Legal Project Management
Presentation for ACC Canada
Vancouver, December 2nd, 2010
Andrew Terrett, Director of Knowledge Management, BLG
Carla Swansburg, Senior Counsel, Law Group, RBC
Is this your perception of Project
Management?
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Agenda
Part 1: Some definitions
Part 2: Why do lawyers need Project Management?
Part 3: Key concepts
Part 4: Application to legal services
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Part 1 – Legal Project Management –
key definitions
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What is it really? Project Management
is…
• A mature discipline with:
• A number of organisational “institutes” / associations
- Project Management Institute (PMI)
- Association for Project Management
• Standards e.g. Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK),
PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments)
• Certifications e.g. PMP, CAPM, PgMP, Risk, Scheduling
• Large growing global memberships – e.g. PMI is active in over 180
countries
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A few definitions…
• A project is “a temporary endeavor undertaken to
create a unique product or service.” (PMI)
• Project Management is “the application of knowledge,
skills, tools and techniques to project activities to
meet project objectives” (PMI)
• In reality…part art, part science
• Art – people management, negotiation
• Science – scope, time, cost, risk, communications, quality
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Artistry?
• PM is:
• A set of tools, techniques and guidelines (a toolbox)
• To be used as required
• As appropriate – neither too much or too little (think “Goldilocks” – not too
hot, not too cold…)
• Not just for the “mega-projects”
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Why has project management not
captured the imagination of lawyers?
• They don’t teach it at law school
• It seems like lawyers don’t need project management
•Lawyers have a framework – it’s called the Law!
•It seems like there are just too many variables in legal practice so
“let’s just get drafting and billing!”
• Lawyers are not adept at applying best practices from
the business world
• Lawyers enjoy the autonomy that comes with subjectmatter expertise
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Part 2 – Why do lawyers need Project
Management?
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Seven reasons…
• Maintain sanity!
• Budgetary certainty
• Project Management is proven – it works!
• Project Plans are great communication tools (90% of
Project Management is COMMUNICATION).
• Project Planning makes for better RFP responses for
law firms and evaluations of RFP’s by in-house
counsel
• Project Plans make for better Knowledge Management
• Project Plans are great learning tools for junior
lawyers
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Reason #1 - Maintain sanity!
• Are you familiar with this scenario? A new project is announced.
You experience the following:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Excitement
Disenchantment
Confusion
Panic!
Disaster
(Search for the guilty, punishment of the innocent)
(Rewards for the non-participants…)
• Good Project Management can reduce the likelihood of this
scenario…
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Reason #2 – Budgetary certainty
• The economic imperative - “more for less”
• Law departments are keen to negotiate alternative fee
arrangements and firms are under pressure to oblige:
•Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Value Challenge
•AFA’s – Fixed fees, caps, blended rates (not discounts)
• In-house counsel are getting more and more pressure
to control and accurately predict costs
•
•
•
•
•
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They want value; and
They want a reliable budget in advance; so
Planning is becoming essential
To deliver AFA and make a profit, law firms need PM
Law Departments can use PM to negotiate and structure AFAs and
manage internal projects
Reason #3 – Planning Precedes
Performance
• Project Management is proven
• Research on IT software development projects shows better outcomes
when PM discipline is adopted.
• No organisation that adopts project management ever walks away from
it. They simply evolve and mature in their usage
• (But it’s not a magic bullet!)
• The majority of project still fail in terms of on-time and on-budget delivery
• But if you don’t use PM, you would have no idea what on-time and onbudget even means!
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Reason #4 – Project Plans are a great
communication tool and an
opportunity for reflection
• Project plans allow the planner to
• Reflect
• Identify and validate assumptions
• Reduce risks
• Project Management requires that a plan is
communicated to all project “stakeholders”
• The entire team
• Clients/Business partners/internal clients for in-house lawyers
• Entire external legal team
• Students, law clerks/paralegals
•For internal projects, other key people like corporate
communications/PR, executives
• In other words, anyone who has a stake in the project
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Reason #5 – Project plans are great
BD tools for law firms and evaluation
tools for clients
• Project plans allow law firms to respond more quickly
to RFP’s and can distinguish firms
• “Here’s how we would tackle your problem”
• Demonstrates that the firm has thought this through
• Demonstrates that they have done this type of work before
• For in-house counsel, allows an easier comparison of
responses and progress
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Reason #6 – Project Plans are great
KM tools
• Knowledge Management is all about lawyers
accessing the right information at the right time.
• We collect and re-use precedents, research memos, clauses
• Why not project plans?
