Chameleon-like agility prevailing in legal, corporate competition
The digital era of corporate and legal operations has certainly led to major shifts in the way communications flow from each arm of a business, as well as between counsels. Between the ever-growing and already massive volume of electronically stored information (ESI) and the dramatic transformation of the legal sector, companies need to be more interconnected than ever before.
Enter outsourced managed services and project management. These two markets have become exceedingly popular and ripe for growth because of the need for efficient, expert and affordable management of all legal projects involving ESI, and even those that are more traditional in nature.
The change
Jim Hassett and Jonathan Groner, writing for Bloomberg Law, recently argued that legal marketing has been one of the more obviously transformed areas of the sector following the demand for more efficient and proficient management of projects. The authors stated that the old days were rich with interpersonal relationships, and that marketing was really a game that focused on who one company knew from the past.
Now, law firms and corporations alike are far less interested in prior engagements, especially when looking to revitalize statures through exceptional execution of tasks and affordable services. According to Hassett and Groner, general counsel at some of the largest enterprises in the world have seen distinct differences when interacting with external law firms during the contract stages.
For example, one firm had never heard questions related to project management from their clients only three years ago, whereas the topic is leading component of the discussion in the modern day. The authors cited a quote from Wendy Tucker, who is the director of marketing and business development at global law firm Seyfarth Shaw.
“We have always focused on how project managers can actually change the way in which we work,” Tucker told Hassett and Groner. “For large opportunities, the project manager is part of our team from the front end. We show the client how we can apply project management and technology to the client’s problem or goal and create the most compelling value proposition.”
A formidable catalyst
ESI and eDiscovery have had a profound effect on the legal and corporate sectors, especially now that more organizations have experienced the challenges that come with managing information and handling requests during litigation proceedings. Because costs have been among the most difficult components of these projects to wrangle, firms that focus on efficiency and accuracy have prevailed as the most successful in the space.
The question is no longer entirely focused on the outcomes of trials, and is instead increasingly related to the means by which a firm accomplishes objectives and manages projects.
Sources:
https://about.bloomberglaw.com/practitioner-contributions/how-legal-project-management-is-changing-the-way-services-are-marketed/”