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Project Management As a Tool to Select, Manage, and Evaluate Outside Counsel

By Jonathan Baum

The recent recession has exacerbated the fundamental challenge faced by general counsel: the selection and management of outside counsel. Questions of budget that once could be framed for the CFO or CEO in general terms now require very specific answers. And issues of value are being asked by senior executives with greater intensity. Perhaps most troubling, general counsel still struggle to establish terms of engagement that in almost any other area of procurement would be viewed as basic. Cost, timing, deliverables, staffing and payment terms remain remarkably elusive concepts in the legal profession.

Project management, which is finding increasing acceptance in e-discovery, when applied to corporate matters provides a powerful tool for answering basic, key questions about selecting and managing outside counsel. And it can address issues of fees with such precision and transparency that it becomes an alternative, if you will, to alternative fee arrangements. If properly implemented, project management offers general counsel the opportunity to create and stay within budget, select counsel using more objective standards, and manage as well as evaluate the performance of outside counsel. This article focuses on how project management can assist general counsel to achieve some of the key elements of their mission.

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