• Avoids “wheel re-invention”
• Embeds knowledge for others to access
• Allows for evolution of process improvement
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Reason #7 – Project Plans are great
learning tools
• It is in the organisation’s interests that new lawyers
get up to speed as quickly as possible on any given
legal matter.
• A project plan provides an overview of the entire
process. It defines what is meant by “done” and
describes the necessary steps.
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Part 3 – Key Project Management
Concepts
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Some key PM concepts (as described
in the PMI’s PMBOK)
• Scope, Time, Cost, Risk, Quality, Communication
• Bear in mind PMBOK is a “toolkit’ – pick the pieces that suit the
circumstances
• In legal services, “one size does not fit all…”
• there’s complexity
• there are unknowns associated with negotiation
• litigation (strategic aspect)
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The Four Project Stages (the PMBOK
“Waterfall” approach)
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Initiation
• Ask / Listen in this stage
• Should we do “this”?
• What are the alternatives and their merits?
• Typically, as lawyers, the approval to proceed has
already been given e.g.
• Acquire this target
• Defend the client against this lawsuit
• Output
• In-house Counsel – Response to a situation
• Private Practice – Engagement / Retainer Letter
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Planning
• Ask / Listen in this stage
•
•
•
•
•
What does “done” look like?
What is “success” here?
What do we need to do to get there?
Who is best to do it?
What will it cost?
• Typical response before PM…..
• We don’t have time to plan, we need to start now…..
• (Equivalent of saying “We would rather do this quickly than efficiently”)
• Output
• Scope
• Project Plan/Strategy
• Fee/cost estimate
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1st key concept - Scope
• Scope” is the work that must be performed
• to deliver a product or service and
• meet specified requirements.
• In-Scope / Out-of-Scope
• Think of this as two lists – A and B…
• Scope Management
• “Speak now or forever hold your peace”
• Define the impact of scope changes before scope is approved. (Scope
Change not scope creep…)
• Distinguish must haves from nice to haves
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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
• Two approaches
• Top down (Decomposition)
• Bottom-up
• Expert judgment
• Find the people who have done it before…
• Templates
• “Progressive elaboration”
• You don’t have a crystal ball so that you can look 5 years down the
road…
• Particularly important, for example, for litigation
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A simple WBS example
Birthday Party
Invitations
Cake
Venue
Activities
To who?
What type?
Where? When?
What?
What type?
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Commercial Lending Agreement Example
(High level)
Commercial
Lending Agreement
Letter of Intent or
Memorandum of
Understanding
Due Diligence
Review of title?
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Negotiation and
Settlement of
Documents
Loan Agreement
Guarantees
Closing
Commercial Litigation
Commercial
Litigation
Pleadings
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Discovery/
Depositions
Motions
Pre-trial
preparation
Trial
Appeal
Mediation/
Settlement
2nd key concept – time management
• Logic/network diagrams
• Bar charts, milestones, “gates”
• Critical Path
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3rd key concept – Cost Planning
• To create a budget (from nothing)
• Step 1 - Work Breakdown Structure (Task list)
• Step 2 - Assigning resources (each of which have a cost)
• Step 3 - Consider contingencies
…gives us an estimate
• The importance of historical data
• Don’t start with a blank sheet of paper unless you have to!
• Time and billing systems – vast quantities of historical data but difficult to
mine without other tools…
• “Ball-parking” budgets is massively unreliable
• Don’t do it!
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Execution/Monitor and control
• Deliver the work product
• Ask / Listen in this stage
•
•
•
•
Are we on time?
Are we on budget?
Have we met the deliverables?
Have the objectives changed?
• Typical response before PM
• Focus on the tasks and get them done
• Output
• Communication
• Revised plan
• Deliverables
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Execution
Monitor and Control
4th key concept – Cost management
• Step 1 – Determine at what level of detail you will
manage the budget
• Step 2 - For law firms: ensure timekeepers regularly
enter their time
• Step 3 – Compare estimate, cost to date and
remaining work
• You don’t need sophisticated tools to do this….
• Project plan allows in-house counsel to track firms’
progress
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Closing
• Ask / Listen in this stage
•
•
•
•
What did we do well?
What can be done better next time?
Did I receive value for the costs? (client)
Did we deliver value for the costs (law firm)
• Typical response before PM
• Get the bill paid (Private Practice)
• Determine if any deliverables will make good precedents (KM
opportunity)
• Output
• Lessons Learned
• Process Assets
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5th Key PM concept - Risk
• Two elements:
• Probability (is it going to happen?) and
• Severity (how bad would that be?)
