WHAT IS LEGAL AFFAIRS MANAGEMENT

I just started a legal affairs management firm so I am not surprised that people ask me what that means. What does surprise me though is how people react to the explanation. Business people immediately understand the concept and are surprised but pleased that it is available, lawyers seem to be befuddled by the concept and are surprised and somewhat unhappy that anyone would want the service.


Businessmen research, plan, implement and monitor just about everything they do. They buy equipment, start a new product line, buy a business, and add personnel; business decisions are done with a plan and a budget. Why do CEO's and CFO's who insist on budgets to the mil leave their legal affairs uncontrolled, especially their major litigation and transactional matters.


Clients are told that estimates are too difficult and one can never anticipate what the other side is going to do, or clients accept a lowball guess. Clairvoyance is not expected, but experience in such matters and a reasonable estimate of what the other side might require or impose will provide an opportunity to develop a reasonable budget. Developing various scenarios to expand the probable additional required activities will then give the client a greater understanding of the strategy development and case management. Lawyers frequently see assignments as intellectual and personal challenges, instead of the business problem that they really are. Any legal matter can turn into a larger than expected fee. But every client has a right to know how the matter will be handled and how much it might cost, otherwise the client can't make an informed decision about how to proceed. Those who say that fees cannot be managed either don't have the experience or don't know well enough what they have to do.


What's the answer ­


Plan and Budget.


Step One: Analyze the Case. Develop the facts and understand the applicable law.

Step Two: Develop a Strategy. Understand the parties and their objectives, tenacity, resources and willingness to pursue their goal. Review the alternative means to achieving the goal and the relative potential cost of each.

Step Three: Develop an RFP. On more significant matters it is often helpful to develop a request for proposal so that the experience and strategy factors can be reviewed to find the best firm to represent you.

Step Four: Find the Right Lawyer. As a part of the RFP process find the lawyer that has current knowledge of the area, recent experience and is ready to work with the client to achieve the client goals. Equally important, the lawyer who attracted you to the firm must commit to spend adequate time on your matter.

Step Five: Negotiate the Retainer Agreement. Retainer agreements have become the norm. However, many law firms use their "form" agreement as though it was statutorily mandated. A client friendly agreement can be negotiated to assure proper cost allocation, electronic medium allocation (document control) and general billing policies that are acceptable to the client. This is the beginning of the management process to determine what resources will be used and how they will be utilized. What economies are available and how will the benefit be allocated between the law firm and the client. Will the relationship be courted by discipline or are you ready to write blank checks monthly.

Step Six: Monitor. Monitor the progress on a regular basis to be sure that the budget and strategy are being maintained and evaluate necessary changes to both as they occur. Assure that your "team" is in place and remains in place so that the client isn't charged for educating the firm lawyers because less experienced lawyers are assigned to the matter. Avoid having new people cycled through your case because of other pressures in the firm.

Step Seven: Quality Assurance. Quality is getting what you paid for. This evaluation must come independently. Your friend or contact at the firm has a difficult time evaluating the performance of his "team" when he is the billing partner.


This is just an overview of what legal affairs management does to improve the quality of legal services to the client. Legal Affairs Management will improve the quality of the services, make your budget planning easier, and reduce your cost.

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