With my son attending college and living in Oregon, I was curious about whether Oregon was engaged in Lean implementation. Much to my surprise, a law firm that started in Seattle, is present here in Alaska, and is also present in Portland, OR, was advertising for a Lean Management staff person. From what I can see, an attorney at DWT with experience in process management legal services learned Lean and was eventually moved to a position described as a Legal Process Strategist. So this effort has been in place for almost 2 and a half years. I decided to see where other firms might be in terms of implementation, and found an early adopter in the Seyfarth Shaw law firm in Chicago. Through their Seyfarth Consulting, they provide lean consulting services to the legal industry. Seyfarth Shaw claims that they have cut as much as 50% off of their fees to at least one client. [http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/seyfarth_shaw_says_six_sigma_has_cut_client_fees_by_up_to_50_percent/] Imagine that. Productivity levels similar to that seen in other applications of lean in other industries.
I now expect Lean to start forging inroads to the Judiciary, District Attorney, Attorney’s General and other public legal entities. What a wonderful development. But what it says to me is, why are others still waiting to implement the system?
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