SeyfarthLean Featured in Cover Story of iSixSigma Magazine
"Law and Order: Seyfarth Shaw LLP Adapts Six Sigma to the Delivery of Legal Services"

SeyfarthLean was featured as the November/December 2009 cover story of iSixSigma Magazine in the article, "Law and Order: Seyfarth Shaw LLP Adapts Six Sigma to the Delivery of Legal Services." The article discussed the genesis of Seyfarth's Lean Six Sigma program, SeyfarthLean, how it was developed, how it is deployed, and how it is changing the way law is practiced. The article noted that a few years ago clients wanted their law firms to start thinking about how they could deliver legal services more efficiently and more transparently, including offering flat fees. According to the article, "For Seyfarth Shaw, the key to increasing collaboration and to shifting the paradigm in the delivery and billing of services was Lean Six Sigma."

The article noted that the firm deployed what is now known as SeyfarthLean in 2006. Lisa Damon, Chair of the Labor & Employment Department and the partner who was responsible for leading and growing the deployment, related how the case for Six Sigma was made: "The executive committee asked Carla Goldstein (a non-practicing attorney and the firm's director of strategic management) and me to look for ways to deliver services to clients using these powerful new tools." According to the article, Seyfarth had clients, such as DuPont, Motorola Inc., and Caterpillar Inc., that were already using Six Sigma in their businesses. Lisa and Carla studied how these companies were using the methodology within their legal departments and applying it to the practice of law. Lisa explained, "We decided Six Sigma was the way… to help look at legal services as processes and then to understand how to deliver those services."

According to the article, Seyfarth has Lean Six Sigma teams across all of its 10 offices and in every area of its practice. The article noted that one of the first areas of the practice to be analyzed was single-plaintiff litigation. Carla added, "Another area where we applied the SeyfarthLean discipline is in mergers and acquisitions. The attorneys discovered that there is a process underlying each deal, and we are now able to apply that process to all of our deals and offer a flat fee for M&A transactions. The savings has been approximately 15 percent utilizing this new process."

The article provided an example of how a "late adopter" of Lean Six Sigma later became a chief proponent. Andrew Pearlstein, the firm's Co-Chair of the Structured & Real Estate Finance group, was initially hesitant to embrace the program, but has come to adopt the methodology in his own area of practice with a large institutional lender that did a high volume of closings. Andrew noted, "We had to become more efficient and cost competitive and reduce cycle times on these closings. We had to close more quickly than we were currently doing."

The article concluded that with process mapping and more collaboration with clients, Seyfarth Shaw is changing the behavior of people who have practiced law the same way for decades. The article pointed out that the Association of Corporate Counsel, for example, has noted that what the firm is doing with SeyfarthLean is "five years ahead of every other AmLaw200 firm." Lisa added, "We stop and spend time with the client, understanding what they really want. It's about how the client defines value. It's fundamental to everything we're doing."