In today’s episode, I’m speaking with South Carolina consumer rights attorney and co-author of The Lean Law Firm, Dave Maxfield. Dave joins me today to provide an interesting look into how lawyers can adopt techniques from the Lean methodology to empower and improve their law practices.Lean and Agile share essential DNA, including using Kanban to make work flow more smoothly, as well as limiting work in progress, and a formula for actually measuring the productivity of our law practices. This episode is packed with information and practical advice you can use to implement Dave’s insights in your law firm.Tune in this week to discover how to take lean production systems of ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #8: Building the Lean Law Firm with Dave Maxfield

Streamlining processes in your law practice makes sense. It saves you and your team precious time and energy and keeps the backend running smoothly.However, optimizing a system for efficiency doesn’t always go down well with clients. In fact, it can reduce customer value and loyalty, leaving them disengaged from the process you’re helping them through.In this episode, I’m introducing you to a piece of business school research focusing on the impact of self-checkouts in grocery stores. And yes, this is a vastly different industry, but it does teach us about how optimizing a system for efficiency risks creating a worse customer experience for your client, negatively impacting their overall perceptions ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #7: Don’t Let Efficiency Destroy Customer Value

When somebody hires a lawyer, what are they really looking for?They almost certainly have practical needs, but providing value to your client often requires more than just a practical, technical solution. One mainstay of being an Agile Attorney is ​a constant focus on delivering customer value. So how do you ​align your team, your practices, and your tools ​to create an environment that prioritizes client value in your firm? And how do you do it in a way that delivers value in every interaction, not just with your end product?Part of getting this right is really putting yourself in your client's shoes. From their perspective, ​navigating the legal system is ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #6: What Clients Really Want from Lawyers

Do you have numerous cases close to being completed but, because they are no longer urgent, they sit among the rest of your work and make you feel overwhelmed by all there is to do? Many firms overlook addressing this common issue as an opportunity to reduce the total amount of work in their system.I’ll provide insights on how to reduce the work in progress to also reduce the stress and anxiety that come with feeling overwhelmed by a heavy workload. I’ll discuss things that may be consuming a significant amount of capacity without directly contributing to productivity, and explain how reducing those things will help the higher-value work flow ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #5: Close the Closable: Finding Balance in Your Caseload

There is a wealth of tools out there designed to streamline your workflow, easy to pick up and capable of adapting in countless ways as you master them. A personal favorite of mine is the Kanban board. I've been championing it for years, often introducing it to folks for the first time. Today, Kanban boards have gained widespread popularity, with numerous software options available to create your own.In this week's episode, we're going back to Kanban basics, offering insights perfect for both newbies and seasoned users. I'll highlight two key types of Kanban boards that could revolutionize your law practice. Plus, I'll pass on some hands-on advice that I've shared ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #4: Kanban Board Essentials for Lawyers

Are you hitting roadblocks in your legal delivery systems because of stubborn bottlenecks that disrupt the flow of work? It feels like every new solution out there promises smoother operations, yet often, they just end up shifting the problem elsewhere.In today’s episode, I’m going to guide you through the most effective strategies for getting work to move seamlessly through your system again. We’ll take a close look at the bottleneck areas in your law practice and discuss why making improvements in the wrong areas doesn’t really cut it.Join me as we explore how to identify those bottlenecks in your law firm and address them effectively. I’ll share some practical tools ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #3: Finding and Fixing Bottlenecks to Drive Law Practice Efficiency

​​I sat down with Chad Main of legal technology company Percipient for his Technically Legal Podcast. Chad was a great interviewer because he uses Agile practices in his own work, and he got me to break down some of the basics of Agile and Kanban for lawyers who may be new to the concepts. We give a high-level overview of Agile overall, and then dive into the core practices of the Kanban method, including:Making work visible with kanban boards; The value of a daily standup meeting (and other tools for effective team communication); The importance of WIP Limits (work in process limits); andWhy lawyers should ​invest more of their efforts on ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Technically Legal Podcast: Using Agile to Streamline Legal Workflows

If you're feeling overwhelmed or overburdened in your law practice, it may be a sign that you're operating beyond your current capacity. Capacity is a multifaceted concept, encompassing time, energy, skill, knowledge, and more. This week, I focus on having an honest reckoning with capacity, focusing on the relationship between capacity, priority and overwhelm.Often, when discussing capacity, the emphasis is on expansion or addition. While this isn't inherently incorrect, it can be a challenging starting point. To effectively scale the capacity of your business or firm, it's crucial to first understand your existing capacity. In this episode, I provide tools to help you get back within a comfortable capacity and ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #2: The Honest Reckoning with Capacity

Do you ever feel discouraged or overwhelmed by the amount of unfinished work in your law practice? Are you ever juggling so many balls that you’re worried something is going to drop and you may not notice when it does? If so, you’re in the right place. The Agile Attorney podcast is being revived, and each week, I’ll be offering ideas, practices, and principles to help professionals like you infuse Agility into their legal practices.Over the past decade, I have helped lawyers and legal teams harness the tools of modern entrepreneurship to build practices that are profitable, scalable, and sustainable for themselves and their communities. It all starts with becoming ... (Keep reading)

Read More
Ep #1: Four Agile Principles to Help Your Legal Practice

​Anyone who has been around the Access to Justice space for more than a few months has likely run into one or more efforts to help people with criminal records expungement. And with good reason — even a decades-old criminal conviction on a person's record can create substantial barriers to finding housing, employment, and a range of other services and privileges.Here in Oregon, we're fortunate that a host of factors has combined to make records expungement easier than ever. I won't get the order of events quite right, but they include:Then-new lawyer Michael Zhang (himself a software coder) combined forces with Code for PDX's Jordan Whitte, Kent Shikama, and a ... (Keep reading)

Read More
A Cautionary Success Story