A Value-based Client-firm Relationship: Part X
The power of project management
Week 10. Each week via the In-house ACCess blog, follow the promise and pitfalls of forming a new value-based client-firm relationship. ACC Value Challenge steering committee member Ken Grady, General Counsel and Secretary of Wolverine World Wide, offered to profile his selection and start-up process of launching a trademark portfolio management engagement with law firm Seyfarth Shaw. Ken's co-blogger is Lisa Damon, a member of Seyfarth's Executive Committee and leader of the firm's efforts to incorporate Lean Six Sigma into its business. The voice, views and stories expressed by the authors below are their own and not ACC’s. To catch up on the story so far, click here.
The client side
From Ken:
First year efficiency gains in the trademark portfolio require that we know our starting point. To know our starting point, we must have our arms around 3,600 trademarks, all moving at their own pace. That requires a seamless transfer of 3,600 trademarks to Seyfarth, and that requires excellent project management.
Let me talk about the Wolverine side of that equation. There are four of us who day-to-day touch the trademark portfolio. The old school way consisted of lots of e-mails, hallway chats, catch-up meetings and follow-up e-mails. We kept the ship running but it didn't look pretty. This transition brought us the opportunity to upgrade.
We established a several month transition schedule, rolling from our less complicated brand collections of trademarks to our most complicated collection. Approximately every two to three weeks, another brand moves to Seyfarth. Every week, we have a WebEx conference for the Seyfarth and Wolverine team. Using one of Seyfarth's project management tools, we work through (1) transition status and issues, (2) portfolio issues for the brands that have moved, and (3) general issues affecting the portfolio. The online tool lets us systematically work through each issue, coded using several criteria including importance and due date, to update the team. Since it is something we all can access at any time, the call gives us a chance to quickly identify any needed action items. We don't resolve many of them in the call - they are put on the list for separate in depth calls as needed. The call takes one hour, but keeps everyone on top of the issues.
Separate calls are scheduled, including one regularly scheduled call each week between Seyfarth's lead attorney and our lead paralegal, to cover in depth some of these issues. We have other ad hoc calls (and some e-mails) as needed. This sounds oh-so-straightforward and it is, but that is because the groundwork for a well-run project management process was put down by Seyfarth long before we darkened their doors. Oddly enough, I used a similar process some 16 years ago in the early ages of computer video conferences. The key here is that, while Seyfarth's implementation is much more elegant than the old version I did, the concept of project management isn't new and doesn't require huge amounts of time. In fact, properly done project management will significantly reduce the time it takes to keep things on track versus the ad hoc method we used and many of you may still use.
Another factor here is constant improvement. Each week the Wolverine/Seyfarth team improves the process management process. We are handling more brands and issues as they transfer to Seyfarth, but we still do so in an hour or less. We also have started the real lean process - the team held its first process mapping session last week. Through a WebEx, team members from both entities started mapping out the process for trademark searches. This is the first step in defining what we do today to give us that springboard for improvement. Just as we break complex legal matters into manageable pieces to solve the legal challenges, we are breaking this complex portfolio project into manageable pieces to handle the transfer and start "leaning" the processes.
Next: Strategy tools - how to get there by knowing where there is.
The firm view
From Lisa:
We have been pleased and excited about the reception that Ken and his team have given to the various project management tools we have adapted for our trademark practice. Ken's strong interest in Lean and his focus on the creation of a value relationship dovetail well with a number of previous projects we have undertaken to improve our global trademark portfolio management practices and file transition procedures.
We began our Lean trademark journey a little over a year before we met Ken, when the firm was already well into its larger adoption of Lean. The driving force behind the Lean trademark program was the perception that traditional law firm trademark practice, like many areas, contains various inefficiencies that increased cost and wasted time (increased "pendency" in our nomenclature). The net result? Ad hoc decision making and a focus on fighting day-to-day fires, at the expense of strategic thought and action. We tried to attack these problems through a combination of process standardization (we have "process mapped" ten standard tasks within the trademark practice), project management approach, and the development of new technology tools to improve client communication, collaboration and information management in the trademark practice.
As with any development project, the path wasn't always completely clear, and we made some mistakes before joining forces with Ken. In one case, we created a standardized process for a task that had previously been only loosely coordinated among various team members. After about three months, however, we realized that the new standardized process actually increased our cost and the time spent on that particular task -- costs that the firm absorbed as "R&D" for the program. After that experience, though, we developed "version 2.0" of that process map. Ultimately, we reached a solution that was an improvement over both version 1.0 and the prior practice.
We've also benefited greatly from our interaction with Ken's team. As we began to implement our trademark extranet product for Wolverine, Ken and his team were not shy about guiding us as to how the tools would best work for them. Ah, the power of feedback!
We then customized our platform in a manner that's actually much better than the original. Our experience reflects a critical point about building a relationship: Providing value and efficiency can't be a one-way street. While we have brought some innovative tools to the table, Ken's team has been extremely engaged in the implementation and adaptation of them. They have given us valuable feedback along the way. Had it not been for the level of engagement from Ken's team, the implementation would not have been as effective. That's where genuine partnership in the relationship becomes essential.
For those of you using project management tools in your practices, what is working? How has the collaboration been between in-house and outside counsel? What tips for success can you share for the benefit of others?
Next: Continuing the transition and working toward development and implementation of an effective strategy.
