Lawyer frequently may require to perform the role of "Project Manager"!!!

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Legal Project Management-LPM in legal management consulting hereafter called LMC is a field recognised widely in the legal services. All of the large law firms in the US, UK, Asia, along with some of the larger local firms, now employ legal project managers. Following are basic project and legal project management concept understanding details.

What is a Project?

A project is a temporary effort or venture undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates that a project has a definite start and end. The end is reached when the project’s objectives have been achieved or when the project is ended because its objectives or goal will not or cannot be met, or when the necessitate for the project no longer exists. A project may also be terminated if the client (customer, sponsor) wishes to terminate or stop the project. Temporary does not necessarily mean the duration of the project is short. It refers to the project’s engagement and its prolonged existence. Temporary does not normally apply to the product, service, or result created by the project; most projects are undertaken to create a lasting outcome. Although repetitive elements may be present in some project deliverables and activities, this reappearance does not change the fundamental, unique characteristics of the project work.

What is Project Management?

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of the logically grouped project management processes, which are categorized into five Groups. These five Process Groups are:

• Initiating,
• Planning,
• Executing,
• Monitoring and Controlling, and
• Closing[1]

What is legal project management?

Legal Project Management is the discipline of managing resources (people and technology) to bring about the successful completion of the specific goals of a legal case (the client’s goals), while honoring the constraints of the matter (time, money, relevant law).

Lawyers may often need to perform the role of project manager or play a part in a project team. Legal project management is about adapting project management techniques in a legal context. The most succinct definition of a project is the one coined by the Project Management Institute (PMI), which defines a project as "a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result." Following this definition, all projects generally share three characteristics where they: Have a definite start and end point. Are of a temporary nature, so once the end-point is reached the project is over. Create something "new" or "unique". Therefore, all legal matters, regardless of the practice area, can be considered as projects. Although legal matters may regard some matter types as being rather run of the mill and consequently more of a "process" than a "project", I suggest, that clients generally hold the opposite view and regard their matters as projects rather than processes.[2]

Some key abilities, skills and attributes are required of legal project managers

• Project Management
• Research and analysis
• Logical reasoning
• Technological affinity
• Distilling the key points
• Emotional intelligence
• Commercial awareness
• Collaboration skills
• Attention to detail
• Communication (oral and written)
• Reputation & Time Management

What is Agile legal project management (Law-Agile)?

Agile refers to legal project management that promotes continuous improvement, collaboration, adaptation, team efforts and rapid delivery of precious legal services. Here are some of the most excellent metaphors of the term Agile in relation to law practice. An Agile policy for lawyers would look like this:-

• continual collaboration with clients;
• commitment to flexibility and rapidity;
• direct communication rather than complex documentation;
• continual focus on client goals;
• realistically weighing risk; and
• a strong bias toward simplicity.[3]

Legal Project Management is a hot subject these days and justifiably so. Done right, it can make your legal team the leader among your peers. Clients are also requiring their legal service vendors to prove they know how to manage projects, before they even decide to engage them.

Conclusion: Using the project methodology like Traditional, Lean Six Sigma, Kanban, Agile etc in Legal Profession it transform and give the standard & professional view to the value-driven delivery model in any legal services.

REFERENCES

• Project Management Institute, Inc., https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management.
• Antony Smith, Legal project management: an overview, Thomson reuters ,https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/w-0053765?transitionType=Default&contextData(sc.Default)&firstPage=true&comp=pluk&bhcp=1
• CICERO Law Pack, https://www.cicerosoftware.com/en/blog-agile-law-firm/
• Image, https://pixabay.com/photos/gavel-auction-hammer-justice-legal-3577254/