Rees Morrison reports in his Law Department Management blog on a study that finds law firms have steadily allocated responsibilities lower.[1] This prompts Mr. Morrison to point out that "if the pattern has been for law firms to move work down the experience and cost ladder, it makes the increases in external legal costs over those years even more startling."
It prompts me to question who is being allocated legal project management (LPM) responsibilities? It is no secret that the attorneys-(who-are-supposed-to-be-)in-charge tend to shuck off LPM duties, especially e-discovery management, to junior associates. Last summer the Sedona Conference called the legal community out on this, reminding us that "attorney-in-charge" should mean just that. Does that mean the senior attorney responsible for a matter cannot delegate project-management duties? No. But law firms tend not to allocate LPM work to the best resources.
A legal project manager should have project-management training and experience and be vested by the attorney-in-charge (the project sponsor) with authority to run the project, including monitoring and directing the attorneys, paralegals, and litigation support staff assigned to the project. In my experience, this is often not the case. Even where LPM responsibilities are delegated to highly experienced staff who are capable project managers, they tend to be hamstrung by lack of any real authority.
This is why I'm skeptical of project-management initiatives in law firms that do not involve setting up a Legal Project Management Office vested with managerial authority. A few hours of project management training to a firm's partners and associates may impart some handy productivity and cost control tips, but it isn't going to create and sustain deep-and-wide institutional change.
[1] Rees Morrison, A Claim That Law Firms Have Steadily Allocated Responsibilities Lower, Law Department Management, Apr. 7, 2010, http://www.lawdepartmentmanagementblog.com/law_department_management/2010/04/a-claim-that-law-firms-have-steadily-allocated-responsibilities-lower.html.
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