an introduction to lean and legal process improvement, university of ottawa, january 2014

© Gimbal Canada Inc., 2013

Lean and Legal Process Improvement

An Introduction to Lean for Lawyers Ottawa U Faculty of Law, 2014


Agenda

■ The context for process improvement

■ Introduction to Lean

■ The eight wastes

■ DMAIC

■ Process mapping

■ Standard work

■ What can a law student do?

■ 5S

■ Think about value

■ Look for waste

2


3

A Little Icebreaker...


■ Applying proven business tools and strategies to

■ lower your overhead - whether you’re in-house or in private practice

■ improve turnaround times

■ increase client satisfaction (internal or external)

■ price more accurately

■ free up limited resources for other valuable work

What Do We Mean by Going Lean? 4


What Do We Mean by Going Lean? 5

The result? A productive, competitive,

profitable practice


Trends in Law TodayGlobalization Commoditization Excess capacity DIY law

6


The Result: More competition Lower fees 7


What is Lean Six Sigma? 8


■ An answer ■ to current trends

■ A tool box ■ of practical metrics and tools to make your practice more

productive, competitive and profitable

■ A framework ■ for continuous improvement

Lean Is A Solution 9

A Way to Deliver More For Less


■Add value

The Essence of Lean 10

■Eliminate waste


■ Three key value criteria

■ does your work move the matter forward?

■ is it what the client wants and is willing to pay for?

■ is your work done right the first time?

Add Value 11


■ Anything that doesn’t add value is waste

■ And it’s really annoying!

Eliminate Waste 12


13Lean’s Classic Wastes

Eight Wastes

Defects

Inventory

Transport

Non-utilized talent

Waiting

Over-production

Extra processing

Motion


14D O W N T I M E

■ Defects / mistakes

■ missing a filing date

■ incomplete forms

■ bad drafting

■ data-entry errorsImage by marin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


15D O W N T I M E

■ Over-production

■ starting work before clearing conflicts

■ preparing an invoice in advance

■ printing too many hard copies

■ cc’ing too many people


16D O W N T I M E

■ Waiting / delays

■ people late for meetings

■ documents waiting to be worked on

■ warm-up times for printers

■ interruptions

■ late responses from clients/counsel

Image by ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


17D O W N T I M E

■ Non-utilized talent

■ under-using talented paralegals

■ partners doing work that should be done by associates

■ external counsel doing work that is best done by the client

Image from RickMercer.com


18D O W N T I M E

■ Transportation (of things)

■ sending documents via courier rather than email

■ multiple deliveries to one client

■ cheques rather than direct deposit

■ too many handoffs or approvalsImage by emptyglass / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


19D O W N T I M E

■ Inventory / work-in-progress

■ unanswered emails & voicemails

■ files sitting on your desk awaiting work

■ overflowing stationary cupboards

■ conflicts awaiting clearanceImage by nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


20D O W N T I M E

■ Motion (of people)

■ unnecessary travel for meetings

■ too many keystrokes to find documents

■ poor office layout

stuart miles / freedigitalphotos.net


21D O W N T I M E

■ Extra processing

■ too much research

■ triple-checking

■ over-staffing a file

■ too many turns of a documentImage by teerapun / FreeDigitalPhotos.net


Why Worry About Waste?■ Because waste

■ makes you less effective and efficient

■ reduces your firm’s competitiveness

■ annoys your clients

■ interferes with your workflow

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Because reducing waste will have an immediate impact on your bottom line!

© Gimbal Canada Inc., 2013© Gimbal Canada Inc., 2013

Where’s the Waste in Law School? 23


Lean Tools

!

