Comments for Boosting Legal Value

Comment on Did alternative fee arrangements contribute to Dewey’s demise? by Aileen Leventon

Aileen Leventon — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:39:43 +0000

Bienenstock is an outstanding bankruptcy lawyer and he has had to manage his practice to assure payment to match work; bankruptcy counsel has to make a fee application and there is no assurance that it will be approved by the judge or resist challenge by creditors. Jim’s point about the asset (fee)-liability (time on meter x rates) is well taken.
Nevertheless, has there been an analysis of whether the partners’ compensation guarantees matched the revenue and profitability assumptions – and segregate that from the balance of Jim’s issues relating to the business model. Understanding factors for failure is important, but identifying the factor that has the highest weight and impact is the best basis for lessons learned. At this stage too much of the discussion about Dewey LeBoeuf has been anecdotal and lacks rigor.
Insights may be gleaned from deeper quantitative analyses – as has been done with other professions facing structural changes – to meaningfully rethink the legal profession’s business model.

Comment on My daily GC checklist – what does yours look like? by Jim Boeckman

Jim Boeckman — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 21:23:25 +0000

Brian, thank you for the kind words – much appreciated.

Comment on My daily GC checklist – what does yours look like? by Brian Siebken

Brian Siebken — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 21:40:04 +0000

This list is dead on. I have printed it and intend to reference it often. As someone who worked closely with you for several years, I can confirm that you did a great job of putting this list into practice and were an excellent GC as a result.

Comment on Legal Project Management – Part 2 by Steven B. Levy

Steven B. Levy — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 18:53:53 +0000

Thank you for the kind words, Jim and Paul. I really appreciate them.

Comment on Legal Project Management – Part 2 by Paul C. Easton

Paul C. Easton — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:42:24 +0000

Nice summary of Steven Levy’s book. What I like about his approach is that it is practical and adapted to the legal environment. I think it is also valuable to those lawyers just now jumping onto the LPM bandwagon and trying to cut through all jargon and puffery. Really, LPM is about learning to better pre-plan your legal matters and manage them more effectively to deliver what you said you were going to deliver for the amount you said it would cost. Traditional project-management practices from other industries have much to teach the legal world, but you are not going to transplant the practices, documentation, and world-views of project management from one industry, whether it is the more “waterfall” style of construction or the more “agile” style of software design, and have it take root in law firm soils without a lot adaptations being made.

I’m glad that the first widely circulated book on Legal Project Management took this approach and it really is the first resource I direct lawyers interested in the subject to.

Comment on Legal expense management news – highlights for the week of November 29 by Padmavathi Shanthamurthy

Padmavathi Shanthamurthy — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:21:35 +0000

One thing that the legal, financial, educational, and news information giant, Thomson Reuters, has not been accused of is ignorance. Given that this multi-billion-dollar company has acquired 100% of the shares of an Indian legal outsourcing provider, after also recently deciding, for “strategic” reasons, to sell its profitable and high-profile U.S. bar exam preparation course (BAR/BRI), you can assume that some very smart money is betting on a tectonic shift in the Western legal landscape.

Padmavathi Shanthamurthy
http://www.sddglobal.com
SDD Global Solutions
High-end Legal Outsourcing

Comment on What does the Pangea3 acquisition mean for the LPO industry? by Padmavathi Shanthamurthy

Padmavathi Shanthamurthy — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:38:41 +0000

Offshore legal outsourcing, or legal process outsourcing (LPO), or legal KPO (knowledge process outsourcing), or whatever you want to call it, has been generating both media hype and actual substance for years. But the bold entry of Thomson Reuters into the industry represents a serious, objective, outside validation.

Padmavathi Shanthamurthy
SDD Global Solutions
High-end Legal Outsourcing