Seyfarth Shaw, a law firm, consults to legal departments on Lean Six Sigma methodologies

Last year there was news about law department consulting offered by Eversheds and several law firms tout their consulting skills regarding e-discovery. Recently I saw another instance of a law firm that wants to consult to law departments.

An ad in the ACC Docket by Seyfarth Shaw promotes how its “team of lawyers and consultants helps Global 2000 companies re-engineer their internal legal processes and manage complex internal legal projects.” SeyfarthLean™ Consulting draws on its internal experience with Lean Six Sigma (See my post of June 9, 2011: Lisa Damon presentation on firm’s use of Six Sigma tools.).

I wonder whether general counsel retain a law firm to consult on operations without being aware that the firm’s advice might be tinged by some self interest. It’s a similar pressure to a technology consulting firm that recommends a strategy for a law department all the while being more than eager to implement that very strategy.