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QUESTION: Can a member be in more than one practice group? Can a member be split into practice group to show that he works in more than one area of practice? How to use Practice Groups (member) and Areas of Practice (matter) reporting dimensions? How do we relate the member to the matter’s area of practice?
RESPONSE: Although members can only belong to one practice group at any one time, they are not restricted to practice in any area of practice and the relationship between members and the areas of practice where they practice is measurable when both reporting dimensions are leveraged.
The “Practice Group” is a firm-defined member level attribute and reporting dimension used to group members into responsibility groups akin to legal departments - for example Corporate, Bankruptcy, Insurance Defense, Employment. As members belong to one practice group at any one time, members are assigned to the practice group representing the types of law that the member practices most, so that at the user’s discretion, the report can be generated taking the effective date of the member’s changes in practice group, into consideration..
The “Area of Practice” (AOP) is a firm-defined matter level attribute and reporting dimension used to classify the work created in context of the types of law services the firm offers. For example, “Residential Real Estate”, “Trademark Renewals”.
The “Area of Practice Group” is a firm defined AOP attribute that consolidates the more granular Area of Practice into broader reporting categories. For example, the Area of Practice Group “Real Estate” would include the AOP “Residential Real Estate” and the Area of Practice Group “Intellectual Property” would include the AOP “Trademark Renewals”; extending the perspective on what type of law services the firm offers.
Relationship between the Member and the Area of Practice:
Regardless of Practice Group membership, members practice law across many areas of practice (AOP) offered by the firm. To elevate the relationship between the member and the types of law (AOPs) practiced, firms align their Areas of Practice Groups to match their Practice Groups. This type of relationship provides stakeholders and practice group leaders with an understanding of what areas of practice, the practice group as a whole and/or its individual members, are practicing in; as well as with visibility of how much work is being done outside their Practice Group’s scope.
Impact on Reporting:
The multiple dimensional filter form supports the use of the Practice Group (Member Attribute) and Area of Practice Group (AOP Attribute) to provide visibility to stakeholders how much work is executed outside the types of law managed by the practice group’s leadership. For example, practice group results can be generated by member by area of practice group to gain an understanding of type of work practiced by its members. Alternatively, stakeholders can assess when a member should be moved to another more relevant practice by generating the practice group results by area of practice group by member. This level visibility can extend beyond hours worked or worked value measures by timekeeper, to measures by matter or client level role holders, for all practice groups across all firms (offices).
In version 2.0, the multiple attribute filter form includes the option to report the members’ practice group measures historically so that if a member switches practice groups in a fiscal year, the measures can be attributed to the practice group affected by the transaction.