Careful planning is the key
Legal project planning, like our recent home construction project, requires careful planning and monitoring at each phase. Project managers use milestones to evaluate performance. For example, in our construction plan, all drawings and budget approvals had to be finished before any digging started. After excavation, we could begin the foundation work. Milestones are short-term tasks or phases that must be completed on time, within budget, and with quality. These tasks must be done before moving on to the next phase of the project.
How it applies to litigation planning
Effective litigation planning, too, takes advantage of the milestone concept. In fact, assisting clients with building in milestones to their litigation project plans is becoming accepted practice because it also contributes toward the continuous improvement of their litigation models for future cases. More importantly, though, milestones help foster the measurable performance of litigation planning based on sound principles of project management. The tasks involved in each milestone will be required to be completed to move to the next milestone.
Milestones break up the big project
It’s important to focus on accomplishing milestones, even with unexpected (or expected) changes in your litigation planning. Deviations from established milestones or revisions to a project plan can eventually impact the outcome of subsequent milestones. However, don’t become too preoccupied with this challenge. Keep in mind that an early case assessment may clearly call for adjustments in the number of professional staff or support personnel required or the number of expected actions to be undertaken.
Consequently, adding a milestone or multiple milestones along the way to a litigation project plan simply creates a period of reassessment, allowing the plan to be adjusted accordingly to the results of the new milestones. This approach has been shown to be quite effective in the planning models for larger litigations.
How this might work for you
A beginning milestone for a corporate legal counsel manager could be the start of a litigation case. Let’s call it “Milestone 1 (M1): Engagement.” The first step is to open the case and assign it to outside legal counsel. Within five days, the outside firm must file an “assignment acknowledgment” form. Next, check the case for any potential conflicts and confirm everything. If there are concerns, address them before moving forward. Once all issues are resolved, the managing attorney confirms and approves the case assignment. A signed engagement letter must also be completed and filed. This is a basic example of a milestone. It’s important to address conflicts early to avoid issues later in the litigation process. The Milestone workflow includes an approval step before moving forward.
Additional milestones regarding case plan selection, litigation team assignments, budget forecasts, custodial collections, litigation holds and monitoring, real-time analytics, and ongoing modeling are all good candidates for litigation project management when realistic goals for achievement are set within reasonable time schedules.
A final thought on milestones in litigation
Although established milestones are a good business practice, don’t hesitate to adjust your milestones to account for change orders in project scope, quality, scheduling, costs, or eBilling options. Variances in milestones can help refine your litigation model for optimum use on future projects, making it more flexible when selecting your case plan or developing billing guidelines. And certainly, share the plan of milestones with the entire team to create a truly collaborative environment.
Contact us anytime to discuss how establishing a strong litigation spend management plan can pay for itself in strategic and operational savings.