Knowledge

Have You Already Appointed Your Dispatch Manager?

The first thing attorney should do when a new assignment comes in is to ask themselves two questions: First, what is this assignment about? What's the legal issue at stake? Second, who in this firm is the best qualified to handle this issue? Then, the next move is quite obvious: dispatch the file to the right person.

There is no doubt that this is the best way to serve clients in a cost-effective way and to ensure the highest quality standard (and the lowest risk of professional liability). Firms neglecting to do this expose themselves to major risks like poor quality, unhappy clients, and termination of long-term relationships with key clients (if you don't believe me, I've got a few real life stories to make my point).

The problem is, few firms do it, even those that claim to be fully integrated. The dispatching of assignments is often left to the discretion of the lawyer who is in contact with the client. There are no rules, no procedures, and no discipline as to whether and how dispatch to the most qualified attorney must take place. There are a lot of explanations for this sorry state of affairs, ranging from compensation structure to firm culture to lack of contact between offices), but that's not the point. The firm that really want to attract and above all retain high level clients must be able to dispatch effectively. For the firms interested in developing a rational and effective dispatching of incoming assignments, here are a few suggestions about each of the three steps: deciding what issue is involved in the assignment, deciding who is the best attorney to deal with it, and actually forwarding the assignment to that attorney.

Deciding what is the legal issue at the stake in a particular assignment is less obvious than it may sound. A corporate lawyer may not be able to identify an underlying tax issue.  A commercial lawyer may be blind to an antitrust risk. A specialist may overlook a basic civil law principle. And so on. Deciding what the legal issue is in itself an important question, and one single lawyer may not have the skills to make that call. Hence my first suggestion: involve different lawyers to decide what a new assignment is about. That group may consist of the contact attorney (who received the assignment) and a "dispatch manager", who should have a broad experience. It can also be a committee, responsible for discussing all new assignments. Now, it may not be necessary to involve different people for all new assignments, and sometimes the contact attorney will make the judgement alone. That's fine, as long as it is clear that this attorney must be able to justify his choice. At the end of the day, there must be a clear and explicit responsibility for the contact lawyer: he is responsible for making the right assessment of the issue involved. If he has any doubts, there is no excuse for not consulting with others.

The second step is identifying the right person to deal with that issue. Who in the firm is the most reliable person on that issue? To be able to answer to that question, attorneys must know what their colleagues are up to. If there is no communication as to who is doing what, who is experienced in what, who is excellent in what, there is no way to provide a sound answer to the question. A key responsibility for those in charge of knowledge management is therefore to circulate and make available information as to who is good in what. Another possibility is to formally appoint a dispatch manager responsible for knowing exactly who is excellent in what.

The last step is forwarding the issue to the most qualified person. An important point here is that there are various degrees in forwarding: you may transfer the entire assignment to the person, and get yourself completely out of it. Or you can ask that person to coach you, to give you directions and overview. Or you can work in team. It is not a "take it or leave it" decision. They are many intermediate options, making it possible for the contact attorney to team up with the best qualified attorney. 

In conclusion, law firms should see dispatching as a strategic function in the way they operate. Because a failure to dispatch in an adequate way may have dramatic consequences, this issue cannot be left to the inspiration (or lack of it) of each individual attorney. Defining, implementing and enforcing a set of policies, rules, and tools for effective dispatching is a priority that law firms eager to succeed on the global market place may no longer ignore.

Antoine Henry de Frahan | 24 January 2007 |