NCR full-service firm · 35 lawyers · 17 years
Three sophisticated clients pushed back almost simultaneously about turnaround times. Each had a specific complaint: documents taking longer, partner replies delayed, junior work coming through unedited. The partners' instinct was that this was a workload problem requiring more associates. The real problem was different.
No documented matter workflow. Task delegation was verbal and inconsistent — sometimes via WhatsApp, sometimes by email, sometimes by walking down a corridor. There was no firm-wide visibility on who owned what, no escalation path when a partner was unreachable, no SLA standards. Cycle time had been quietly drifting upward for 18 months, but nobody was measuring it.