How lawyers can develop effective project management skills

For years, lawyers have been under increasing pressure to deliver more for less – whether for clients or when working in-house.  This has placed a stronger emphasis on working efficiently and project management.  For some large, high risk, cross-jurisdictional projects it is now common to have a professional project manager supporting the lawyers so they deliver on time and budget without work being duplicated or falling through the cracks. This trend is evident in both in-house and in private practice. 

However, many matters are too small to justify a project manager, leaving it to the lawyer to ensure the matter runs smoothly. Even at the mid-level, an associate can find themselves spending considerable time, not always billable, on project planning and team co-ordination. Many view this as a thankless task.

However, it is also a great opportunity. Develop the reputation for being able to drive a matter through to completion and you’ll find clients and partners want you to co-ordinate their larger, more complex matters. This gives you access to some of the best quality work in law firms.

In addition, you will find a greater willingness of others to work with you. I have conducted numerous surveys in firms on the impact of good project management. Among the top benefits cited are personal ones: the work is more enjoyable, work relationships are stronger, stress and anxiety are reduced and it becomes easier to manage other work commitments. These are all factors that influence engagement and retention as well as mental wellbeing.

Some of us are more naturally organised than others. There are lawyers who instinctively plan and start early, while others love the adrenalin of a fast-approaching deadline.  However, we can all learn to be more organised and to instil good working practices in those entering the profession.  Here are the strategies I find make a difference right from the start.

Take time to plan

There can be immense pressure to dive in and get things going, to meet tight deadlines and prioritise billable work. I coached someone who was turned down for partnership because he wasn’t delegating enough. He said he didn’t have time to plan. His instructions were a stream of consciousness, followed by a flurry of emails, each with a new thought or request.  As a  result, he had to redo much of the work. Once he started to spend just five minutes planning his delegation, he told me he got five times more work finished each day. 

Lawyers need to develop the mindset that time spent planning is not wasted, even if it can’t be billed directly. Initially, we need to plan our own work, and then the work we delegate to others.  For the larger and more complex projects, more time needs to be invested in planning before briefing:  determining what’s in and out of scope, setting a  timetable with milestones, identifying how to avoid bottlenecks; coordinating the team and tracking progress, involving and updating stakeholders and managing fees. 

Use checklists

This brings me onto the value of using checklists to help with planning. They ensure things don’t get forgotten when lawyers are juggling several matters at once. My leadership checklists for managing projects and people are designed to supplement the way we instinctively communicate based on our personality. Some lawyers are big picture thinkers and focus on what they want to achieve, but omit to plan how to get there. This can be chaotic for their teams. Others are more structured, but don’t explain the context: what needs to be achieved overall and why it is important. Without this, the work can seem to lack purpose and is less inspiring. It was over several years of listening to and coaching team leaders that I developed the ABCDE tool and checklists to help lawyers cover all the things they need to do, regardless of their personal style, when leading teams. 

Encourage everyone to speak up 

I often hear that less experienced team members don’t speak up soon enough, perhaps because they are reserved or don’t feel comfortable enough.  Leaders need to encourage questions and be open to ideas from all in the team. Matter team reviews are a great way to make this happen. A quick, informal meeting where everyone says what they think went well and shares their ideas for improvements can be very productive. 

Recently, a partner shared a great example where a paralegal in her team pointed out how time consuming the template had been to use – each one took 20 minutes and over 80 had to be completed. She suggested splitting it into four tailored versions so it would be quicker.  She was right - it now only takes six minutes to fill in each one.  As a leader you can’t have visibility on everything so cultivating a culture where everyone’s ideas are valued can make for a more efficient, innovative and happier team. 

In the legal sector we need to step back from valuing busyness at the expense of investing in the activities and skills that help teams to flourish and deliver great results for clients. For lawyers, these management skills are now critical for career success. 

Below is an overview for the ABCDE tool. Each checklist focuses on a different element of managing a project, to be delegated to a workstream or a team member.

Achieve: this is what we need to achieve overall and what I want you to do… 

• Provide the context for the task or part of the project that you are delegating by giving a brief overview of the whole project.
• Describe what needs to achieved on this workstream or task.
• Explain how their part will contribute to the success of the project. 

Benefits: this is why your task is important and what you will get out of this… 

Once you have described the importance of the task for the project, focus on what the workstream/team member will get out of working on this task/part of the project. 

This could be: 

• New expertise
• An opportunity to take on more responsibility
• Working with an interesting team
• Increased profile with a client, partners or part of the firm
• An opportunity to work on something closely aligned to their values. 

Clarify: let me clarify what I’m expecting you to do… 

Next discuss what needs to be done. Your approach here will depend on their level of experience, confidence and motivation. You can describe what they need to do if they are very inexperienced. Alternatively, use questions if you want them to be more actively engaged, especially to make use of their experience. 

For example: 

• How will you approach this?
• What are the key steps you need to take?
• Who will you need to consult?
• How much time might it take?
• What resources do you need?
• When do you want to meet to discuss your plan of action/first draft?
• How will you co-ordinate with others working on other parts of the project?
• How can you work within the budget/agreed fee?   

Difficulties: Let’s think about any difficulties you’ll need to overcome.

Help the team/team member anticipate what could go wrong and discuss how to avoid problems. Again, you can use questions to get them thinking actively. Sample questions include: 

• What problems do you anticipate?
• What ideas have you got for tackling these?
• What else?
• How can we minimise these risks?
• What support will you need? 

Evaluate: let’s agree how we will evaluate progress and outcomes… 

Now get them to pull it all together into a plan and then discuss and agree: 

• How to review progress against the plan. This will depend on their level of experience and level of risk represented by their part of the project. If inexperienced or the work is high risk, you will need more interim reviews.
• How to update the client, team or other stakeholders on progress and outcomes of their task/part of the project.