Abstract
This study aims to apply Lean Thinking to a small-size law firm in Romania, from analyzing to designing the improved process, to reduce redundancy and eliminate wasteful activities that do not bring value to the customer, and, in the end, to improve the overall quality of the legal service. The article is focused on a process-based approach to change in organizations, specifically on how legal service is delivered. Although waste in processes is at the core of Lean, it is not easily identified and highlighted within service providers. At this point, autoethnographic research was employed, using subjective professional experience, observation, and interviews to collect the necessary information on the existing process. In the research results, the main types of waste are identified and a new process is designed with a Lean approach, as well as a new workflow. To compare the current and proposed process, the roadmap for court case files is selected as the main quality measurement.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Flowchart for lawyers.
Appendix 2
Flowchart for the Client.
Ethical Statement The authors of this paper confirm that they have gained all the necessary permissions from the human subjects involved in this study to use their information. Furthermore, all individual information presented in this study has been anonymized.
This study was approved by the Ethics Board of the Politehnica University of Timisoara (registration number 13280/03.06.2021).
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Metzler, M., Luminosu, C.T. (2024). A Proposed Process Redesign Using Lean Thinking Principles in Legal Services. In: Prostean, G.I., Lavios, J.J., Brancu, L., Şahin, F. (eds) Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Challenging Global Times. Lecture Notes in Management and Industrial Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47164-3_25
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