Ashurst is appointing legal project managers across all practice areas in London and Sydney, four years after the firm recruited a project management team of for its banking and finance groups.
The rollout involves the recruitment of six project managers in Ashurst’s London and Sydney offices, working across all departments such as corporate, litigation, energy and real estate.
Up until now, the firm’s London banking and finance group has been the only practice area with project managers, with a team joining in 2011 to manage due diligence processes.
The new team will report to Sydney-based head of legal project management Rachael Moore, as well as Ashurst’s Glasgow managing partner Mike Polson.
Polson told The Lawyer project management capability was “at the heart of the efficiency agenda for many law firms and their clients”. His sentiments were echoed by the firm’s global managing partner James Collis, who said the plans were “important for clients”, admitting though that there was nothing “revolutionary” about it, “with lots of other competitors doing it too”.
In the past 18 months, Herbert Smith Freehills has appointed legal project managers, last week hiring a team from Berwin Leighton Paisner, while Hogan Lovells created two global project management roles.
Pinsent Masons further announced it would hire additional project managers across its business over the next 18 months, with magic circle firms Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters also understood to have introduced legal project managers in London.
An interesting development although this has been embedded in many services firms for many years in the professional staff rather than as a separate discipline. This looks like the legal team is abdicating the whole management cycle of an engagement.