Jack be nimble, Jack be quick - and a good lawyer

When I ask clients what they want from their lawyer, agile is not a quality that comes to mind.  But what is agile? Agile is defined as mentally quick or alert, nimble.  It means the ability to respond to change.  Don't you want that from your lawyer? Agile project management is a form of project management particularly popular with software developers.  Its focus is on flexible, iterative management of projects, and is often used to manage aspects of a much larger project.

The benefits of this iterative style of project management, when applied to legal work, are many.  Legal work, particularly litigation, is subject to outside influences beyond those of a software or construction project.  Lawyers argue that project management techniques cannot be applied to litigation because "litigation is like trying to build a wall, with your opponent (and sometimes the judge) trying to knock it down".  Agile project management techniques are designed to facilitate change and adapt to these outside influences.

Here is a link to "The Agile Manifesto" developed by a group of software developers.  A couple of the principles ring particularly true for legal work:

• "Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project".

Translated to legal work: Clients and the legal team must work together throughout the matter, with the legal team ensuring the client is part of the project, and the client being prepared to be engaged in the matter.

• "The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation"

The same applies to a legal project - arrange formal team meetings, with agendas and action points, rather than relying on emails, conversations on wikis, and the like.  Many slips ups or redos have occurred as a result of lack of face to face conversations.  And the major benefit of these conversations can be brainstorming and problem solving, finding alternative solutions and approaches, that would never occur through emails.

• "Simplicity - the art of maximising the amount of work not done - is essential"

Lawyers are taught to seek perfection.   But sometimes good enough is good enough, and we also need to understand everyone has a different view of what is perfect.  Focussing on simplicity - whether it be clarifying the major points in issue, the essential aspects of the contract, or writing an clear advice - is a skill many lawyers never develop.  Watch a great advocate in court - he or she will make the case appear simple by distilling and focussing on the key aspects.

• "At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts it behaviours accordingly".

This embodies the Japanese principle of Kaizen - the art of continuous improvement by small increments.  Most famously, Toyota adopted Kaizen after World War II to develop a sustainable and competitive automotive business.

How often do you, as client or lawyer, undertake end of matter reviews?  How often do you step back during a matter and look at how it is going, what could be changed to make the conduct of the matter more effective?  At the end of each team meeting, ask your team "What could we be doing or how do we change the way we are now doing things, which would make us more effective on this matter?"  It could be that one team member is creating a blockage by not meeting agreed time frames, maybe we improve delegation to better clarify tasks, maybe the client needs to be more engaged.

As a client, I want an agile lawyer with a responsive, nimble mind, and I want a legal team who is agile and applies agile techniques in legal project management.  As law firm or lawyer, I want to be known for my agility and to adopt the Kaizen principles of continuous improvement.  It will keep me ahead of the pack.