Handoffs Are Making Your Matters Late

Unless you’re a lone wolf, your project is going to have hand-offs.

Sorry, did I say “project?” I forgot for a moment that this is a legal blog. I meant “matter.” Or “case.” Or whatever else you call that “individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned and designed to achieve a particular aim.”¹  For consistency with the rest of the business world, let’s call it a project.Continue reading

Happy Blogaversary to Me

Wow, blogaversary is a terrible word, but a good time for reflection nonetheless.

I started the Legal Value Theory blog a year ago as a place to capture my thoughts around the nature of legal value and occasionally express my frustrations around the perceived lack of value in our industry. At the time I had a dual role working for a mid-sized consulting firm, spending most of my time as a business consultant on client projects but also acting as in-house counsel for the firm.

Wearing two hats gave me an interesting perspective on the nature of legal work and operations. Continue reading

Legal Project Management: You’re Doing it Wrong

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Legal Project Management is quite the buzzword these days. Of course the concept has been around for years, but the recent publication of the ABA’s The Power of Legal Project Management has renewed the push for lawyers to adopt the project management techniques that have been used in the business world for decades.

Here’s the problem: the project management methodology being marketed to lawyers—whether by the ABA book, an upcoming ALI CLE, or any number of consulting firms—is outdated. Not only that, it isn’t especially well-suited to the dynamic and sometimes volatile nature of legal work.Continue reading