• Risk Management process:
• Identify, Analyse, Respond
• Risk rating = probability * severity
• Allows counsel to focus on true risks and spend less time/effort on
minimal risks
• Risk Response Planning:
• Mitigate, Avoid, Transfer, Accept
• Risks can be hidden, missing or unclear because
requirements are unclear…What are the risk triggers?
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6th Key PM concept – Communication
• Communication Planning – who needs to know what,
when, how?
• Project Sponsor – Who is the overall decision maker?
• Responsibility Planning:
•
•
•
•
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Who is responsible?
Who is accountable?
Who needs to be consulted?
Who needs to be informed?
7th Key PM concept - Quality
• Quality is defined as “The degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics fulfils requirements”
• What is quality in the context of legal services?
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The Project Management “Iron
Triangle” or “Triple Constraint”
Time
Risk
&
Quality
Cost
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Scope
Part 4 – Application of PM principles to
legal practice
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Objection #1 - “Yes, but issues come
up…”
• Issues come up in every project that require changes
to scope, schedule, etc.
• Issues simply highlight the importance of
• Agreeing in advance what “done” looks like; and
• Agreeing to a process for approving changes
• “Scope Change Management”
• New tasks, new dollars, amended timeline
• “The Iron Triangle”…
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Objection #2 – “We cannot plan from
beginning to end” (say the litigators in
unison…)
• So don’t try!
• Litigation is not so much a single project as a series
• Clearly you cannot schedule from pleadings to trial – litigation is too
fluid. The planning horizon is much shorter
• “Progressive elaboration”!!!
• Plan to the next milestone or deliverable
• Be prepared to throw away the plan!
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Objection #3 – “We’re already doing a
lot of this…”
• You may well be…
• But Legal Project Management:
• Makes explicit what was previously implicit
• Adds structure to what you already do (provides a template for better
organization and planning of legal matters)
• Introduces a common vocabulary
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Objection #4 – “Everything I do is
unique…every deal is different”
• (aka “fear of Susskind”…)
• Response - you actually need more PM!
• Project Management is about structure
• not necessarily about process improvement, commoditisation, etc.
• (“Yeah but…”)
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Objection #5 – “PM cannot be done in the
context of a law firm/client relationship”
• Roles and responsibilities
• What PM skills are available –
• Do they have dedicated PM’s or “dabblers”?
• Do we have an agreed PM methodology?
• Who’s in charge?
• Inhouse
•General Counsel
•Assistant General Counsel
•Senior Counsel
• External Counsel
•Partner?
•Senior associate?
•Paralegal (project co-ordinator)
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Objection #6 – “There’s no suitable PM
software for lawyers…”
• There are many software applications that can assist
with project management planning and execution
• Some options for your consideration…
•
•
•
•
MS Project 2010 (Server), Primavera, Liquid Planner, Onit, Swiftlight
Budgeting software – e.g. Budget Manager, Engage, Feesability
eBilling Software e.g. Serengeti
Matter Management – Needles, Prolaw, Amicus Attorney
• (Note: The Apollo moon landings didn’t have MS
Project…)
• Use software as a tool. It should not replace critical
thinking
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“One size does not fit all…”
Transactions
Litigation
Compliance
Can you scope out this
project from beginning to
end?
Yes (generally)
Yes - tasks to the next
milestone in detail. You
can also plan end-toend at a high level with
a lower degree of
certainty
Yes, but more
process than
project.
Deliverables are
defined already
Can you estimate time and
costs required based on
the tasks?
Yes (generally)
Yes – reliable estimates
to the next milestone
and less accurate high
level time and cost
estimates for future
phases
Yes
Can you define
communication and
responsibility
requirements?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Can you identify risk and
associated mitigation
strategies?
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Yes
Yes
Yes
“OK, I get it. Where do I start”…
• Start small
• Pick an area (start with the simpler areas – not IPO, not Class Actions…)
• Bring in a consultant for basic Legal PM training like this
• Create a Work Breakdown Structure and try to execute against it
• (It won’t be fun the first time…)
• Learn quickly and “fail forward”
• Apply Lessons Learned, “rinse and repeat”…
• Then start talking to external counsel
• Start small, pick another area
• Create a Work Breakdown Structure, try to execute against it…
• Figure out what tools and techniques work best for you.
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Discussion
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Example Scope Statement template
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Project Communications Plan
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Example Responsibility Matrix
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Risk Assessment Matrix
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Contact Details
Andrew Terrett, PMP
Director of Knowledge
Management
Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Toronto
(416) 367 6497
aterrett@blg.com
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Carla Swansburg
Senior Counsel
Royal Bank of Canada
Toronto
(416) 974-6712
Carla.swansburg@rbc.com