Why are lawyers starting to think about Lean? Because process improvement helps attorneys cut costs, increase productivity, and become more competitive. This slideshow presents the context for Lean and how lawyers can use it to increase value to clients, and decrease the waste in their practice.

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Lean and Legal
Process Improvement
An Introduction to Lean for Lawyers
Ottawa U Faculty of Law, 2014

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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
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A Little Icebreaker...

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■ 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

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What Do We Mean by
Going Lean? 5
The result?
A productive, competitive,
profitable practice

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Trends in
Law Today
Globalization
Commoditization
Excess capacity
DIY law
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The Result:
More competition
Lower fees 7

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What is Lean Six Sigma? 8

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■ 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

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■Add value
The Essence of Lean 10
■Eliminate waste

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■ 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

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■ Anything that doesn’t add value is waste
■ And it’s really annoying!
Eliminate Waste 12

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13Lean’s Classic Wastes
Eight Wastes
Defects
Inventory
Transport
Non-
utilized
talent
Waiting
Over-
production
Extra
processing
Motion

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14D O W N T I M E
■ Defects / mistakes
■ missing a filing date
■ incomplete forms
■ bad drafting
■ data-entry errors
Image by marin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 clearance
Image by nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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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

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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

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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!

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Where’s the Waste in Law
School? 23

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Lean Tools
!
DMAIC (the framework)
Process optimization
Other tools 24
ponsulak / freedigitalphotos.net

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Define
Measure
Analyze
Improve
Control
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DMAIC:
A Framework for Improvement

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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

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The right resources
in the right place
at the right time
!
What is Process Optimization?
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Process Optimization
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■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)

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■ 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

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To make process improvement work,
you need to see the process in your art
But We Don’t Make Widgets...
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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?
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Commercial Lending in a Map 32
© Gimbal Canada Inc., 2013

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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

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Image by adamr / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Win-Win Pricing
!
Know your margins
Respond to RFPs
Offer AFAs with confidence

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Standard Work…uh…Pork
A game about the value of standardization 36
stuart miles / freedigitalphotos.net

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But What
Can I Do?
I need an articling
position, not a Lean
toolkit…
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Get organized with 5S
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Does This Look Familiar?
Image © Karen Dunn Skinner

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Image © Joe DeStefano

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When Lean Goes Bad…
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What Else?
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Think about the process
Look for waste
Create personal checklists
Standardize your work
freedigitalphotos.net

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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

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Additional 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
SmartTimer
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