Six Sigma for law departments (Medco Health Solutions) – deep six it?

Six Sigma for lawyers – time will tell whether the fad will stick to law departments. Corporate Legal Times (May 2005 at 42), quoting Medco’s general counsel, David Machlowitz, mentioned in passing that the company “has applied the principles of Six Sigma to streamline its internal operations.”

At least six law departments have so-called Six Sigma black-and green-belts trained in the ways of process control and deviation. But a piece by Martin Kihn in Fast Company (Sept. 2005 at 40) cited much touted Six Sigmans Xerox, Sprint PCS, Larson Boats, and Ford as being much derided in their quality rankings. Defects per billion just doesn’t fit well with practicing corporate law.