Legal Research

"Legal Project Management (Part 10): Where To Begin"

This post was written by Jim Hassett: "Which should come first: a formal legal project management system or legal project management training?

This particular chicken and egg question has come up quite a few times in the last few weeks.  For example, I recently talked to a law firm IT project manager who was stunned at how rapidly his fortunes had changed.  He has worked for a firm with over 500 lawyers for several years, and has spent much of that time trying to get lawyers to accept the idea of applying project management principles to legal matters. 

Until a few months ago, nobody listened.  Then the news came out that Dechert had trained every one of its partners in this area and all of a sudden people were asking him to recommend project management systems, tools and training.

Which is where the chicken and egg question comes in.  Does a firm need to have project management software and systems in place before they train lawyers how to work more efficiently?  Or should they begin project management training as quickly as possible, to encourage lawyers to change behavior that can have an immediate impact on client communication and the bottom line?..."

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Source: Legal Business Development, 2 June 2010, reproduced with permission of the author.

Full post as published by Stark County Law Library Blawg on June 02, 2010 (boomark / email).