Announcing a new book on legal project management

Yesterday, we issued the press release below to announce the publication of the second edition of my Legal Project Management Quick Reference Guide: Tools and Templates to Increase Efficiency.

We recruited lawyers and professionals from nearly 40 large and mid-sized firms (listed below) to provide advice on what to include, and on our approach to publishing the book.  After much debate, we decided to continue the limited distribution policy from the first edition.  Since the book includes a significant amount of proprietary information from our training and coaching programs, it will be sold only to law firms and only through our web page.

 

The press release

Next month, Jim Hassett, Ph.D., the founder of LegalBizDev, will publish the second edition of his popular Legal Project Management Quick Reference Guide.  

The guide “was written for lawyers who don’t have time to read books but need to find ways to quickly apply proven project management principles in order to deliver greater value to clients, increase profitability, reduce risk, and focus on clients’ true needs,” said Hassett, whose company is recognized as a leading innovator in legal project management training.

The book is subtitled Tools and Templates to Increase Efficiency, and is organized around eight key issues: setting objectives and defining the scope of a matter, identifying and scheduling activities, assigning tasks and managing a legal team, planning and managing a budget, assessing risks to the schedule and budget, managing quality, managing client communication and expectations, and negotiating change orders. It was not written to be read from start to finish but rather as a handy guide for lawyers with questions in any area of project management.

“This is an exceptional piece of work,” said Patrick Lamb, founding member of the Valorem Law Group. “It answers the ‘how to’ questions that everyone has. It provides best practices, templates, guidance and wisdom on how to accomplish this massive change by focusing on low hanging fruit and seizing early wins to demonstrate the value of this skill set.”

The book includes proprietary material from LegalBizDev’s highly acclaimed training programs for attorneys.  It is being sold only to law firms and only through LegalBizDev.com. The book adds more than 80 pages of new material to the July 2010 first edition, which was purchased by firms with a total of more than 65,000 lawyers.

“The phrase ‘legal project management’ has become popular lately,” Hassett said, “but the field is so new that people are still uncertain about which tactics will have the greatest impact for lawyers. This book will help each lawyer find the tactics that fit their practice and personality.”

The book can be ordered now by email (guide@legalbizdev.com), by fax (917-386-2733), by phone (800-498-7246), or by mail (LegalBizDev, 225 Franklin Street, 26th floor, Boston, MA 02110).  It will be released in May 2011.

The price is $49.95 plus shipping ($10 in the United States, $30 outside the United States), with a 50 percent discount when ordered as part of a LegalBizDev program. 

 

The LegalBizDev Reference Guide Advisory Board

I would like to thank these experts, and others who chose to remain anonymous, for their reviews and suggestions on early drafts.

Cindy Bajdarvanov, Litigation Pricing and Budgeting Manager, Fish & Richardson

Mark Barbee, Director of Project and Portfolio Management, Greenberg Traurig

Michael D. Barnes, Senior Director of Business and Program Services, DLA Piper LLP (US)

Wesley Beato, Competitive Intelligence Manager, Herrick

Martin D. Beirne, Chairman, Beirne, Maynard & Parsons

Toby Brown, Director of Pricing and Strategy, Fulbright & Jaworski

Jeff Bukowski, Shareholder, Stevens & Lee

Steve Burke, Associate Director of Business Development, Proskauer Rose

Jonathan Cooper, Partner, Tucker Ellis & West

Kim Craig, Director of Project Management Office, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Jim Dickson, Partner, Stewart McKelvey

Paul Easton, Managing Director, Global Colleague

David Eberhardt, Principal, Miles & Stockbridge

Karen Febeo, Director of Training, Goodwin Procter

Bill Garcia, former Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives, Howrey

Sam Goldblatt, Partner, Nixon Peabody

Melanie Green, Director of Business Development and Marketing, Baker & Daniels

Missy Hower, Director of Practice Group Services, Perkins Coie

Suzanne Iazzetta, Associate, Lowenstein Sandler

Byron Kalogerou, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery

Howard Kaufman, Counsel, Fasken Martineau

Susan Kurz, Director of Business Development and Marketing, Keating Muething & Klekamp

Patrick Lamb, Founding Member, Valorem Law Group

Susanne Mandel, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer, Lowndes Drosdick Doster Kantor & Reed

Lauren Meader, Senior Manager, Business Development, Arnold & Porter LLP

Howard Nicols, Global Managing Partner, Squire Sanders

Rose Ors, Business Development Director, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips

John Paris, Partner, Williams Mullen

Michael K. Renetzky, Partner, Locke Lord

Michael Roster, former Managing Partner, Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles office

Steven Schroeder, Chief Business Development Officer, Hinshaw & Culbertson

William Cory Spence, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Clinton Swan, Head of Marketing and Business Development (Middle East Region), Clyde & Co

Fram Virjee, Partner, O'Melveny & Myers

Felice Wagner, Chief Client Service Officer, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan

Graeme Wood, Head of Project Services, Linklaters

For more details, or to order the book, see our web page.