michael hamilton legal project management

Slide 1: Project Management Michael Hamilton 2006/07

Slide 2: Objectives Differentiate between business project  management and legal project management Discuss key project management skills  Develop a process for managing projects to  the legal process Draft templates for documenting case  management Common causes for project failure  Build a Case Management Plan for a fictitious  case

Slide 3: What is a “project”? A project is a unique effort with a defined beginning, a defined end, specific deliverables, and defined resources. Resources Schedule Scope

Slide 4: Business Project Management v. Legal Project Management Business Legal   — Budget drives all activity — Docket drives most activity — Milestones derived from mix of staffing — Milestones derived from mix of docket and and budget available court deadlines — Personnel can be dedicated to the project — Personnel (attorneys or paralegals) are rarely dedicated to one project — Level of flexibility depending on market — Little flexibility in deadlines conditions

Slide 5: Basics of Project Management Planning, planning, planning  — Have templates prepared to plug and play — Outcome should be a “repeatable process” Ensure that all team members contribute to the planning  Document all decisions and circulate for approval  — Metrics derived will be invaluable — Metrics will help in future planning Update plan as changes in process occur  — The version of the document at the “end” of the case should be representative of what ACTUALLY happened

Slide 6: Project Management Defined The application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project  activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project. Meeting or exceeding stakeholder needs and expectation invariably involves balancing competing demands among: — scope, time cost, and quality — stakeholders with differing needs and expectations — identified requirements (needs) and unidentified requirements (expectations)

Slide 7: Key General Project Management Skills Leading  Communicating  Negotiating  Problem Solving  Influencing 

Slide 8: Leading Leading and managing: one w/o the other is likely to produce poor results  Leading Involves:  — Establishing direction — Aligning people — Motivating and inspiring The Project manager is generally expected to be the project’s leader as  well Leadership develops daily, not in day 

Slide 9: Communicating Involves the exchange of information  The sender is responsible for the making the information clear,  unambiguous, and complete so that the receiver can receive it correctly. The receiver is responsible for making sure that the information is received  in its entirety and understood correctly. Has many dimensions:  — Written and oral, listening and speaking — Internal and external — Formal and informal — Vertical and horizontal

Slide 10: Negotiating Involves conferring with others in order to come to terms or reach an  agreement Agreements may be negotiated directly or with assistance  During the course of a typical project, project staff are likely to  negotiate for any or all of the following — Scope, cost and schedule objectives — Changes to scope cost or schedule — Contract terms and conditions — Resources

Slide 11: Problem Solving Involves a combination of problem definition and decision making  It is concerned with problems that have already occurred  Problem definition requires distinguishing between causes and symptoms  — Problems may be internal — Problems may be external Decision making includes analyzing the problem to identify viable  solutions, and then making a choice from among them "The true measure of leadership is influence”

Slide 12: Influencing Involves the ability to “get things done”  Requires an understanding from both the formal and informal structures  of all the organizations involved – the performing organization, the customer, and others as appropriate. Requires an understanding of the mechanics of power and politics  — Power – the potential ability to influence behavior, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do — Politics – getting collective action from a group of people who may have quite different interests; it is about being willing to use conflict and disorder creatively

Slide 13: Applying P.M. Skills to Litigation Support Diagnose the present  Foretell the future  Define your limitations & your purpose  Rule the Plan – Don’t let the Plan rule you  Implement a Plan-Based – Not a task based approach  Manage your meeting like a carefully crafted dinner party 

Slide 14: Applying P.M. Skills to Litigation Support Embrace the art of expediting tasks  Know thyself – and they project sponsor  Projecting forward: Play the part of clairvoyant  It’s about THEM – not YOU  The R&R Factor (React & Regroup) 

