Law Department Management 110

Managing PeopleManaging RelationshipsManaging InformationManaging Planning and Processes

Managing People

• You - Manage Up, Across, and Down

• Your Lawyers

• Your Paralegals

Management Foundation - Individual Excellence• Legal Knowledge is only part of the goal, in house

practice requires more

• Leadership http://tinyurl.com/NTIH1

– Presentation Skills

– Negotiation Skills (The Power to Persuade)

– Knowledge of corporate goals

– Risk Calculus - must be “in front” for others to follow

• Be part of the team, but keep your independence and integrity intact

Managing Lawyers• Alignment with corporate goals• Setting Expectations

•The Dreaded Performance Review

• Balancing Important vs. Urgent– Policies, manuals, compliance events– Use the bonus plan!

Dealing with poor performance

• The best surprise is ……..

• Guide, predict, diagnose

• Don’t wait – early intervention is best –problems do not improve with age

• Be Professional

• Provide an action plan – not just criticism

Who Does the Work?

• Paralegals and Legal Assistants

– Delegation

– Methods

– Resources

Delegation • Don’t need to see & review everything

Supervision and Delegation

• Paralegals can do everything except Give legal advice/opinions Appear in court Set fees Establish an attorney-client relationship

• Empower Paralegals and Legal Assistants

Use tools to enable them to take action and make decisions within

pre-defined parameters

Methods

• Tiered-Review PolicyEstablish when matters require attorney review

• Standard and Form Templates Use technology to your advantage

• Negotiating Toolkit for Common ProvisionsProvide fallback provisions and guidance for

common situations

• Training

Use of Fallback Provisions EXAMPLE: COMPANY EXCLUDES “AFFILIATES” FROM LICENSEE DEFINITION

Option 1 “Affiliate” means any property or casualty insurance company (or entity that

provides employees or services solely for the benefit of Licensee or a property or casualty insurance company Affiliate in connection with either’s internal business operations) identified on Exhibit A to this Agreement that controls, is controlled by, or shares common control with Licensee, with “control” being defined as having more than a 50% controlling interest.

Option 2“Affiliate” means any property or casualty insurance company (or entity that

provides employees or services solely for the benefit of Licensee or a property or casualty insurance company Affiliate in connection with either’s internal business operations) identified on Exhibit A to this Agreement that controls, is controlled by, or shares common control with Licensee, with “control” being defined as having more than a 50% controlling interest. Upon notice to Company and subject to Section 5.3.1 of this Agreement, Licensee may add additional Affiliates under this Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, absent Company’s prior written consent, an Affiliate will not include any entity that has an effective agreement with MSB at the time it becomes affiliated with Licensee

Resources

• ABA Model Guidelines - Utilization of Paralegal

Services http://tinyurl.com/NTIH6

• Customer Contract Review Policy & Procedure

(reference materials)

• Negotiating Toolkit for Key Provisions (reference

materials)

• “The 4-Hour Work Week”™ Timothy Ferriss

Managing Relationships

• Outside Counsel

• Community

• Customers

• Shareholders

• Cross functional Teams

Outside Counsel• Policies, Selection and Engagement• Easily Outsourced?

– Advice/Narrow issue requiring current expertise– Recurring matters (subpoena defense, collections)

• Evaluation and communication• Post Mortems• Formal Evaluations

• Resources

• ACC Value Challenge

• ACC InfoPaks• ABA Ethics Rules

Community• In house practice world extends beyond

your desk– Pro Bono support– Professional associations

• Legal – ACC, ABA, SCSGP• Other – IACCM, ARMA

Cross Functional Teams

• What is Legal’s Role - Leader or Supporting cast?

– Internal Investigations; RIF’s; IP Audits; Policymaking; EDRP

• How to get buy-in for the project– “The first best practice”

» http://tinyurl.com/NTIH3

• Keeping the team on schedule

• Tracking Progress with Technology

MS Sharepoint ; Project Management SW; MS Excel

Managing Process

• Financial Management

• Budget Process

• Accounting for Lawyers

• Risk Management Perspective

• Information Management

Financial Management

• Using Your Budget to Show Value– Size comparisons– Value of “insourcing”

• Managing Outside Expense is Key– After employee related costs, outside counsel will

typically be the largest % of your budget AND the most controllable by effective management

It’s not about you anymore! Challenges of being a Cost Center

Budgeting Tools• Requests for Proposals RFP’s

• Retention Guidelines/Engagement Letters/Litigation Policies

• Require Outside Counsel to Actively Participate in Your Budget Forecasting– Treat as partners– Hold accountable – cannot exceed provided budget by 10%

• Bill Other Departments for Time • Show Cost Savings/Revenue Additions (requires good

presentation skills!)

Risk Management How can you make a difference?

• Credit Risk – • Review corporate credit policies• Review credit and collection practices manual• Standardize escalation letters

• Know your insurance program

• Crisis Response Planning and Communication

Bonus objectives?

Information Management

• Developing e-File and Hard file systems– Adopt a standardized naming procedure

• 2009-05-19 DOCTYPE PARTY– Create and maintain a master file list– Develop a taxonomy process

List Folders Categories

Resources: “Establishing Alphabetic, Numeric and Subject Filing Systems” ANSI/ARMA ISBN 1-931786-25-9

Folder Storage – Electroni c and Hard Copy

• Email vs. Logical drive?– Treat your drive like a file cabinet

• Folders and subfolders (see sample)

• Follow the same convention in your email folder system

• Write Open and Close File Procedures

Beyond file names and folders• Document management

Retention Policy

• Matter Management– Database Tools– E-Billing

• Automation furthers measurement (“Metrics”) by systematically collecting data

e-Discovery Reference Model

Records Retention and eDiscovery

Things you should know• Record retention policy• Org charts• IT backup procedures email,

blackberries, voice mail• Default settings for file save• Custodian of Global Data Map• Default Settings for “File Save”• What is metadata?

Things you should do• Build an e-Discovery response

team* – legal/IT/HR/Business

• Std. hold letter/email • Focus on what to KEEP• Minimize storage of ESI• Maximize access to relevant

ESI• Train employees

* http://tinyurl.com/NTIH4

Work flow analysis

• Detailed analysis of process steps

• Goals - improve cost time or quality

A picture is worth ………

Flow Charts and Diagrams

• Expose gaps in understanding

• Highlight duplication of effort

• Highlight steps that can run concurrently

• Suggest tasks that could be delegated

• Identify hidden costs

• Clarify bottlenecks

• Provide a map for automation/technology

Examples and Resources

• Policy Approval Process• Contract Approval Process• SOX Reviews

– MS Excel– Smart Draw– Visio

Managing Goals and Objectives

• Budgeting vs. Planning

• Alignment with Corporate Objectives– What does this mean for Lawyers?

• Benchmarking and Metrics– If you don’t measure results, how do you

know its working?

Strategic Planning

Why are metrics important?

• Guiding strategy, and informing tactics• Quantify your support of corporate goals• Set department standards• Improve costs, outcomes• Present information the way your clients will

understand it

Smart Metrics

• Specific

• Measurable

• Actionable

• Relevant

• Timely

Metrics – A time for every purpose

• Start at the beginning -collect reliable data!

• Set review periods

• Plan for 2 or more years

• Faster than the speed of light

Examples of Metrics

• Annual files opened/closed

• Total Legal Expense Inside/Outside

• Total SGA Cost per attorney

• Mix of cases (%) by subject matter

• Employment cases by Business Unit

Resources: www.altmanweil.comwww.hildebrandt.com

Metrics Comfort foodor

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