Scenario: Law department leadership for a large international manufacturing corporation contacted Lumen Legal for a consulting engagement that focused on the global Intellectual Property (IP) area. This engagement included the following two key objectives:
- To explore and understand general best practices that drive a “Best in Class” IP section within a legal department to assist the client and its Six Sigma team in developing a global action plan to increased efficiency and reduce legal spend;
- To better understand the IP work streams and processes being utilized in the US, Europe and Asia and identify what was working well and where improvements could be made to positively impact overall operating performance.
Result: Lumen Legal, working with its strategic partner, Eversheds Consulting, developed a project plan extending over a 60 day period. Interviews were conducted with global leaders in the IP section of the legal department assessing strategy, operations, technology, risk and compliance. A report of findings and recommendations was prepared that identified opportunities for improvements including the following: 1). Streamline the patent filling process; 2). Convergence of outside counsel and better control of external legal spend; 3). Work allocation process change; 4). Expanded key performance indicators (KPI’s); 5). Improve collaboration on a global level to ensure inventions are aligned with the organization’s strategic objectives; 6). Enhance management information capabilities from central systems; and 7). Strategically align the IP legal team with business units served.
