BigHand releases industry whitepaper on why resource management is fundamental to law firm diversity, equity and inclusion, hybrid working and profitability
BigHand has today announced the release of it’s latest industry whitepaper featuring expert commentary from legal professionals leading the charge in law firm Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, resource management and innovation from the UK and US.
The whitepaper raises key questions around how law firms should best address DEI efforts, hybrid working models, and profitability post-pandemic, and how effective resource management can help across those fundamental areas.
External contributors include:
- Sandra S. Yamate, CEO of the Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession
- Alexis Robertson, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Foley & Lardner
- Simon Beddow, Partner and European Leader of the Corporate and Finance Transactions Department at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
- Christina Blacklaws, Managing Director of Blacklaws Consulting and former President of the law society for England and Wales
- Sean Monahan, Senior Manager for Legal Transformation & Innovation at HBR Consulting, and former law firm Director of Innovation
Some key quotations from the whitepaper are:
Alexis Robertson, Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Foley & Lardner LLP, “There’s a difference between changing hearts and minds in a firm, and having the right systems to implement effective change. In his recent book ‘Atomic Habits’, James Clear says “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
“What we have right now is an industry that has very noble goals but the systems don’t exist or are wildly lacking. Firms should gather relevant data around their work allocation and career development processes to enable data-informed goal setting.”
Simon Beddow, Partner and European Leader of the Corporate and Finance Transactions Department at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, “When the pandemic hit, I was under no misapprehension that you can work really effectively with all teams working remotely. Having implemented resource management at Ashurst, I had already experienced staffing matters in the UK with people from international teams to really ensure resources were being utilised effectively.”
Sean Monahan, Senior Manager for Legal Transformation & Innovation at HBR Consulting “Our extensive research at HBR has shown that wherever there is pricing or spend pressures that call for matter margins to be maintained, resource management can be just as important as more established functions like LPM and Pricing. Many firms have spent time developing and deploying their profitability metrics in recent years, and the next natural step is to look toward resource management to ensure firms can call in the right resources throughout the lifecycle of a matter.”
To access the full whitepaper, visit the BigHand website here: https://www.bighand.com/en-us/resources/whitepapers/why-resource-management-is-fundamental-to-law-firm-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-hybrid-working-and-profitability/
