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Leaders in Legal Business
strategies in the practice of law), but many attorneys resist the change, protesting that bespoke, tailored
legal advice should not be jammed into a predetermined workflow. It is fair for Biglaw partners to debate
the merits of project management in their practice of law, which is often as much art as science. But there’s
no debate that for process-driven legal tasks (large-scale contract analysis, derivative documentation, or
litigation document reviews), proper workflows, and team management are of paramount concern.
In fact, as the volume and complexity of legal support work has increased (due to the exponential
increase in electronic communications), managed services providers gained prominence by proudly
implementing the business world’s best practices and statistical error reduction methodologies.
Methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma ensure statistically validated work and allow errors to be tracked,
corrected retroactively, and eliminated going forward. These project management techniques both reduce
the number of errors in large-scale legal support projects, while ensuring attorneys complete tasks in a
measurably efficient and productive way. Better, faster, cheaper.
Specialization and Domain Expertise
Biglaw firms often do not hold “non-lawyers” in high regard, but LMS companies believe in that
bringing legal, process, and business expertise together creates a better final work product.
For example, while Pangea3 employs well more than 1,000 full-time attorneys, we also employ
and empower experts in Six Sigma error reduction (some of whom are certified Black Belts), experienced
project managers, experts on financial compliance (some of whom are CPAs), and e-discovery technology
experts (many who are CEDS-certified).
These differentiators drastically improve the quality of the work product and ultimately spell the
difference between a traditional LPO (legal process outsourcing — think labor arbitrage) provider and a
true Legal Managed Services provider (think expertise and specialization). A LMS provider can tackle more
sophisticated work, such as organizing and managing the facts of your case using sophisticated case
management tools, freeing up Biglaw lawyers to do what they do best: win their cases and provide legal
advice.
Technology Enablement
As discussed, a key force driving the need for high-quality Legal Managed Services companies is
the staggering volume of “Big Data,” and the burden and complexity of the high-volume legal-work it
creates every day. Whether it’s a document review in high-stakes litigation or a review of corporate policies
for the compliance department of a multinational, the stakes are high, and a critical “hot” document could
be anywhere. Technology created Big Data, and it has finally has begun to provide solutions to the Big
Data problem. However, Biglaw firms and corporate legal departments rarely have fluency with the rapidly
changing technology solutions such as machine learning and data analytics. These are rare skill in the
traditional legal field, but are standard offerings for LMS companies.
Quality LMS providers possess this expertise and employ capital and human resources to ensure
they remain on the cutting edge. They are able to wield advanced technology with efficiency and good
judgment, and can typically consult traditional lawyers on the right tool for the job at hand.
This again allows attorneys to maintain their primary focus on the traditional practice of law.
Accordingly, firms are able to decrease the total cost of representation, while maintaining the quality clients
expect from their trusted outside counsel. With the same tools, but in the right hands, the individual lawyer
is able to maximize time spent on important legal issues.
159
strategies in the practice of law), but many attorneys resist the change, protesting that bespoke, tailored
legal advice should not be jammed into a predetermined workflow. It is fair for Biglaw partners to debate
the merits of project management in their practice of law, which is often as much art as science. But there’s
no debate that for process-driven legal tasks (large-scale contract analysis, derivative documentation, or
litigation document reviews), proper workflows, and team management are of paramount concern.
In fact, as the volume and complexity of legal support work has increased (due to the exponential
increase in electronic communications), managed services providers gained prominence by proudly
implementing the business world’s best practices and statistical error reduction methodologies.
Methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma ensure statistically validated work and allow errors to be tracked,
corrected retroactively, and eliminated going forward. These project management techniques both reduce
the number of errors in large-scale legal support projects, while ensuring attorneys complete tasks in a
measurably efficient and productive way. Better, faster, cheaper.
Specialization and Domain Expertise
Biglaw firms often do not hold “non-lawyers” in high regard, but LMS companies believe in that
bringing legal, process, and business expertise together creates a better final work product.
For example, while Pangea3 employs well more than 1,000 full-time attorneys, we also employ
and empower experts in Six Sigma error reduction (some of whom are certified Black Belts), experienced
project managers, experts on financial compliance (some of whom are CPAs), and e-discovery technology
experts (many who are CEDS-certified).
These differentiators drastically improve the quality of the work product and ultimately spell the
difference between a traditional LPO (legal process outsourcing — think labor arbitrage) provider and a
true Legal Managed Services provider (think expertise and specialization). A LMS provider can tackle more
sophisticated work, such as organizing and managing the facts of your case using sophisticated case
management tools, freeing up Biglaw lawyers to do what they do best: win their cases and provide legal
advice.
Technology Enablement
As discussed, a key force driving the need for high-quality Legal Managed Services companies is
the staggering volume of “Big Data,” and the burden and complexity of the high-volume legal-work it
creates every day. Whether it’s a document review in high-stakes litigation or a review of corporate policies
for the compliance department of a multinational, the stakes are high, and a critical “hot” document could
be anywhere. Technology created Big Data, and it has finally has begun to provide solutions to the Big
Data problem. However, Biglaw firms and corporate legal departments rarely have fluency with the rapidly
changing technology solutions such as machine learning and data analytics. These are rare skill in the
traditional legal field, but are standard offerings for LMS companies.
Quality LMS providers possess this expertise and employ capital and human resources to ensure
they remain on the cutting edge. They are able to wield advanced technology with efficiency and good
judgment, and can typically consult traditional lawyers on the right tool for the job at hand.
This again allows attorneys to maintain their primary focus on the traditional practice of law.
Accordingly, firms are able to decrease the total cost of representation, while maintaining the quality clients
expect from their trusted outside counsel. With the same tools, but in the right hands, the individual lawyer
is able to maximize time spent on important legal issues.
159
