Osler’s delivery of legal services is constantly evolving. We have embraced our clients’ needs with more predictable and cost-effective legal services. Prioritizing value from the perspective of our clients, we tailor our services to meet the expectations and needs of each individual client. By making investments in transparent planning and ongoing communications, we understand how the client defines success and what we need to do to help reach those goals.
Recognizing the needs of our clients for effective matter management and budget controls, we have rolled-out project management methodologies and process improvement tools across the firm. We also use communication tools and online portals for the seamless exchange of information between our clients and lawyers. Here are our “Five Steps to Effective Matter Management:”
- Defining success – At the outset of a new matter, we formally discuss your goals and key issues. We outline your expectations, objectives and success criteria, and determine our key roles to achieve a successful outcome for your project.
- Developing a plan and project launch – Using custom-developed planning tools, we create a project plan that outlines your goals, the scope of our engagement, a strategic plan of action, and a realistic budget.
- Managing the team and the project – We provide you with direct access to your team of specialist lawyers. We work efficiently and effectively to give you the answers and outcomes you need, on time and on budget.
- Ongoing client communications – We proactively and regularly communicate with you about our progress, fees incurred, and upcoming milestones or deadlines.
- Continuous feedback – Over the lifecycle of your matter, we deliver services and solutions from your point-of-value. We review our performance against the project plan and your feedback.
In addition to the best practices embedded in our Five Steps framework, Osler matter teams use a number of tailored matter management tools including:
- Budgeting and Planning Tools – Our Matter Information System allows our lawyers easy access to all of the information they need to develop realistic project estimates, as well as flagging precedents, lawyers with relevant expertise and other resources.
- Billing and Financial Information Reporting Tools – We have developed Intranet-based tools that give members of our matter teams immediate access to real time financial data on a matter-by-matter basis. Our system also automatically notifies the partner responsible for a matter when fees (including any disbursements and taxes) have reached specified thresholds of the project budget.
- Information Sharing and Dialogue Facilitation Tools – We have implemented a set of communication tools and online portals to allow for the effortless exchange of information within a project team and between our lawyers and our clients. We also take full advantage of external information sources such as online due diligence tools for commercial transactions.