Legal Process Improvement for Law Firms
Cut Costs. Improve Service. Increase Capacity.
Carton & Co helps UK law firms reduce operating costs and improve service delivery through Lean process improvement. We work with your teams to identify and eliminate the hidden waste in legal workflows—freeing up capacity, speeding up delivery, and improving client experience.
Led by Dr Lee Williams, our process improvement programmes engage the people who do the work to uncover inefficiencies, streamline workflows, and build lasting capability for continuous improvement.
Why Process Improvement Matters for Law Firms
Every law firm has waste hidden in its processes: unnecessary handoffs, waiting time, rework, duplicated effort, inconsistent approaches. This waste costs money, slows delivery, frustrates staff, and disappoints clients.
Most firms know their processes could be better. The challenge is finding time to step back and fix them—and having a structured approach that actually delivers change.
Lean process improvement provides that structure. Originally developed in manufacturing, Lean thinking has been successfully applied to professional services worldwide. For law firms, it offers:
- Cost reduction without cutting quality or headcount
- Faster delivery that improves client satisfaction
- Increased capacity to take on more work without adding staff
- Improved cash flow through reduced work-in-progress
- Better consistency in how work is delivered
- Engaged teams who take ownership of how they work
What Results Can You Expect?
Results depend on the type of work and current state of processes:
High-volume, standardised work
For example: conveyancing, insurance claims, debt recovery, routine corporate
- Cost reductions of up to 50%
- Significant reduction in cycle times
- Dramatic improvement in consistency
Complex, cognitive legal work
For example: litigation, M&A, advisory
- Efficiency gains of 20-30%
- Reduced administrative burden on lawyers
- More time for high-value, client-facing work
Support functions
For example: billing, onboarding, conflict checks, document production
- Streamlined workflows
- Reduced errors and rework
- Faster turnaround
Beyond cost savings:
- Improved client experience through faster, more consistent service
- Better cash flow as matters move through more quickly
- Freed capacity that can be redeployed to growth
Our Approach: The Lean Workout
We don't just map your processes and hand you a report. Our Lean Workout approach engages the people who actually do the work - because they understand the problems best and they're the ones who need to own the solutions.
How It Works
1. Focus on what matters
We start by identifying which processes will deliver the biggest impact. Not everything needs fixing at once - we help you prioritise based on pain points, volume, and potential return.
2. Engage your people
Short, focused sessions with the teams doing the work. We facilitate structured analysis to uncover waste: where time is lost, where work gets stuck, where errors creep in, where effort is duplicated.
3. Design better workflows
Working with your teams, we redesign processes to eliminate waste - simpler handoffs, clearer responsibilities, fewer delays, less rework. Changes are practical and implementable, not theoretical.
4. Implement and embed
We support implementation and help embed new ways of working. The goal isn't just a one-time improvement but building capability for your teams to continue improving.
5. Measure results
We track impact: time saved, costs reduced, capacity freed, client satisfaction improved. Real numbers that demonstrate return on investment.
Eliminating the Seven Wastes
Lean identifies seven types of waste that add cost without adding value:
- Waiting - work sitting in queues, waiting for input or approval
- Motion - unnecessary movement of people or information
- Transport - excessive handoffs between teams or systems
- Overprocessing - doing more than the client needs or values
- Inventory - work-in-progress that ties up cash and attention
- Defects - errors requiring rework or correction
- Over-production - producing more than required, too early
In legal services, these wastes are often invisible—accepted as "just how things work." Our job is to make them visible, then help you eliminate them.
Building Process Thinking
The real value isn't just fixing individual processes—it's building your firm's capability to think about process improvement continuously. We help develop:
• Process awareness - seeing work as connected steps, not isolated tasks
• Waste recognition - spotting inefficiency as it happens
• Improvement mindset - always asking "how could this be better?"
• Cross-functional collaboration - teams working together to improve end-to-end workflows
Which Processes Benefit Most?
Quick wins with high volume:
• Residential conveyancing
• Probate and estate administration
• Debt recovery
• Insurance claims
• Routine corporate transactions
Support processes that affect everything:
• Client onboarding and matter opening
• Conflict checking
• Billing and credit control
• Document production
• File closing and archiving
Complex work that benefits from streamlined admin:
• Litigation case management
• Due diligence workflows
• Transaction management
We help you identify where to start based on your priorities - whether that's cost pressure, capacity constraints, client feedback, or operational pain points.
The Carton & Co Team
- Process improvement engagements are led by Dr Lee Williams, a Lean Six Sigma expert specialising in legal and professional services. Lee brings deep expertise in change management and operational improvement. His approach focuses on engaging people - not just mapping processes - to deliver sustainable change that sticks.
- Allan Carton provides strategic context, ensuring process improvements align with broader business development and technology initiatives.
Let's Have a Conversation
If you're facing cost pressure, capacity constraints, or know your processes could work better—let's talk about where Lean thinking could help.
Schedule a free consultation here >> No obligation. Just a practical conversation about your challenges and whether process improvement could address them.
Contact: Allan Carton
Email: acarton@cartonconsultants.com Phone: 07779 653105 LinkedIn
Carton & Co - Specialist consultants to UK law firms on technology adoption, client relationships, and business development.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is Lean process improvement for law firms?
A: Lean is a structured methodology for identifying and eliminating waste in workflows—the delays, rework, handoffs, and inefficiencies that add cost without adding value. Applied to legal services, it helps firms deliver faster, more consistent work at lower cost while improving client experience.
Q: What results can law firms expect from process improvement?
A: Results vary by service type. High-volume, standardised work like conveyancing or insurance claims can see cost reductions of up to 50%. More complex, cognitive legal work typically achieves 20-30% efficiency gains. Most firms also see improved cash flow through reduced work-in-progress and faster billing cycles.
Q: How long does a process improvement programme take?
A: A focused Lean Workout on a specific process typically takes 4-8 weeks. Broader programmes building process thinking across the firm take 3-6 months. We design programmes around your capacity and priorities - quick wins first, then systematic capability building.
Q: Do we need to stop work to improve processes?
A: No, but you do need to allow people time out to work on this. Our approach works alongside normal operations. We engage the people doing the work- they understand the problems best. Short, focused sessions identify improvements that can often be implemented immediately. The goal is building capability, not disrupting delivery.
Q: How is this different from just mapping our processes?
A: Process mapping alone rarely changes anything. Our Lean Workout approach engages the people who do the work, identifies waste they experience daily, and builds their capability to think about process improvement continuously. It's about changing how people work, not just documenting what they do.
Q: Which law firm processes benefit most from improvement?
A: High-volume, repeatable work delivers fastest returns - conveyancing (both residential and commercial), probate, debt recovery, insurance claims, routine corporate work. But every practice has processes that would benefit: client onboarding, matter opening, billing, conflict checks, document production. We help you prioritise based on impact and feasibility.
Related Services
- Legal Technology Consulting - technology that supports improved processes
- AI Adoption Framework - AI readiness often depends on process clarity
- Fractional COO & IT Directors - operational leadership for transformation
- Conveyancing Market Strategy - process efficiency as competitive advantage