Ad Litem Consulting, Inc.

To Attorneys and Paralegals

Traditional Business Hierarchy

Some would argue that because every law firm is different, there cannot be one correct way to organize and operate the Litigation Support Department. Some firms put the Litigation Support Department under the Information Technology ("IT") Department head count, while others put Litigation Support under the paralegal department. Other firms may decide to make the Litigation Support Department a separate group unto itself with its own budget. The real concern should not be how the department fits into the official firm hierarchy; rather, what are the internal operations of the department and how it interacts with its customers: firm legal and support staff, outside vendors, and outside counsel. The system outlined in this book helps ensure the department provides the same experience and quality product, irrespective of firmwide organization or department size and from case to case.

However, the firm hierarchy can benefit the existing Litigation Support Department: for the department to run as a business, it must be organized as one, with an internal hierarchy that matches a typical business hierarchy, with managerial, accounting, and technical roles. Irrespective of a specific person, these roles and their associated responsibilities are always the same. Therefore a change in staff size is a matter of assigning roles in order to balance work load. These roles ensure the person knows not only their appropriate responsibilities, but how to achieve them.  

Soap Box:

As the nature of the work is technical, not legal, it is the author's opinion that the Litigation Support Department should reside in the IT department. The term “Litigation Support Department” is a misnomer. It should be more accurately called the "Litigation Technology Department". Allow the paralegals to concentrate on the law and the Litigation Support staff to concentrate on the technology choices and direction.

Fortunately, by the adoption and application of standard operating procedures, the person filling the management role for Litigation Support does not need an IT background. The technical requirements are already outlined for the person performing the technical work. The managerial role makes certain the resulting product matches the firm technical requirements.

Your firm may decide to use Litigation Support purely for project management and technical guidance. Your firm may decide to bring electronic discovery in-house. The hierarchy approach should accommodate all of these strategies.

To Attorneys and Paralegals

Traditional Business Hierarchy