3 Benefits of Lean Six Sigma in Attorney Firms

Lean Six Sigma has been helpful to many professions. We have many examples of it working in the manufacturing industry, in technology start-ups as well as in healthcare organizations. But does it help all types of firms?

If we study the principles of Lean Six Sigma’s philosophy, we will understand that it actually helps make improvements in just about every line of business. This includes the legal fraternity; people who make their living by arguing in courtrooms.

The drivers behind attorney firms using Six Sigma are the same drivers behind every business that applies Six Sigma methodology: increased efficiency for the business and increased value for the customer.

Attorney firms have a large amount of paperwork and other non-paper related processing that they have to deal with everyday. The following examples note how an attorney firm can apply Lean Six Sigma principles with success.

​Document Reviewing Process

​All legal cases involve going through a large number of legal documents that relate to it. The exact figure varies but a typical legal matter has documents, e-mails and papers that can reach up to thousands in number. Lean Six Sigma can be used to accelerate the process by setting formal correspondence times for paralegals and junior legal counselors to surveys the case and meet with senior litigators. They can also communicate questions and discuss feedback on a daily basis. Firms can also develop standard templates, as that would define review related procedures. Such steps would speed up the process significantly. 

​Digitally Archiving Documents

​Attorney firms have to legally hold onto the documents that they work on and present in their court cases. These documents are produced in large quantities and by the end of a year typically range up to hundreds and thousands. Law firms typically bind these files into volumes at the end of a period. By relying more on technology, Attorney Firms can create digital records of these documents. This will not only save up on the vast spaces used up in storage libraries but will also make accessing the files a lot more easy. They can also start the process earlier in the case, rather than waiting until the end.

​Working with Clients

Lean Six Sigma tools also focus on improving client serviceability in operational procedures. An attorney firm can identify areas where requesting for clients feedback can accelerate the process and improve the probability of success in clients’ case.
 
On the outset, a firm can tell clients what they will need to provide in a case, and can make specific employees available for consultation and providing certain documentation. Giving Lean Six Sigma training to lawyers, managers as well as administrative staff in the firm can help them develop best practices for efficiently handling employment litigation.

If you wish to learn more about the system of Lean Six Sigma, please check out LearningManager Lean Six Sigma.