A project manager at the law firm for large cases

An intriguing idea: insist that your outside litigation counsel provide a project manager for any case likely to have expenditures above a very substantial amount (See my post of Nov. 15, 2005 on the definition of major litigation; and June 27, 2006 on how BellSouth handles them.). This is what I categorize as an intervention by a law department in a law firm’s operations (See my post of July 5, 2006 on other forms of intervention in law firm operations.).

What would the person do? What kind of training and experience should a law department expect in the project manager? What would the person cost? One wonders whether a non-lawyer project manager would be able to contribute effectively where partners are long accustomed to running the show.

A big lawsuit project manager is a sound idea. Both sides should think in terms of the effective management of litigation wholly apart from the substantive legal maneuverings. Examples of this already include discovery managers (See my post of Oct. 1, 2005 on Pfizer.), parallel settlement counsel (See my post of July 21, 2006.), bill analysts (See my post of Aug. 24, 2005.), and client representatives (See my post of April 2, 2006 about orphan/legacy litigation.).