Slide 15: The Document Processing Workflow Litigation Phases Planning Preparation Collect Process Review Produce Use Document Identify possible Log all media Identify all Search and Hold project kickoff Create shell Request sources and received (paper responsive review: create meeting databases Received custodians and electronic) document witness notebooks Create doc Import processed Explain collection Review request Determine how to Search and processing plan Prep media for hard copy and procedures to and determine produce (meet & review: determine based on volume processing electronic custodians response strategy confer decision) trial exhibits and data type(s) discovery Prep documents Create coding Maintain Create chain of Process paper by Manage for for production Create CaseMap manual & doc. databases and custody procedure scanning and protective orders (bates label, Database processing load depositions for electronic files coding and privilege confidential guidelines stamps) No Enter known Determine review Conduct review Run the document Export identified Process electronic persons, facts and methodology for Collect documents using defined production from trial exhibits to trial data via EDD issues into production and from custodians review the database presentation tool methods (dedupe) CaseMap privilege methodology Select vendor for Update CaseMap Determine Collect electronic Generate privilege Return original scanning, coding, Archive case after database with new document media from IT log from the media to client and EDD (including judgment facts, people, and processing resources database keep copy forensics) issues Develop collection Update history Existing document procedures and field in database collection? schedule with production #s Yes Generate invoice / Train collection process other team party documents

Slide 16: Planning Phase Review and Draft Document Requests  — Determine time line for document processing — Set deadlines for initial plans Determine Response Timeline  — Understand what documents go into the response — Start pleadings database Develop Response Strategy  Draft the Case Project Plan  — Template to be completed by multiple team members — Once completed, use it as on-going reference and training tool Determine if there is an Existing Document Collection  — Generally applicable only to ongoing client work

Slide 17: Preparation Phase List Potential Sources and Custodians  Evaluate Process Plan Based on  Draft Technology and Training Plan  Document Size and Type Select Vendor  Set Document Processing Treatment  and Database Design Develop Collection Schedule  Plan Logistics and Staffing  Document Collection Procedures  Conduct Collection Team Training 

Slide 18: Collection Phase Hold Project Status Meeting  — Always have an agenda — Always take and distribute action items — Evaluate budget based on volume of information to be processed Go To Document Custodians/Explain Review  Go To Technology Custodians/Explain Review  Conduct Review  — Electronic Docs — Non-Electronic Docs — Review workflow established in the Preparation Phase

Slide 19: Processing Phase Non-Electronic Documents Electronic Documents   — — Receive and log documents Receive and log media — — Prepare materials Send to vendor — — Image Load to server — — OCR De-Duplicate — — Return materials Render to image and database

Slide 20: StorageCreate Shell Databases for Case Phase  — From scratch or from an existing database — Maintain “structure integrity” when creating databases Manage for Protective Orders and Privilege  — Will you run your privilege log from the database? — Will you export privilege materials to separate database? Load Data and Take Database Metrics  — True legal project management lies in the metrics — Metrics will help determine future time lines and costs

Slide 21: Sample Database Metrics Completion of Assignment 120,000 100,000 80,000 Total Assigned 60,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 Total 40,000 75,000 Reviewed 50,000 20,000 25,000 0 Betty Carol Allison

Slide 22: Production Phase Determine Which Documents to be Prepare Identified Documents to be   Produced Provided to Opposing Party(ies) Identify Selected Materials to be Update Field in Database   Produced Send Documents to Opposing Party(ies)  Determine How to Produce  Generate Invoice  Prepare Materials for Production  Process Other Party(ies) Documents  Conduct Production 

Slide 23: Use Phase Search and Review Database  — Single data loads? — Multiple data loads? — Separate databases for electronic versus paper? Maintain and Update Database With New Data  — Database should always help tell the story of your case and how each document was used — Maintain standard configuration and processes Archive Data Upon Case Completion  — Very important for storage planning — Ensure that archival is agreed upon in advance with the team — Choose storage medium to facilitate ease of restoration later

Slide 24: Conclusion No matter if you are managing a business process or a legal process,  planning is key to success Build planning into your workflow  Create sample plan and send to attorney for review rather than awaiting  their participation Remember to take metrics – it is the secret to knowing how long tasks  will take (should take) on future cases with similar structures

Slide 25: Avoid the common causes for project failure Poor up-front planning  Incomplete or vague project work plan  Weak ongoing project management discipline  Inadequate resources  People problems  Lifecycle problems  — A failure to clearly and completely define the requirements, resulting in building the wrong features or leaving gaps in the features needed. — New or state of the art technology may cause unanticipated problems. — A poor technical design is not allowing the solution to be easily modified or is not scalable. — Requirements are not frozen late in the project and continued change requests start to cause the project to drift. — Technology components do not fit together as designed. — Poor initial testing techniques cause repeated errors and rework in later tests.