SeyfarthLean: A Commitment to Deliver Quality and Measurable Results
The business world is changing, and the challenges law firms and their clients face are changing too. To succeed in this environment, understanding the value a law firm is expected to deliver to its clients and then creating that value is imperative. At Seyfarth, we have spent the last few years preparing for today's economic challenges by working with a different way of analyzing and delivering value to our clients—something we call SeyfarthLean.
Our Approach
In creating value for our clients, we understand that success is not defined by us, but rather by them. This is the essence of our SeyfarthLean initiative. SeyfarthLean is the application of structured team-based collaboration—internally and client facing—to deliver value. To this end, we have pioneered in the law firm environment the use of Lean Six Sigma and other business processes as tools to plan, organize, and manage resources to deliver results. 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.
SeyfarthLean helps drive down the costs of legal services by identifying and eliminating the inefficiencies that can push costs higher. The application of this process-driven methodology involves mapping the delivery of services and identifying areas where efficiencies can be gained. We integrate various tools into our processes, including best practice templates and checklists, document repositories, knowledge banks, matter management tools and other technology, and tailor them to our clients' unique needs.
With more than 100 projects executed and 75 certified Green Belts in-house, we have applied SeyfarthLean in every practice area of our firm to deliver efficiency and value—resulting in client cost savings ranging from 15–50%.
Seyfarth’s commitment to delivering legal services in a new way—with an emphasis on value and continuous improvement—has been praised by the Association of Corporate Counsel as being "five years ahead of every other AmLaw 200 firm."
What Does it Mean for Our Clients?
A Different Way of Working with a Law Firm. This process creates a different way of working with our clients—one that is driven by data, based on a shared definition of success, benchmarks and tangible quantifiable results.
Predictability. By using SeyfarthLean methodologies, we are able to collaboratively develop a scope and definition of the work we do for our clients, resulting in complete transparency and cost predictability.
Constant Measurement and Improvement. One of the hallmarks of our SeyfarthLean process is the level of evaluation and feedback. It fosters real-time responsiveness as we partner with our clients and continuously adapt to their changing requirements.
Heightened Communication. None of this achieves the desired result without a foundation of heightened communication between us and our partner in this effort—our clients.