Way back in September, this blog reported that LawBase, the case and matter management system, had signed a deal to integrate BakerManage, the award-winning legal project management system developed by the law firm Baker Donelson. Today, LawBase rolled out that integration and will be demonstrating it next week at Legaltech in New York.

I am not aware of another practice management system with integrated project management. If there are such systems out there, please let me know.

The BakerManage process.

The integration was implemented through a partnership between LawBase and LegalShift, a legal management consulting and advisory firm. LegalShift is the exclusive organization authorized by Baker Donelson to work with BakerManage and it will be available to consult on BakerManage for LawBase customers.

(See my review of LawBase here.)

The integration of BakerManage as a LawBase component enables project-management workflows within LawBase in order to enhance the planning and budgeting of legal matters. The LPM software will also be available as a stand-alone product.

Its LPM capabilities include:

  • An LPM workflow based on the proven BakerManage system.
  • Project planning and statement of work development.
  • Team roles and responsibilities definition.
  • Legal spend and matter estimating tools.
  • Budget monitoring and change order tracking.
  • Status reporting templates.
  • Enhanced data capture to support alternative pricing.
  • Workflows to promote collaborative client and team communications.
  • A process for capturing improvements or opportunities for future innovation.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer the additional capability of legal process management to our customers,” Phil Homburger, president of LawBase, said in a statement. “Being able to partner with LegalShift to bring Baker Donelson’s BakerManage LPM to our users is the next step in offering our clients the most robust case and matter management system.”

A key goal of an LPM system is to reduce the cost and time of legal matters. David A. Rueff Jr., a Baker Donelson shareholder and certified project manager, said that legal teams at his firm have seen a 30 percent reduction in spend and a corresponding 50 percent reduction in matter duration by using LPM.

Baker Donelson developed the patent-pending BakerManage system in 2012 as a way to “reconnect value with the cost of legal services. It creates a workflow that divides the management of a legal matter into three phases: project development, project execution and project closure.

At Legaltech, you will be able to find LawBase in booth #311.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.