This document discusses how lawyers can benefit from applying Lean principles and tools to their practice. It notes current trends in the legal field like commoditization, globalization, and excess capacity that are challenging traditional law firm business models. It presents a "triangle of legal imperatives" showing how firms often struggle to balance coverage, compliance, and client satisfaction goals. Applying Lean can help firms lower overhead, improve turnaround times, increase client satisfaction, price work accurately, and free up resources. The biggest challenge is overcoming lawyers' reluctance to see law as a business. Lean principles like adding value from the client's perspective, eliminating waste, and adapting to change are presented as ways to build a more profitable and competitive law firm.

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Why Lawyers Need Lean
LSS Montreal, June 6, 2013

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Commoditization
Current Trends
Globalization
Law
Excess Capacity
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Coverage
Compliance
Client Satisfaction
Internal
Headcount
Net Cost
(including legal
fees, fines and
business losses)
The Challenge: Balancing the Triangle
of Legal Imperatives
Trevor Faure, The Smarter Legal Model
(Practical Law Company, 2010)
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The Problem: Being Off Balance
Coverage: 30%
Compliance: numerous incidents
Client Satisfaction: 4/10
Internal
Headcount: low Cost: high
Adapted from Faure's Triangle of Legal Imperatives
from The Smarter Legal Model (Practical Law Company, 2010)
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Apply Lean’s proven business tools to:
lower your overhead
improve turnaround times
increase client satisfaction
price accurately
free up valuable resources for other work
The result?
A profitable, competitive, thriving firm
What We Mean by Going Lean
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The Biggest Hurdle — Lawyers!
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Is law a business or an art?

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Add Value — from the client’s perspective
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?
Learn to see waste — and then eliminate it
anything that doesn’t add value is waste
Where’s the waste in your practice?
The Essence of Lean
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Value Stream Map

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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
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Go Lean with Gimbal
Gimbal Canada Inc.
1-149B Cartier Ave.
Pointe-Claire, QC H9S 4R9
514 667 2288 www.gimbalcanada.com
David Skinner david@gimbalcanada.com
514 833 8447
@DavidFSkinner
Karen Dunn Skinner karen@gimbalcanada.com
514 349 9746
@KarenSkinner
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