Alexander Garrett

VERSION REPRO OP REPRO SHAKING UP SUBS THE LEGAL PROFESSION ART Alexander Garrett investigates how project management is gaining a foothold in law firms, where legal project managers are becoming a PRODUCTION necessary part of the behind-the-scenes action CLIENT 42 AUTUMN 2020 PROJECT BLACK YELLOW MAGENTA CYAN Legal, 1 LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT ast year, two decades after being admitted to the Law Society as a qualified solicitor, Neil Franklin added a somewhat SHAKING UP L different string to his bow. For the Bristol-based partner in law firm TLT, who is also a practitioner in alternative dispute resolution, adding APM’s Project Management Qualification to his THE LEGAL credentials was a natural next step. On the face of it, these are two starkly contrasting worlds – one rich with symbolism of ermine and wigs, the other associated with technology and spreadsheets. But Franklin sees it differently: “I view myself PROFESSION as a project manager and as a lawyer. I don’t think the two are inconsistent. I’m probably unusual in doing both, but I Alexander Garrett feel – and the firm feels – that it’s a really investigates how project positive contribution to the work we do for clients.” management is gaining a foothold in law firms, Legal project management (LPM) is a discipline attracting growing interest where legal project managers are becoming a among corporate law firms, part of a necessary part of the behind-the-scenes action On the face of it, these are two starkly contrasting worlds – one rich with symbolism of ermine and wigs, the other associated with technology and spreadsheets race to make the delivery of services more transparent, predictable and cost-effective. LPM emerged around a decade ago, notably in the US, and has been steadily gaining traction since. Franklin’s interest was piqued in his early days at TLT, when he found himself running thousands of related cases for financial services clients. “I developed processes for dealing with those matters, and I didn’t have any formal project management skills, so I started to read about it and develop my own. As I moved on to larger-scale projects in our financial services practice, including remediations and regulatory investigations, I decided I needed to become properly qualified.” ACCIDENTAL PROJECT MANAGERS In the legal sector, early forays into project management were internally focused, revolving around the introduction of networked IT systems or change programmes such as mergers or relocations. LPM marks the introduction of project methods on the client-facing side of law firms, but it also explicitly PROJECT AUTUMN 2020 43 91APMSEP20134.pgs 28.08.2020 12:09 LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT VERSION recognises something that lawyers have always done. An innovative approach Dee Tamlin, head of client and legal REPRO OP REPRO at Simmons & Simmons project management at Pinsent Masons, says: “When I train our lawyers, I always For the international firm of Simmons & to do what they were doing, but more acknowledge with them that they are Simmons, founded in London more than efficiently and visible to our clients. We accidental project managers. Just because 120 years ago, project management has created a global Service Excellence we haven’t called it project management been introduced through an innovative Standard based on the foundations and before now doesn’t mean they haven’t approach designed to involve all the principles of project management.” been doing that in some form for the SUBS firm’s lawyers and focus on the level of Service Excellence aimed to look past 100 years or more. A lawyer gets service delivered to clients. “About two fundamentally at a different way of instructed, works out the scope of years ago, we looked at market research lawyers doing their job. Sharma says: what needs to be done, then estimates and found that all law firms were falling “We consulted a number of senior the time and costs.” LPM puts that on short on a number of things,” says lawyers and business heads, who said: a professional, more consistent and Aman Sharma, a Chartered Project ‘If this is going to work, you need to methodical basis, she explains. “Instead of Professional and Fellow of APM, and see the whites of our eyes in all the reinventing the wheel every time we get leading teams, managing the throughput “We no longer have to ART head of the firm’s Service Excellence countries and it mustn’t be UK-centric.’” a new instruction, we can have templates of tasks and recording some of the highest team. “They were all technically Her team – Francesco Della Rotonda, a for different work types, and ensure that numbers of hours on a project.” expect our lawyers who giving great legal advice to clients, but specialist in business diagnostics, and if our UK office produces a status report, were falling short on meeting clients’ Michael Dada, an experienced legal it looks the same as one produced by our A ‘SECOND PROFESSION’? are highly qualified and expectations, for example on value project manager – organised a series of Australian office.” The range of ‘matters’ – the legal term extremely versatile in for money, cost certainty and quality.” 80 workshops over a year, reaching out Some think the initial impetus for for an assignment – where LPM has legal advice to take on Sharma set up the Service Excellence to all of the firm’s 1,000-plus fee-earning LPM was the increasing complexity of been found to be most valuable includes team with two clear objectives: “To make lawyers, as well as support staff across a second profession. PRODUCTION big legal cases; others say it was borne those where there is complexity, but also sure we were consistently exceeding our 22 international offices. Workshops were out of a desire by banks to cut legal costs where there is a high level of technology Just as we don’t say to a clients’ expectations in the delivery of tailored for the 49 individual practices post-financial crisis. It’s clear that clients or a significant amount of process legal services, and to optimise the way within each office. involved, O’Sullivan explains. “The most plumber that they have our lawyers were working.” “I was told I would be lucky if I natural landing place, where we should got to be an electrician” Caroline Hunter-Yeats, a partner got 20 per cent attendance because Legal project most definitely be considered, is the on the firm’s International Executive lawyers are so busy,” says Sharma. But management is a transactional space, often involving loans, Committee was brought in to sponsor with the backing of active sponsors in M&A, private equity, banking, tax or real time-consuming? It could be weekly cost CLIENT the initiative; she had personal Hunter-Yeats, managing partner Jeremy discipline attracting estate.” At the other end of the spectrum, reporting, and once they see us do that, experience of using a project Hoyland, managing director of solutions growing interest few would attempt to use LPM where a they wonder what else we can do. And management approach after being Ben McGuire and 49 national leaders, among corporate client is simply asking for advice. once they engage, they don’t want to run asked to do so by a major client. “We they achieved 80 per cent attendance. Key benefits for the client include projects without us.” felt very strongly that this had to be a The workshops introduced lawyers law firms, part of efficiency, control and risk management, In any case, most legal project managers change at grassroots level,” she explains. to a structured project management a race to make the resulting in a better overall experience and realise they can’t hard-sell their approach “I’d seen a number of firms who had approach – doing what they did before, increased satisfaction. Tamlin says that it to colleagues and a more subtle approach hired a legal project manager then but in an optimal and efficient way. delivery of services is a more collaborative way for lawyers and is required. Simon Muller, head of LPM dropped them into a group and expected This provided them with skills and more transparent, clients to work together. “Traditionally at Addleshaw Goddard, says: “The trick is miracles to happen. I didn’t think that, in tools that are now mandated for use we would have got the instruction and very much to find those people who have a law firm, that’s how you create change. by all the firm’s lawyers. For smaller predictable and the lawyers would have gone into ‘doing’ an existing interest in this approach, or We had to give our lawyers a framework legal matters, they run the project cost-effective mode pretty quickly, not always fully a potential challenge that they need help management themselves, but for larger, understanding what the objectives of the with, and a client who is keen on a better more complex matters, Sharma has are driving much of the adoption of project were,” she explains. “Now we’re way of working. If you get the timing right, built a team of legal project managers, LPM, not least because they are used to saying: let’s hold a planning meeting with they are very interested in working with led by Dada. “I wanted to create deploying project management and the the client. I’ve done one recently, and the you. But it can’t be a solution looking for a chartered, platinum set of legal clear reporting benefits it brings. But while client was so responsive. No legal work a problem.” project professionals from a wealth of most of the bigger law firms have at least has been done yet, but we’ve planned different backgrounds,” she explains.

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