DMAIC (the framework) Process optimization Other tools 24

ponsulak / freedigitalphotos.net


Define

Measure

Analyze

Improve

Control

25DMAIC: A Framework for Improvement


Outputs Tools To Get You There

Define 1. Project charter 2. Project plan

1. Process Grids 2. Voice of the client tools

Measure 1. Data, metrics and list of resources 2. Detailed, annotated current state

process map

1. Process mapping 2. Waste walks and spaghetti

diagrams (recall DOWNTIME)

Analyze 1. List of potential root causes of inefficiency/waste

2. Ideal/future state process map

1. Brainstorming 2. 5 whys 3. Process mapping (again)

Improve 1. Prioritized list of improvement opportunities

2. Improved/optimized process 3. Revised process documentation,

including the new map

1. Brainstorming (again) 2. PICK chart 3. Improvement events 4. 5S

Control 1. A system for monitoring and periodic validation

2. Project close out and final report 3. Implementation plan

1. Project management (ongoing implementation)

2. Training 3. Monitoring 4. Communication and culture


The right resources in the right place at the right time

!

What is Process Optimization?

27


Process Optimization28

■Maximize the value you deliver ■ lower overheads and faster completion

■ more efficient workflow and a focus on value-adding work

■ better resource allocation (human, financial and technological)


■ Optimized processes cost you less

■ faster, better delivery of your services

■ smooth flow of work

■ improved allocation of scarce resources

■ You can market your efficiency to your clients

Why Do It? 29


To make process improvement work, you need to see the process in your art

But We Don’t Make Widgets...

30


Client calls

Client Intake/Conflicts Check

Negotiate LOI

Senior

Finalize LOI

GC

Draft letter of intent

Junior

LOI

Title Review and Due Diligence

Jr / Paralegal

DD Checklist

Draft Title & DD Report

Jr / Paralegal

DD Report

Review LOI

Senior

Draft Purchase Agreement

Purchase Agmt

Senior

Junior

Negotiate Purchase Agreement

Senior

GC

Vendor/Counsel

Closing and Registration

Junior

Vendor/Counsel

GC

What’s a value stream?

31


Commercial Lending in a Map 32



33

You’ve Got a Map, Now What?

Process improvement Business development Consistency Knowledge capture Training Legacy Project management Pricing


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Capturing Your Greatest Asset

!

Knowledge capture Training Legacy


35Image by adamr / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Win-Win Pricing

!

Know your margins Respond to RFPs Offer AFAs with confidence


Standard Work…uh…Pork A game about the value of standardization 36

stuart miles / freedigitalphotos.net


But What Can I Do?I need an articling position, not a Lean toolkit…

37


Get organized with 5S

38


When Lean Goes Bad…41


What Else?

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Think about the process Look for waste Create personal checklists Standardize your work

freedigitalphotos.net


Examples of Lean in Action

■ Borden Ladner Gervais has mapped 30 processes (from litigation to M&A) and now uses its maps for training, KM and marketing

■ A Virginia firm saved 30 hours and $21,000 by reducing set-up time in one afternoon, in the very first process they looked at

■ The Hunoval Law Firm reduced its timeline on foreclosure filings by a whopping 94% and landed a huge new mandate as a result

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■ See the context for change in the legal profession

■ Understand the benefits of process improvement can bring to lawyers and clients

■ Recognize waste so you can start to eliminate it and deliver better value

Takeaways from Today 44


45Additional Resources!Books on Lean Six Sigma

See our website for recommendations: www.gimbalcanada.com/bookstore/

!Twitter - consider following:

@jordan_law21

@gnawledge

@valoremlamb

@slaw_dot_ca

@LeanLawStrategy

@RiverviewLaw

@KarenSkinner

@DavidFSkinner

!!

Useful Apps and Productivity Tools

Cardmunch

Smart Timer

Feedly and Mr. Reeder

Evernote

!Blogs - consider following:

www.law21.ca

www.adamsmithesq.com

www.thoughtfullaw.com

www.blogs.hbr.org

www.gimbalcanada.com/blog/

www.attorneyatwork

www.penningtonhennessy.com/blog/


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It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. !

It is the one that is most adaptable to change. !

—Charles Darwin