Can a partner be a legal project manager?
The legal project manager is the person who ensures that “quality” work is done, with quality defined as work that the client deems fit for purpose. Its a role which a partner has traditionally taken, with the limitations set out in the last post. [You can read a fuller exploration of this and last week's post by downloading the associated white paper].
This means that a project manager manages:
- the scoping – which set out the expectations,
- the planning – which defined how the work would be done whilst making an acceptable profit,
- the execution – when the work is being undertaken, changed and re-scoped as new information comes to light,
- The review –exploring with the client how the processes could have been even better.
In fact the responsibilities of the legal project manager are not therefore that different from a traditional one in industry apart from one thing: a legal project manager needs to be able to work within a law firm, and work with lawyers.
Should a partner undertake the role?
Yes and No.
Obviously a partner truly understands the law firm culture. They typically fail, however, in the other project manager roles. This is not to say that they could not fulfil the other roles, it is to say that they do not in a systematic manner. Thus they will plan a matter, but often only in their head, and without considering the full range of available people. They will talk to the client, but not have the detailed information necessary to discuss the financial consequences of the upcoming risks, and the plans to mitigate them. There are exceptions, but most will do just enough project management to allow themselves to get to grip with the interesting part – the law.
For a true legal project manager, the law is just one component of the matter. The business development director of a 40 partner corporate team believes that 30% of a typical M&A deal is admin. Client satisfaction is based on the client’s perception of your performance, not the performance itself. And unless the matter makes an acceptable profit, the firm is a hobby, not a business.
Should a firm use industry-trained project managers?
Yes and No.
Is it possible, but the role cannot be a traditional project manager’s. The centrality of the partner to the client relationship means that no project manager, however talented, would be allowed to “fly solo” in their dealings with the client or even muster the internal legal resources. Thus a legal project manager must act as a “para-planner”, doing all the background work to enable the client partner to make the right decisions.
The legal project manager will the one who modifies the firm’s current financial systems to create useful project reports, and will be the one who communicates with the internal team to ensure that there are no surprises. As a relationship develops a legal project manager will increasingly know the mind of the partners they are working for there and there will be some calls, updates and client conversations that the legal project planner will field on behalf of the partner.
So is the legal project planner part of the client team? Should the client be aware of their existence, or should the firm deploy them behind the scenes? The data are scarce. At least one firm formally charges a project manager out to the client, and has proved to themselves that they add to both the client satisfaction and the bottom line profit. In fact having a project manager on board can be seen as a positive point of difference. Other firms have alternatively used them behind the scenes, focusing on the internal resourcing of the work rather than client-facing.
What Should your firm do?
It depends.
If you can change the way your partners work - perhaps by rewarding profitability, leverage and processes you may be able to effect a transformation with your existing team.
If you can find, integrate and cross-train professional project managers to become legal project managers, whilst preparing the firm to accept them you would probably have a more profitable solution.
If you do nothing you will be taken to the cleaners by ABS Companies who come with none of the baggage and adopt a fresh approach
To read a fuller exploration of the partner .v. professional project manager issue, download the associated whitepaper.
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