Borrowing freely from the well-known study of Bain on management tools, I propose the following to be the most common 18 tools used by general counsel.
- Balanced Scorecards
- Benchmarking
- Budgets internally
- Budgets for outside counsel
- Client satisfaction surveys
- Competitive bidding by firms
- Convergence
- Document management systems
- Electronic billing
- Employee satisfaction surveys
- Intranet site for law
- Matter management systems
-
Mission statements
- Off-site retreats
- Personnel evaluations
- Psychometric tests
- Retainer letters
- Strategic plans
How to define “tool?” A known method for achieving a specific result, often used during a project of defined duration – sounds formal and fancy, and I welcome other people’s suggestions for these management aids.