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Driving Continuous Improvement in a Transaction-based Business
A Case Study on how Lean principles were used to improve the delivery of Legal Services
Greg AvesianLean Transformation Leader, Orlans Group
The 3rd Annual MLC and City of Grand Rapids Lean Workshop10/3/19
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Outline
Background
Business Problem
Our Approach
Results
Key Takeaways
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My Background & Experience Industries:
• Automotive• Aerospace & Defense• Government• Higher Education• Legal
Positions Held• Information Technology Leadership• Product Development• Business Consultant• Lean Transformation Leader
Education & Certifications• BS & MS University of Michigan• MBA Michigan State University• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
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Who is Orlans?
Orlans is an entrepreneurial spirited enterprise and is one of the nations largest women owned law firms. We serve the real estate, legal and financial services industries, and provide innovative legal and processing solutions to our clients.
Headquartered in Troy, MI, Orlans represents clients in 9 jurisdictions with regional operation centers in 6 states and eTitle is a nationwide real estate services firm.
We were recognized in 2017 as a Top Workplace in Michigan, Best & Brightest in Wellness winner for 2 consecutive years and recipient of the USFN Diamond award for 10 consecutive years.
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My goals for our time together
Improve your knowledge of how Lean can be applied to transaction-based processes
Share some best practices
Understand some of the technical & soft skills necessary to be successful
Continue the conversation
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Where has Lean been applied?
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Automotive
Aerospace & Defense
Pharmaceutical
Construction
Semiconductor
Government
Healthcare
Legal
Biotechnology
Chemical
Education
Financial Services
Hospitality
Logistics
Retail
Transportation
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Lean in the Legal Industry
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CHICAGO LAWYER
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MLC Lean in Legal Community of Practice
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We enable establishment and expansion of lean thinking at Michigan Law Firms, In- House Legal Departments at Businesses & Government entities, and Law Schools.
We do this by sharing best practices of lean implementation and continuous improvement in the Legal Industry and Legal function within organizations.
Please contact one of the following MLC members if you, or someone from your organization, are interested in getting involved with this Community of Practice: Greg Avesian – Orlans, [email protected] Drew Sanders – Honigman, [email protected]
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Complexity of our Business 9 Jurisdictions: MI, MA, NH, RI, VA, MD, DC, DE, FL
100+ Financial Clients
40+ onsite Client audits each year
200+ Legal Documents prepared and filed daily
400,000+ process steps completed each month
~40+ new Client/State requirements per week
Fixed Price Legal Service w/Milestone BillingThe application of Lean to our business is critical to our success
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Our Continuous Improvement Approach We are focused on:
• Process Timeline reduction• Quality Improvement• Productivity Improvement
Lean Six Sigma training:• 57 classes, 650+ participants (1st class: 6/30/15)• All employees (President, Functional Executives, Attorneys, Paralegals,
Managers, Supervisors, Legal Processors)• Included as part of our employee onboarding process
What we are doing:• Value Stream mapping & analysis• Gemba Walks• Data Analysis & Reporting• Team Collaboration• Celebrating our Successes
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Case Study
Legal document re-work rate reduction
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Problem Statement
The re-work of Legal documents impacts our Client timelines and drives the consumption of non-value added
labor hours(attorney & support staff)
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Simple Problem to Solve?
Y = f(X)
Y = Attorney revision rateX = Variables contributing to
document revisions
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High-Level process flow
Enter data into Case
Management System
Prepare Document
Attorney Review
Continue processing
case file
Receive new case file from
Client
Revise document
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Non-Value Added Labor Cost Legal processor making necessary corrections to
the document Attorney conducting another review after
requested revisions have been implemented
# Legal Documents requiring revisions per week 100Time to revise each document .25 hoursTime to complete 2nd review of document .50 hoursTotal weekly labor hours 75Total annual labor hours 3,900
Annual labor hour impact (Illustration)
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Our “Factory”
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The “Hidden Factory”
The Hidden Factory is where the largest amount of money, time and resources are spent that are
considered “waste”.
The money spent in the Hidden Factory has the greatest negative impact on the competitiveness
and profitability of a company.
Source: Center for Organization Excellence
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What variables do you think impact document revision rates?
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Variable 1
Variable 2
Variable 3
Variable 4
Revision Rate
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Variables Impacting Document Revisions
Document Complexity
Data entered into the Case Management system
Case Management system issues (Templates, Data merge)
Volume of reviews
Calculations of data fields within the document
Legal Processor creating the document
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Variables Impacting Document Revisions
Attorney reviewing the document
Inadequate work standards (attorney and support staff)
Training
Changes in Law
Changes in Client requirements
Input provided by vendors
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Revision Rate & Volume of Reviews
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Importance of Data
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Importance of Metrics in Legal
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Importance of Data & Analytics
Export transaction data from our Case Management system (“source of truth”)
Leverage Excel to analyze and summarize the data
Create trend charts & graphs to monitor our performance over time
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Our Continuous Improvement Approach
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Review Attorney revision
comments
Determine revision category
Complete Root
Cause analysis
Collaborate with cross-functional
team
Measure weekly revision
rate
Implement Corrective Action(s)
Communicate with team
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Primary Document Revision Categories Real Estate Title-related
Legal Description of Property
Missing or Incorrect Data
Document Template
Processor Error
Attorney Error
Spelling
Redaction Errors26
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What are some of the challenges you think we faced as we worked
to drive down the document revision rates?
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Challenges
Frustration
“Not my issue”
Desire for a “quick fix”
Insufficient standards
Cross department communication
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Challenges
Many variables impacting performance
Identifying the root cause of the revision
Assembling the appropriate team to collaborate
Organizational changes (e.g. new Attorneys)
Implementing robust corrective actions
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Our Results
Significant reductions in document revision rates have been achieved
The revision trend charts on the following slides include a total of 29,223 document reviews
People are excited about what we’ve accomplished as a team
Continuous improvement challenges remain
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Total Documents: 8,686
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Total Documents: 5,279
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Total Documents: 2,382
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Total Documents: 10,910
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Total Documents: 1,966
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Reduction in Non-Value Added Labor Hours
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Improvement Summary
Reductions in:• Labor hours devoted to the preparation and
review of Legal documents
• Lead-Time to deliver Legal document to Client/Court/County
• Time to get to our next billing milestone
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Celebrating Success COO highlights during monthly All-Hands meeting President discusses during Town Hall meetings Team members create a positive “buzz” Kudos points awarded Happier Employees
Kudos awarded by our COO
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Key Takeaways Find the “Hidden Factories” in your transaction
processes
Develop & maintain robust work standards
Ensure you obtain stakeholder support
Use data & metrics to track performance
Create a positive collaboration culture to support your continuous improvement efforts
Celebrate your successes
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Questions
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Thank you for your time and let’s connect
linkedin.com/in/gregavesian
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