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Influx of Project Management Interest at ILTA 2014 Conference: Is it Time for Your Firm to Take Notice?

Kraft Kennedy

2 min read

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LPM Legal Project Management
Legal Project Management

This year at the #ILTA14 conference in Nashville, there was an explosion of project management (PM) and legal project management (LPM) interest within the membership. To give a little background, approximately two weeks before the conference, a post was circulated on the ILTA Community “of Interest” board asking if there were going to be any PM Networking events. At that point in time, nothing had been scheduled. However, after about 100 replies and the demand for a Project Management networking event, one was established and hosted by Kraft Kennedy and announced by Scott David from Vorys. The turnout for the networking event was quite impressive with approximately 70-75 folks attending. Here’s a recap of what was discussed regarding project management (PM) and legal project management (LPM):

  • All size firms attended so the crowd was full of different viewpoints and stages within the project management realm. A key interest to note? All firms were in the process of researching or implementing some form of PM/LPM within their firms.
  • Some firms had dedicated PMs, while others had PMs that had taken on the role without having a formal PM title. Some firms were looking into getting paralegals and attorneys trained in PM/LPM, while some larger firms (albeit, very few) had dedicated PM/LPM initiatives for getting all attorneys trained on how to manage their matters efficiently and effectively.
  • There were many small group discussions happening (of course, what do you expect from a networking event?) However, before the time was up, there was a large group discussion about how to map tasks to the appropriate matter work for billing purposes as well as where to do even begin within the LPM process.
  • It ended with an exchange of business cards and new ideas for implementing PM/LPM within firms to increase the competitive advantage and push from clients to know what firms are doing to control costs. One PM Manager even said that every single RFP that came in to her firm asked some kind of question regarding PM. That’s certainly a shift from the past that firms need to consider moving forward and be prepared to answer.

It’s been a two months since #ILTA14. What has your firm begun to do regarding PM/LPM? What initiatives are in store for next year? What area of PM/LPM are you focusing on that stumps you the most? I’d love to hear the challenges you are facing AND the wins that are working for your firm in the comments below! Share well and share often, legalers!