Previously this blog adumbrated three components of a law-department management model (See my posts of June 14, 2006 on models, theories, and narrative descriptions.): processes, tools and productivity (See my posts of April 27, 2006 and June 28, 2006 on processes; Aug. 13, 2006 on the three elements; and Aug. 8, 2006 on productivity.).
To the three components discussed before, we should add volume, the amount and kind of legal work stirred up by the client corporation. We should also add resources, which broadly encompass the people in the department, outside counsel and vendors, the structure of the department, and its practices (See my posts of July 5, 2006 on the meaning of “practices”; and Oct. 10, 2006 compared to “policies.”).
These five elements interact in a system (See my posts of Aug. 28, 2005 on systems thinking and McKinsey’s 7S model; Sept. 22, 2005 on that discipline; and Feb. 16, 2006 on Booze Allen’s four-part organizational DNA.). Therefore, a law department consists of productivity, processes, tools, volume, and resources.