FT Innovative Lawyer Awards 2014
Value Resourcing
Building a new way to manage major disputes
Description of innovation
Clients want greater transparency, clarity and control over major
strategic litigation and arbitration. US approaches to litigation and
arbitration in terms of enhancing and protecting asset value are
increasingly common. The stakes are high in terms of reputational
risk (sometimes mitigated with arbitration due to agreed
confidentially) and significant legal costs.
At the conclusion of three ‘blockbuster’ pieces of international
arbitration last summer, (involving approximately 60 lawyers with the
largest case lasting six years), Clive Seddon, head of our TMT practice
and a litigation partner, reviewed the excellent client feedback in
relation to all three cases and recognised a consistent request for
stronger, more dynamic and more visible project management.
Working with James Bullock, Head of Commercial and Tax Disputes
and Richard Foley, Head of Construction Disputes, Clive initiated a
four month project to capture the best practice from the three
major cases. Clive brought in a former partner and consultant,
Natasha Doman, to tackle the orthodoxy and to enhance the
client-facing nature of what the teams produced. The project
delivery team comprised five partners, one legal director, two senior
associates and one solicitor working with Natasha.
The result was the Pinsent Masons Project Management
Methodology (“PMM”) which:
•provides a project management framework and toolkit for
Pinsent Masons’ clients and the lawyers representing them in
major litigation and arbitration
•introduces technology-driven project management solutions
where appropriate, driving the consistent application of best
practice and minimising inefficiencies brought about by
‘reinventing the wheel’ in each case, in a format familiar
to clients
•gives clients unprecedented transparency of the actual and
forecast costs and a clear indication of cashflows over the
lifecycle of the matter
•harnesses the knowledge and experience of running complex
disputes which exists within the firm and sets this out clearly for
clients at every stage of the process.
Pinsent Masons possesses tier one London construction, TMT and
tax litigation practices and has highly rated commercial, IP and
regulatory practices. The firm has over 100 litigation partners.
The PMM comprises a concise set of tools, rules and methods to
ensure we deliver a well-run, efficient and transparently managed
litigation or arbitration project. These can be accessed via an online
toolkit in its template format, or a new toolkit can be created for
any individual matter. Video clips are available to explain the client
facing nature of each tool.
The true originality and innovation in PMM lies in our approach to
looking at the end-to-end management of a dispute through the
client’s lens, segmenting each part of the dispute resolution process
into more manageable components, and then driving greater
efficiency, transparency and certainty into each.
As such we look in detail at:
•Scoping the dispute – at the outset, we identify the various
milestones and key actions that will need to be taken so that the
client and the Pinsent Masons team can define work flows and
responsibilities
•Resource planning – having scoped the dispute, our tools
allow for the efficient, effective and transparent deployment
of resources
•Governance – an integral part of the PMM is ensuring that a
robust governance structure is in place to allow decisions to be
made quickly in response to shifting events and priorities;
transparent and accessible reporting ensures the client is aware
of the key facts to facilitate internal decision-making
•Dispute processes – we make it easy to track the progress of
each task as the dispute progresses with regular updates,
dashboard reports and forecasts; our guidance notes provide the
client with information regarding each stage of the process along
with key issues and decision points
•Cost control – accurate budgeting and costs monitoring is
critical. We have developed reporting tools which set out actual
and estimated costs on a monthly basis over the lifetime of the
dispute, broken down by individual resources and tasks, which
can be reviewed at monthly cost review meetings
•Risk management – understanding the details and merits of
each claim in dispute is key to determining prospects of
success, as well as potential settlement option; easily digestible
template reporting allows you to do just that, as well as
flagging possible obstacles.
The toolkit was launched at the Pinsent Masons’ Global Partners
Conference in November 2013 and was rolled out across the firm
during December and January 2014.
Originality
To our knowledge – and that of the clients with whom we have
road-tested the product – this is a unique product in the legal
market. In essence, by understanding and harnessing the latest
technology, and combining it with our own extensive experience of
big-ticket disputes, we have developed what we believe to be the
most sophisticated litigation modelling tool in the market.
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Pinsent Masons | FT Innovative Lawyer Awards 2014
Rationale
The rationale for the development of the PMM was completely
client driven. We listened to our clients! A recent survey of almost
400 purchasers of commercial legal services by Acritas found that
‘better project management skills’ were among the top five factors
buyers will be looking for from their legal advisers in future. This is
something which has been understood and embraced by our
litigation partners.
Our approach is designed to give our clients:
•an overview of the dispute from beginning to end – helping
them understand what is going to happen and when, and
budget accordingly
•a clear overview of responsibilities for project management and
clear lines of communications – so that the client team always
knows who to speak to in relation to particular matters
•advance information to enable the client to plan internal
resources and management input
•answers to questions the client may not know they need to ask
•flexibility to factor in business requirements into the dispute
timeline – for example, reports for the Board, the AGM and
results announcements
•budget costs information which sets out the current total costs
of the dispute and – more importantly – the total projected costs
and a monthly overview of the costs position v budget
•concise progress on merits assessments which allows the client
to evaluate settlement options
•regular strategy reviews, giving the client confidence that the
target outcomes for the dispute meet their business priorities
and budget
•confidence that disputes are in the hands of people who have
walked this path before and won.
With an ever-increasing focus on costs and efficiency – both from
a client perspective and within the legal sector – creating a more
structured and transparent approach to complex litigation and
arbitration is a requirement of all clients.
Impact
At the beginning of a potential arbitration, we presented the PMM
to our major client.
We spent some time at the outset producing the budget and
resource planning document. The Head of Legal was extremely
impressed and said that he particularly liked the way:
We also presented the PMM to leading legal services guru Richard
Susskind1 who said, “I was really impressed with the progress you
have made on project management. It is as good as I have seen.”
Our invitation to you
Sometimes actions speak louder than words. We would
like to take the opportunity to invite RSG Consulting’s
researchers to our international headquarters in London to
experience the same demonstration of the methodology
that we offer to our clients.
References:
Clive Seddon
Pinsent Masons LLP
Head of TMT
Pinsent Masons
T: +44 (0)20 7490 6294
E: [email protected]
Robert Messenger
Head of Commercial Team
The Home Office Legal Adviser’s Branch
T: +44 (0)7771 810487
E: [email protected]
Dermot Maguire
Head of Intellectual Property
Fujitsu Services Limited
T: +44 (0)7867 823343
E: [email protected]
PR Contact
Fred Banning
Pinsent Masons LLP
Head of Public Relations
T: +44 (0)141 567 8542
E: [email protected]
•our resources were set out transparently so that he knew who
would be doing what and when
•the budget planner would help him to understand not only his
overall outlay but his monthly cashflow on a planned v actual basis
•which it identified the resources from his team that would be
needed and when.
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Richard Susskind acts as a consultant to Pinsent Masons
2
Pinsent Masons LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England & Wales (registered number: OC333653) authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the
appropriate regulatory body in the other jurisdictions in which it operates. The word ‘partner’, used in relation to the LLP, refers to a member of the LLP or an employee or consultant of the
LLP or any affiliated firm of equivalent standing. A list of the members of the LLP, and of those non-members who are designated as partners, is displayed at the LLP’s registered office:
30 Crown Place, London EC2A 4ES, United Kingdom. We use ‘Pinsent Masons’ to refer to Pinsent Masons LLP, its subsidiaries and any affiliates which it or its partners operate as separate
businesses for regulatory or other reasons. Reference to ‘Pinsent Masons’ is to Pinsent Masons LLP and/or one or more of those subsidiaries or affiliates as the context requires.
© Pinsent Masons LLP 2014.
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