms; Many of these forms, processes and rules are shared by lawyers throughout different organisations; and An intolerance of administration and non-value-adding work on behalf of the lawyers, who do most of the work. Despite these process-based characteristics underlying all legal work, until recently most lawyers have been able to work without those processes being defined, documented and optimised. Part One of this report explains how the factors that have traditionally discouraged a process-centric view of legal work are now being challenged. Over the last decade or so, a series of events have occurred in different corners of the legal sector, which have brought process thinking and process improvement to the fore. Although many of these events were responses to similar stimuli, they were not generally seen as related - and a huge increase in the power of process thinking in the law has been missed as a result. Throughout Part One and in many of the case studies, this report endeavours to identify the ways in which technology can support and accelerate the improvement of legal processes. Part Two of the report provides a starter toolkit for any reader looking to tackle legal process improvement (LPI) in their firm for the first time - it is not a detailed manual, but rather is targeted at those who seek quick access to simple tools. The toolkit discusses the primary methodologies that have been used to deliver process improvement in the law, as well as across the broader business world. I use the concept of process maturity models (see Tool 3) regularly in my consulting work. Each tool has been described in context, and has been applied and customised to legal services. Organisations in other sectors will typically tend to rate themselves as performing at somewhere between maturity levels two and three (where five is the most mature). With LPI in its infancy, there is no doubt that the legal sector as a whole is only just achieving level one. There is a long way to go and the concepts included in this report will be refined and developed over the next few years. The final section of Part Two focuses on how LPI operates as a fundamental component of a successful legal project management (LPM) programme. A variety of case studies in Part Three examine the underlying reasons for the initiatives, as well as their impact and outputs. The case studies provide insight and practical guidance on how to scope and begin your own LPI process. Some fascinating reflections on the softer side of transforming legal work processes are included, such as communicating the need for change and winning the hearts of minds of partners, staff, clients and stakeholders. Case study contributors have earned their knowledge through some groundbreaking work, and I am extremely grateful for the frank and valuable real world experience they have added to the report. Underpinning many of the initiatives showcased in the case studies, is smart use of available technology. This report is not a treatise on legal IT, nor do I believe that LPI is essentially an IT initiative. However, there is little doubt that, as Professor Richard Susskind wrote in The End of Lawyers?:1 "A number of disruptive legal technologies are emerging (such as document assembly, closed communities, legal open sourcing and embedded legal knowledge) - which will directly challenge and sometimes even replace the traditional work of lawyers." This report not only examines how LPI is emerging as a serious and important aspect of the legal services world, it goes further and suggests that operating legal process effectively will become one of the fundamentals in legal service management.

ISBN-13: 9781908640291
ISBN-10: 1908640294
Publication Date: 4/27/2012
Pages: 123
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Ark Group
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
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