In recent years medium-sized to large, high-end Law firms have embraced process improvement methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma. A comprehensive understanding of this process demonstrates how critical it is to improve effectiveness in any business.
Lean Six Sigma comes in handy when new firms are in a hurry to improve efficiency to establish themselves in the market. Let’s look at how firms can take advantage of this approach.
Enhanced client service
Many law firms take advantage of Lean Six Sigma certifications to optimize their operation and streamline their work processes. Litigation, mergers and acquisitions, conveyancing, and contracts generate a heavy workload for law firms. This can result in a larger backlog which slows down the process.
According to Peter Peterka, President of SixSigma.com and leading consultant on the Lean Six Sigma methodology, client service remains a cornerstone of any successful law firm. Improving client service ensures firms get regular retainers and referrals. Training lawyers on this process helps law firms to keep up with best industry practices when handling client matters. Law firms can also engage in a timely fashion with clients when they need feedback or when updating them on the status of their cases.
Not all legal services are the same
Legal services are wide and it can be challenging for individual attorneys to keep tabs with all matters at the same time. Besides case backlog, some legal services are complex, like handling mergers and acquisitions that require a high level of experience and a customized procedure.
Legal work also follows some form of set precedence, like in a work injury case. Drafting pleading follows similar forms, which is also the same when drafting a sale agreement. With Lean Six Sigma, these legal spectrums can be narrowed down to simplify complex legal processes.
Eliminate waste in the firm
Law firms can eliminate waste by using Lean Six Sigma concepts by establishing customized and predictable processes while improving efficiency for clients. While firms strive to find ways to add value to client service, this must be done in a way that reduces the cost of operation.
How services are offered must be reviewed by eradicating wasteful undertakings at the firm. Understanding how the firm processes work helps to establish areas that experience wastage. Think of why these areas need an overhaul and how they are useful to enhance client service in a simplified fashion.
Reduction of errors and deficiencies
Reducing errors and defects is a sure way a firm can benefit from Lean Six Sigma. Attorneys are problem solvers and cannot afford any kind of mistakes due to the nature of their profession. A client’s life or property may be in line if the lawyer omits some information in the pleadings or does not cite case law efficiently.
Most retainers come from top companies like banks, construction companies, or airlines with a higher demand for quality service from law firms. With Lean Six Sigma, a law firm creates an efficient and error-free process that is streamlined and enhances effectiveness in serving the client.
Enhanced document storage
Storage registry or document archives need to be streamlined because they hold important client documents that a lawyer cannot afford to misplace and are required by law to keep client documents safe all the time.
Law firms maintain documents that need to be produced in court, and these documents increase in volume at the end of every financial year. This can lead to a heavy workload at the firm’s registry because files increase in size, storage, on the other hand, keeps diminishing.
Lean Six Sigma helps law firms effectively store client files in a fashionable manner that embraces technology and helps save up much space. Digital storage also ensures files are easily accessible.
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