Legal Project Management is the cover story of the summer issue of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association's quarterly publication CCCA Magazine.[1] In this feature, Michael Rappaport shares legal project management insights gleaned from lawyers from a number of Canadian and U.S. corporations and law firms, as well as a number of legal project management experts, some of whom have been discussed on this blog in the past:
- Brian Armstrong, Exec. V.P. and General Counsel of Bruce Power
- Marc-André Blanchard, Chair and CEO of McCarthy Tétrault LLP [2]
- Darryl Cruz, Partner at McCarthy Tétrault LLP
- Michael Fekete, Partner, Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
- Steven Levy, Principal of Lexician [3]
- Joachin Fritz, national leader of IP and Technology Group at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
- Andrew Terret, National Director of Knowlege Management at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
- Carla Goldstein, Director of Strategic Management, Seyfarth Shaw LLP.[4]
The article provides a good summary of the historical background of legal project management and the forces driving firms and corporate legal departments to apply project management practices to legal work. A common theme in the article is the impact of the current recession on legal spending decisions and increased pressure for lowering legal costs and making them more predictable. The connection between alternative fee arrangements and legal project management is also highlighted.
The article is is available free on-line: http://ccca.dgtlpub.com/2010/2010-05-31/home.php
[1] Michael Rappaport, Better Service By Design: Project Management and the Quest to Add Value, CCCA Magazine, Summer 2010, at 18, available at http://ccca.dgtlpub.com/2010/2010-05-31/home.php (last visited May, 27, 2010).
[2] For more about McCarthy Tétrault LLP's project management initiative, see: Paul C. Easton, Law Firm PM Watch: McCarthy Tétrault Launches Home-baked Project Management System, Legal Project Management, Sunday, April 18, 2010, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2010/04/law-firm-pm-watch-mccarthy-tetrault-launches-home-baked-project-management-system.html (last visited 5/27/2010); Paul C. Easton, Law Firm PM Watch: McCarthy Tétrault Highlights its Project Management Capabilities, Legal Project Management, Thursday, May 13, 2010, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2010/05/law-firm-pm-watch-mccarthy-tetrault-highlights-its-project-management-capabilities.html (last visited 5/27/2010).
[3] I've written so much about Steve Levy's writings on this blawg, that rather than cite to each post, I'm providing the link to the his "tag" on this blog: http://legalprojectmanagement.info/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/peaston/managed-mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=Steven%20Levy&limit=20.
[4] For more information about Seyfarth Shaw's project management initiatives, see: Paul C. Easton, Law Firm PM Watch: Seyfarth Shaw, Legal Project Management, Friday, July 03, 2009, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2009/07/law-firm-pm-watch-seyfarth-shaw.html (last visited 5/27/2010); Paul C. Easton, Law Firm PM Watch: Seyfarth Shaw's Six Sigma program highlighted in the ABA Journal, Legal Project Management, Thursday, September 17, 2009, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2009/09/law-firm-pm-watch-seyfarth-shaws-six-sigma-program-highlighted-in-the-aba-journal.html (last visited 5/27/2010); Paul C. Easton, Seyfarth Shaw Shows How Setting Up a LPMO Can Help Project-and-Process Improvement Efforts Succeed, Legal Project Management, Tuesday, October 20, 2009, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2009/10/a-peak-into-putting-legal-project-management-into-practice.html (last visited 5/27/2010); Paul C. Easton, Law Firm PM Watch: SeyfarthLean Featured in iSixSigma Magazine and the Profit Through Process Pod Cast, Legal Project Management, Monday, December 07, 2009, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2009/12/seyfarth-shaw-is-featured-in.html (last visited 5/27/2010); Paul C. Easton, Law Firm PM Watch: Seyfarth Shaw--Six Minutes on Six Sigma, Legal Project Management, Sunday, April 18, 2010, http://legalprojectmanagement.info/2010/04/law-firm-pm-watch-seyfarth-shaw--six-minutes-on-six-sigma.html (last visited 5/27/2010).
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