Learn More About SeyfarthLean
Partnering with our clients to provide high-quality and cost-effective legal services is the essence of our SeyfarthLean initiative. It is a discipline by which we strive to continually find ways to be more effective in our delivery of legal services and meet our clients’ needs. The first step in every process is understanding how our clients define value. We then use SeyfarthLean to tailor our services to align with our clients’ specific requirements and objectives. Our aim is to work together with our clients to control legal costs, provide efficient and proactive legal service, and build a partnership to assure that our solutions fit their needs.
We Begin With Our Clients’ Needs, Challenges, and Desired Outcomes
The first step in developing the right solutions for a client is understanding their needs—often referred to as the “Voice of the Client.” Our initial conversations with clients focus on what works well for them, what doesn’t, and how they define success. It is important that every member of our team understand their strategy, their metrics, and their organization.
Based on Their Needs, We Identify and Implement the Right Solutions
Based on what we learn during the Voice of the Client, we have a number of SeyfarthLean tools that we can customize and combine to provide legal services in a way that truly drives value for our clients, a few of which are summarized below:
Process Mapping. Process mapping is a critical exercise that lays the foundation for increased efficiencies, reduced costs, and other desired outcomes. Our SeyfarthLean team can work with clients to map current internal processes or processes that integrate with our delivery of services, and identify areas in which improvements can be made. Areas that are driving the wrong results—inefficiencies, too many touches on a document, etc.—are re-engineered and a new process can be created. Opportunities to drive the right results—increased efficiencies gained through incorporating best practices, knowledge management, technology, etc.—are built into the improved process. Internally, Seyfarth Shaw has mapped over 60 different areas of law to improve the way we provide services to our clients.
SeyfarthConnect. W e use technology to enhance communication and collaboration between our attorneys and legal staff and your legal team via a suite of online client service offerings, which we call SeyfarthConnect. We leverage the site to reinforce efficiency, support client communications, and share critical documents.
Customized Knowledge Management Tools. Whether they are utilized to support the legal services we offer our clients or they are developed specifically to enhance their internal processes, knowledge management tools can have a significant impact on reducing the time our attorneys spend on matters.
Matter Management. Our proprietary Matter Management System tracks and monitors matters in progress and enables us to ensure that tasks and budgets are on target. Ease in reporting and analysis of timekeepers and charges let us know that we are on budget and providing services efficiently. Reports can be made available to our clients as frequently as they desire and are shared via SeyfarthConnect, which make it a powerful management tool.
A Model Focused on Results
To ensure success, we work with our clients to determine metrics and reporting protocols for each solution. Examples of measurements used may include legal costs saved, cycle time, and the amount of time spent on specific tasks or a phase of a matter. Reporting mechanisms are customized to fit the solution and our clients’ requirements.
A Client Team Approach
Our client service teams seek client feedback and continuously make needed changes or adjustments through a series of client team meetings. Quarterly assessments, monthly updates, regular reporting, and formal post-matter debriefs provide a structure and discipline for sharing lessons learned. We use a client service scorecard, based on the metrics defined by the Association of Corporate Counsel’s value index, to evaluate our performance with our clients. These are important steps in ensuring that we deliver top-quality services, remain focused on our clients’ needs, and meet their expectations.
Alternative Fee Offerings
We routinely offer clients alternative fees that meet their goals. What differentiates our alternative fees is that the substantive data and analysis that results from applying Lean Six Sigma serves as the foundation for developing our fee models. The result is a fee structure that is transparent and customized to fit a client’s requirements for both price and staffing.