Gowlings, a leading Canadian and international law firm, has officially launched Gowlings Practical™, a new approach to legal project management that gives clients more cost-certainty, efficiency and value for their legal dollar.
Watch the Gowlings Practical™ intro video
With the help of a collaborative software platform designed specifically for the legal environment - the first of its kind in Canada - Gowlings Practical provides a clear map for all types of sophisticated legal issues, from intricate corporate-commercial matters to complex litigation.
"Gowlings Practical represents a better approach to the delivery of legal services - one that applies structure and discipline, and places the utmost importance on our clients' desire for more certainty and value," said Mark Tamminga, Leader of Innovation Initiatives at Gowlings. "Our clients don't like surprises; they want to know that their matters are going to be completed on time and on budget, with the same high quality and excellent service they are used to receiving. Gowlings Practical delivers on all counts."
Gowlings Practical is rooted in a simple yet powerful four-step process: 
1. Define: At the start, clients set out their expectations: what they need, when they need it and how they define success.
2. Plan: Gowlings leverages knowledge, precedents, project plan templates and decades of experience to:
- Determine the most efficient path and allocation of resources to achieve the client's goals
- Anticipate potential costs and hurdles
- Identify the aspects of a matter that require the expertise of a senior legal professional and those that can be handled by lower-cost personnel
The result is an optimized plan, agreed to and understood by all participants, that sets out how much a matter is expected to cost and how long it is expected to take.
3. Monitor & manage: Once work begins, Gowlings monitors the matter's progress in real time, providing clients with regular reports. While the unexpected can always occur, Gowlings Practical ensures that any emerging issue with the potential to affect the budget or timeline is immediately flagged and brought to the client's attention - allowing them to make informed decisions at the right time and avoid billing surprises.
4. Review & improve: At the heart of Gowlings Practical is the concept of "practical excellence," which means achieving excellence both in the quality of legal services and in delivering those services on time and within the client's budget. A mandatory end-of-matter review is central to advancing practical excellence by finding new efficiencies and ways to improve value.
"Gowlings Practical is unlike any other legal project management approach offered in Canada," said Rick Kathuria, Gowlings' National Director of Legal Project Management and Legal Logistics, and a leading authority on legal project management.
"Not only does it incorporate easy-to-use project management software that's perfectly tuned to the legal environment, it's also sophisticated enough to add efficiency to even the most complex matters - and comprehensive enough to deliver value at every stage."
To learn more about Gowlings Practical, visit gowlingwlg.com/practical.