Not only legal excellence, but also efficient and effective client handling: To become even more effective, the international legal practice Osborne Clarke has brought a Head of Legal Project Management on board since 1 April. Dr Lisa Hamelmann is to set up a unit focused on this in the legal practice and is moving from Hausfeld to the newly created position.
Digitalisation, Artificial Intelligence, increasingly complex legal issues, rising cost pressure: these developments in the legal market mean that clients are placing different demands on their legal advice than they did just a few years ago. In addition to legal excellence, smooth management and more efficient and holistic solutions are increasingly in demand.
In addition, the clients of commercial law firms are increasingly optimising their own processes and, in this context, are often setting up their own legal operations units in which experts improve processes and the use of technology. Companies therefore expect law firms to have corresponding professional structures.
To offer its clients precisely this, Osborne Clarke is now bringing together its Legal Project Managers in a specialised department. Here, for example, the setting up and implementation of processes, tasks and time management, resource allocation and use of technology, budgeting, quality assurance and integration of other business units are optimised centrally and across all sectors; the Legal Project Managers then apply this knowledge and processes specifically to the individual mandates.
This department is being set up and managed by Dr Lisa Hamelmann, who previously worked as Head of Economic Analysis and Legal Project Management at Hausfeld Rechtsanwälte LLP. In addition to her economic support in cartel disputes, Lisa Hamelmann developed project management in client work there and was, for example, jointly responsible for the lorry toll proceedings with over 15,000 claims as project manager.
“Together with our lawyers, we want to develop innovative, efficient solutions in the new team that are tailored to the specific needs of our clients and thus minimise costs and risks. Our Legal Project Managers keep an eye on all process steps for our clients, making them plannable, efficient and transparent. This allows our lawyers to concentrate on their core competency of providing legal advice – I’m very much looking forward to supporting Osborne Clarke and its clients in the future,” says Hamelmann.
Hamelmann and her multi-disciplinary team will also ensure the optimal use of legal tech solutions in client work. In co-operation with Osborne Clarke Solutions, which has already developed award-winning solutions for the international legal practice and its clients, new and existing tools will be used in a targeted manner. The organisational assignment of the new unit to Gereon Abendroth, who is not only a member of the Management Board of Osborne Clarke Germany but also Managing Director of Osborne Clarke Solutions, creates a profitable interface to the tech expertise of the international commercial law firm.
“Our clients rightly expect excellent legal advice; through equally good project management and the use of suitable technology, we can clearly set ourselves apart from our competitors. We are very pleased that the new unit headed by Lisa Hamelmann will enable us to significantly expand our legal project management and thus offer our clients the most efficient processes and optimal integration of our legal tech solutions,” says Abendroth.
Corporate communications and press contacts
Connect with one of our experts
