How do you know if your law firm will benefit from a Chief Process Officer (CPO)? A full-time or fractional (part-time) CPO can help your law firm if the answer is as follows to one or more of the following questions.  Areas include law firm fees, operations, processes, and computer systems.

Law Firm Fees

Yes

• Is your law firm under ongoing pressure to reduce fees and, at the same time, increase partner profitability?  
• Are clients asking for holdbacks, discounts, write-offs, alternative fee arrangements, or fixed fees for the life of the matter?  
• Is your client’s procurement office more actively engaged in fee, billing,  payment, and law firm selection/retention discussions?  
• Is the firm being asked to comply with increasingly demanding client guidelines, including who and what can be billed?  
• Is the firm dealing with increasingly complex client e-billing systems?  
• Is there inconsistent firm realization depending upon the type of matter and who is performing the work? Does the firm want to increase realization?  
• Are the operating areas of the firm coordinated in terms of how they interact and service the client?  Is this measured today? 
• Is there a lack of continuity when attorneys or operating staff leave the firm? 
• Is a new operating model required to align and reduce costs?  

Law Firm Operations

Yes

• Is the firm growing?  Are you adding staff?
• Will the firm need to contract in size if it loses key clients or due to economic conditions?  
• Would you like to strengthen the firm’s relationship with the client for legal and operating areas?  
• Does your law firm need to innovate to be competitive with other firms? 

No

• Do you have a process-level plan identifying fixed/variable and critical/noncritical processes to support an increase or decrease in firm size while maintaining client service and partner profitability?  
• Is there a firm-wide process improvement plan and roadmap?
• Do you know what the firm spends at a process level, volumes, and criticality?  
• Do you have a list of processes that can be automated, made more efficient, modified, or stopped? 
• Are firm key process indicators (KPIs) measured, including quality, service, and efficiency?  
• Are KPIs compared, are future goals set, and are actions taken?  

Law Firm Processes

Yes

• Are there process silos (walls) within and between internal departments, groups, and practice areas? Is the rate of process improvement slow at the firm?  
• When attorneys or staff leave, does firm knowledge walk out the door?  
• Do existing and prospective clients ask what process improvement framework the firm uses?  

No

• Are firm processes documented and up-to-date? 
• Are client process interactions mapped out and discussed to better coordinate client information exchange, decisions, client experience, fees, and firm realization?
• Do you have a firm-recognized/agreed to and followed process improvement method, framework, and training program?

Law Firm Computer Systems

No

• Do new systems meet what was promised by the vendor? 
• Do computer systems fully support the attorneys, staff, and clients?  
• Do new systems provide an ROI? Is this measured? 
• Are processes fully automated with up-to-date templates, digital workflows, AI assistance, and systems? 

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This paper is written by George Dunn, President CRE8 Independent Consultants. George has functioned as a full-time and fractional CPO and innovator for organizations across all industries.  He has extensive experience assisting law firms,  legal departments, and courts.  For a free consultation on how a full or part-time CPO can benefit your law firm reach out to him at consulting@cre8inc.com or 206-556-5958. George is a world-recognized process improvement and advanced technology planning consultant, trainer, coach, speaker, and author.