Gain clients & save costs

Legal project management (LPM) techniques can increase lawyers’ client base, reduce costs and help reduce overheads but may require a “sea-change” in the way they work, writes Antony Smith, director of Legal Project Management Ltd, in the first of a new series of articles for NLJ. He outlines methods for estimating work required, communicating with clients and managing alternative fee arrangements, and explains why managing “scope creep” is vital and why poor communications is a prime cause of client unhappiness. Smith says LPM is becoming increasingly popular among law firms and is suitable for firms of all sizes.