This guide is intended to provide an overview of the work product developed by the LPM 2.0 committee and to provide the CLOC membership with a guide to implementation of best practices for matter life cycle management incorporating LPM principles. This guide is also designed to be used internally and in collaboration with external resources or vendors.
This guide is intended to provide an overview of the work product developed by the LPM 2.0 committee and to provide the CLOC membership with a guide to implementation of best practices for matter life cycle management incorporating LPM principles. This guide is also designed to be used internally and in collaboration with external resources or vendors.
CLOC members have access to the full collection of artifacts (documents and templates) created by the committee in support of MLM that are outlined in this eBook. The zip file can be downloaded through Community Connect.
This guide is intended to provide an overview of the work product developed by the CLOC LPM Committee and to provide the CLOC membership with a framework for implementation of best practices for matter life cycle management incorporating LPM principles. The guide is designed to be used internally and in collaboration with external resources and vendors.
The CLOC LPM framework identifies the evolution of a legal matter occurring in four (4) primary phases/stages – Intake, Planning, Execution and Review. The attached workflow diagram provides an overview of the components of matter life cycle management within each stage of the framework.
The Intake stage is intended to 1) initiate and receive requests for legal service, and 2) define and reach agreement on the goals, objectives and scope of what is to be accomplished. This is one of the most important stages, as it drives everything that follows. This stage asks in-house teams to collaborate with their clients to clarify the scope of request, the anticipated resources, outcome and value of the work and the expected timetable prior to its execution in order to ensure appropriate assignment and efficient delivery throughout subsequent stages.
The Review stage is a critical opportunity for legal teams to demonstrate the value of the legal department and to continuously improve. It is often overlooked by legal teams since it happens after the matter has been completed because of lack of process, time or motivation. In this stage, the client, in-house lead [and outside counsel lead (if involved)] should evaluate the results, particularly, how the matter was planned, managed and executed so the team can gain insight for achieving successful outcomes and better work processes for future matters. This stage also may include a meeting amongst relevant team members to review the lessons learned and how they may be addressed. If possible, standard lessons learned templates should be captured, in addition to matter plans that represent best practice starting points for planning future matters. The result includes significant time and money savings for future matters, but moreover, increased potential to repeat successful outcomes (and avoid unsuccessful ones).
The Execution stage combines the traditional project management elements of execution and monitoring and controlling into a single stage where the matter is delivered according to the intended goals and outcomes set forth in the intake and planning stages. This stage heavily focuses on the deliverables, the need for change requests and the use of quality control and quality assurance to confirm that deliverables meet expectations.
The Planning stage draws upon the information gathered in the Intake stage to build out the details of the delivery of the legal service or the project plan. This stage sets out the activities to be performed, the team members who will perform the activities, the matter schedule or the estimated time to complete the activities, the matter budget or potential costs (estimates) for executing the matter and any assumptions factored into the estimate and the communication preferences of the client. The tools in this stage are intended to be used for both internal projects and for those projects that may involve vendors such as outside counsel.