A better approach to Legal Practice
Start your Agile Transformation
The traditional model for managing a law practice too often leaves lawyers and their teams feeling overwhelmed by ballooning workloads, tight deadlines, and long hours struggling to keep up.
Regardless of your role, an Agile approach will help you regain control over your work life by embracing
- Intuitive visual management techniques
- Streamlined communication
- Balanced task management
- A continuous improvement mindset
- Better working experiences for your clients and your team
Starting with Kanban Boards
Starting with Kanban Boards
Work-in-progress
Kanban For Lawyers Book
Kanban For Lawyers Book
This is the book I started back in 2014 to explain how to build a kanban board to people who had never heard of one. 10 years later, I am updating and expanding it to account for the explosion of kanban interfaces in some of the most popular technology tools, including legal tech. I am also adding entirely new sections to better explain the Kanban Method overall, and how legal professionals can use it to vastly improve their law practices.
Fair warning: this is very much a work in progress. Hit the button to the left and you'll get instructions on how to keep up with updated content as I release it.
Podcast
Kanban Essentials Podcast Episode
Kanban Essentials
This is the podcast episode where I cover the essentials of kanban board design. I delve into the fundamentals of the Kanban Method, exploring different types of boards (for different purposes) and offering practical tips for implementation. Whether you're building your first board or looking to improve the one you have, you won't want to miss this episode.
Recommended Kanban Software
Recommended KanbanTools
Build a Robust Kanban System
Kanban systems are visual workflow management tools that help teams visualize work, limit work in progress, and maximize efficiency. By using Kanban boards to visualize tasks and their progression through different stages, teams can optimize their processes, identify bottlenecks, and improve overall productivity.
Most Flexible
KanbanZone
KanbanZone
KanbanZone is the most flexible all-around kanban software tool I've seen and the one I use personally. It has a robust board designer that lets you capture the realities of your existing workflow; track work at client, matter, and task levels; and easily generate reports to show you where your bottlenecks lie. I have worked with their CEO to develop several board templates for common legal workflows, so you won't have to design your first board from scratch. I am an official KanbanZone Consulting Partner, so if you sign up using the button below you'll get a 60-day Free Trial and a setup call with me to help you get started.
Automation-Focused
Businessmap (formerly Kanbanize)
Businessmap (formerly Kanbanize)
Businessmap is a power tool for teams looking to automate elements of their legal workflow, and it is a favorite of many of my clients. Its base license is priced to accommodate 15 users, so it's initially a more expensive than other tools for small teams. What makes Businessmap shine are its business rules, allowing you to automate a number of tasks and actions to reduce manual work. I am a Businessmap Solutions Partner and have several legal workflow templates for Businessmap, but you'll need to contact me directly to add them to your account.
Best Integrations
Legalboards
Legalboards
Depending on which version you choose, LegalBoards can be a standalone law practice management tool or a fantastic add-on to your Clio instance. For the latter, it saves you the hassle of connecting Clio to external tools (like Trello) while maintaining a real-time, two-way sync with Clio's tasks, users, matters, and time-tracking. It also works seamlessly with Clio's checklist templates, so if you've already invested in setting up your policies and procedures in Clio, Legalboards is the easiest way to add the benefits of visual matter management. If you're not already using Clio, Legalboards is a darn good standalone option too. (Note that the default trial for Legalboards is 14 days, but if you contact me I can get you an extension.)
Agile Attorney Resources
Agile Attorney Resources
Template
Law Firm Policy Template & Policy Library
Kanban Essentials
My Law Firm Policy Template incorporates is the takeaways from several of my podcast episodes, including Episode 22, Writing Better Law Firm Policies, and Episode 13, Taming Email Overwhelm. And the library of example policies will give you a head start on crafting meaningful and actionable guidelines for you and your team.
Template
Law Practice Self Assessment Tool
Kanban Essentials
I originally developed this questionnaire as homework for people who purchase my Bottleneck Breakthrough Jam workshop, but lawyers tell me that it gives them a lot of insight into their practice all by itself, so I've made it available as a standalone tool. It takes between 5 and 25 minutes to complete, depending on how thoroughly you answer the questions (very few are required, so you can skip around).
assessment
The Agile Attorney Boot Camp
Kanban Essentials
A 5-day email course introducing you to the five most impactful lessons I teach all of my clients. Updated for 2024, this is a great way to get oriented to an Agile way of thinking about delivering legal services.
Work with Me
Let's Talk...
Break through your law practice roadblocks and unlock your team's capacity
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