How did you proceed? First, we booked training sessions with IT Scrum masters and Kanban experts, and studied their project management methods. We pinned notes to pinboards and went through a process that we termed “team entanglement”. Then we asked ourselves: How can we implement the promise that a team of lawyers actually provides added value for clients? In what ways can multiple individuals contribute to a case? How can digitalisation aid in streamlining this process? Armed with these questions, we began our journey. An essential element of agile work in the IT industry, as we learned, is also the abandonment of classic hierarchies. The role within the team is no longer determined by seniority or status, but by the task. To implement this in our legal department, we first dispensed with selective coordination rounds for dispute, they assert, “You will hear from my lawyers”. Indeed, size and headcount are also important selection criteria for clients when choosing a firm. And obviously, an army of lawyers promises more impact than just one professional. It is the same with doctors: When providing medical advice, it is often “my doctors said...” instead of referring just to one person. How is that promise to be put into practice? Looking for best practice, we drew inspiration from our IT clients. They already practiced “AGILE”, they had Scrum masters, made SWOT analyses and decided according to design thinking processes. But they used it for programming apps and systems. We were curious to transfer this into our lawyers’ world. business, sometimes attending client meetings multiple times a week, often by air. Assistants booked flights and managed travel expenses. Often, the clients also came to the firm. The assistants booked meeting rooms and arranged appointments with clients by phone. Otherwise, everyone worked in isolation all day long. Usually, all doors were closed. Interaction among department members was limited to brief updates and occasional chats in passing. What was the catalyst or inspiration to undertake the agile working experience? It began with digitalisation, which rendered most of the assistants’ daily work obsolete. Typing briefs, answering phones, correcting and filing documents, booking flights – all traditional assistant work had become redundant within no time. Therefore, internal reorganisation was unavoidable. At the same time, we recognised an opportunity to organise our team more efficiently. Are lawyers made for team play? Lawyers traditionally are lone fighters even when working in large firms. They acquire clients and serve them with briefs and opinions or conduct negotiations to best assert their interests. On the other hand: Lawyers traditionally work in law firms and in Germany too, these firms have grown larger and larger. The clients have also grown: Large transactions and litigation with incredible amounts of documents have to be processed. Do clients actually expect team play from their lawyers? Yes of course, clients regularly speak in the plural of us lawyers. In case of a WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM 83 Dr. Martin Schellenberg Partner, HEUKING
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