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RUN YOUR LEGAL DEPARTMENT LIKE A BUSINESS UNIT – HOW TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL TRANSITION ROB THOMAS, VICE PRESIDENT, MARKET DEVELOPMENT GROUP THOMSON REUTERS ATLANTA ACC CHAPTER MEETING JUNE 2014
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2 CORPORATE LAW DEPARTMENTS – THE INTERSECTION OF LAW & BUSINESS Managing a legal department
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3 TODAY’S GOALS Managing the work of your legal department like a business unit – with effective project management techniques –Define scope, select the best team, create a plan –Require fiscal discipline, budget –Track progress regularly, adjust the plan/budget –Assess performance/results, capture lessons learned Use metrics to quantify the value your law department brings to the company
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ADOPTING A PROCESS PLAN Early case assessments Establish appropriate staffing Establish budget MONITOR Track spending against budget Receive periodic status reports ASSESS Review outcomes Analyze management reports Apply lessons learned Incorporate project management techniques into legal department operations.
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5 SCOPE THE PROJECT This problem is important to our business because _______________. The best possible solution is __________. The most likely solution is _________. We expect this matter to be resolved by __________(time frame). In similar matter, the results were __________. Key stakeholders in the company: __________ Primary phases, including tasks/deliverables: __________
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ALLOCATING WORK AMONG FIRMS Identify top-performing firms and lawyers for the department’s external matters. 6
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7 OPTIMIZE STAFFING ON PROJECTS Project success depends on assembling the right team and monitoring allocation of work.
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8 SET CONSISTENT RULES OF ENGAGEMENT WITH OUTSIDE COUNSEL Use of retention terms to set expectations with firms Current Require discounts from standard rates74.7% Project budgets required64.6% No change of assigned attorneys without client consent63.5% Travel expense rules60.1% Early case assessments59.6% Client ownership of work product46.6% Policies encouraging alternative dispute resolution29.8% Technology requirements24.7% Policies regarding diversity of service providers18.5%
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9 E-BILLING CAN TURN LEGAL BILLS INTO POWERFUL TOOLS & REPORTS Reports Tools Cost control Benchmarking and analytics Attorney hourly rate management Budget management Workload management Allocation of work to outside firms Billing guideline management Metrics proving savings and efficiency
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10 MONITOR COMPLIANCE
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11 CREATING THE BUDGET WITH OUTSIDE COUNSEL Value of project to the client:_____. Estimated cost:. Key budget assumptions: __________. Areas where “scope creep” is most likely:. What are the unknowns? Does a “phase” approach make more sense? How this will be managed with our internal budgets: _______.
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12 AUTOMATE PROJECT BUDGET TRACKING
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13 TRIAGE MATTERS THAT NEED BUDGET ATTENTION
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14 ELIMINATE SURPRISES: PERIODIC STATUS UPDATES, SHARED CALENDARS Foundation of legal project management: more communication, not less Require periodic status reports Use shared calendaring tool; automatically sends reminders to in-house/outside counsel legal team Adjust the plan as necessary
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CAPTURE & APPLY LESSONS LEARNED Substantive: What can we do to ensure we don’t end up here again (e.g., product changes, warnings, service issues) Procedural: What did we learn from the process (internally or from outside counsel)? What can we do better next time? What work product can we re-use?
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EVALUATE OUTSIDE COUNSEL PERFORMANCE
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TRACK SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE
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TRACK OBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE
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19 USING DATA TO QUANTIFY SUCCESS/VALUE Value of Legal Function Defend current staff, budget, structure Better manage legal resources Triage matters Act/think/speak like a CEO/CFO Aid “make vs. buy” decisions Control costs DATA
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NUMBERS AND LAWYERS – LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF BUSINESS
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21 MULTIPLE DATA POINTS BUILD ACCURATE ASSESSMENTS MONTHYTD2011 Total Matters595-152747 Total Spending$672,024$4,974,492$9,084,047 Total$/$M Sales.19%.16%.21% Active Litigation12-214 New Litigation1817 Closed Litigation0815 Cycle TimeN/A199 Days357 Days Litigation Spend $367,960$2,960,967 $3,642,612 Litigation $/$M Sales.10%.08% Settlement $N/A$1,602,715$278,936 Patents970+31939 Trademarks272-17289 IP Spending$176,135$1,358,005$1,467,726 IP$/$M Sales.05%.04%.03% Trainings73221 Ethics Complaints011
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22 DEEPER DIVE: TOTAL SPENDING MONTHYTD2011 Total Matters595-152747 Total Spending$672,024$4,974,492$9,084,047 Total$/$M Sales.19%.16%.21%
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23 DEEPER DIVE: LITIGATION MONTHYTD2011 Active Litigation12-214 New Litigation1817 Closed Litigation0815 Cycle TimeN/A199 Days357 Days Litigation Spend$367,960$2,960,967$3,642,612 Litigation $/$M Sales.10%.08% Settlement $N/A$1,602,715$278,936
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24 MONITOR AGGREGATE LAW DEPARTMENT BUDGET & SPENDING Budget to Actual Report
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DESCRIBING THE LEGAL PORTFOLIO
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26 UNCOVERING THE PRIMARY DRIVERS OF LITIGATION
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QUANTIFY ROLE OF DEPARTMENT IN GENERATING & PROTECTING REVENUE 27
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28 SAVINGS FROM PRACTICING PREVENTIVE LAW Show impact of trainings provided by law department Law department increased the number of trainings in response to rising number of HR matters
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DEMONSTRATING TRANSACTIONAL EFFICIENCY 29 No. of review requests No. of contracts reviewed and executed Average turn- around time Total contract revenue Cost to have outside counsel review Number of trainings (self- service)
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30 EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF RATE REQUESTS FROM FIRMS Use industry benchmarks to make better decisions regarding outside counsel rates
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CONSIDERING ALTERNATIVE FEE OPPORTUNITIES
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32 USE BENCHMARKS TO COMPARE YOUR OPERATIONS TO PEERS Example: number of attorneys and staff compared with similarly situated companies
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APPLYING EXTERNAL BENCHMARKS
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AUTOMATED BENCHMARKING REPORT CARD
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GROWING ADOPTION OF CLIENT- CENTRIC MATTER MANAGEMENT Client-centric technologies are replacing the patchwork of law firm extranets. 20002010Change Use of law firm extranets 21%13.5% Decreased by 36% Adoption of Internet- based systems to manage legal work 10.8%41.6% Increased by 285% Adoption of e-billing 1.1%34.8% Increased by 3064%
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36 ASSESSING YOUR LEGAL LANDSCAPE: BEGINS BY GETTING IT ALL IN ONE PLACE LEGAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY MATTER INFORMATION LIT, TRANS, IP, INTERNAL/ EXTERNAL BUDGETS/ FINANCIAL REPORTS & TRENDING DOCUMENTS SHARED CALENDARS
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QUESTIONS?
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38 CONTACT INFO / RESOURCES Rob Thomas Vice President, Market Development Group Corporate Legal Segment Thomson Reuters Phone: 425-732-5518 rob.thomas@thomsonreuters.com Additional Resources: How to Run Your Department Like a Business UnitHow to Run Your Department Like a Business Unit - http://author.acc.com/legalresources/publications/topten/ttwtryldlabu.cfm Top Ten Metrics Your Legal Department Should Be Tracking - http://author.acc.com/legalresources/publications/topten/ttmtyldsbt.cfm
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