London
1,300 lawyers
29 offices
Issue
In 2019, Bird & Bird, one of the world's leading international intellectual property firms, wanted a better and more efficient way to manage large-scale multi-jurisdictional patent litigation. Such complex, truly global mandates can involve multiple counterparties, multiple patents, voluminous documentation and - where local counsel is required - multiple law firms. An already difficult scenario was made all the more complex when you consider the number of stakeholders involved, all with different needs and requirements.
The status quo required the management of many excel spreadsheets, a multiplicity of software solutions, and being able to digest ever increasing volumes of email traffic. This resulted in a scenario where lawyers spent too much time inputting and collating data across multiple sources, coordinating effort and project managing the ‘sum of the whole’, which competed against the time required to focus on the substantive legal issues on hand. Not only was it very difficult to efficiently project manage these complex matters, but trying to provide the client with certainty and visibility over work performed became a huge undertaking.
Solution
Looking for a more efficient and innovative way to manage and deliver complex litigation, and to address the hurdles detailed above, Bird & Bird turned to Fibonacci.
The implementation brief for Bird & Bird was clear: Fibonacci needed to ensure it could provide Bird & Bird with oversight over (i) all the pending and current matters across each jurisdiction involved in the litigation; (ii) each critical event - including deadlines - across every matter; (iii) key milestones that could change Bird & Bird’ litigation strategy.
Fibonacci addressed each requirement via the following features described below:
Blueprint
Fibonacci's blueprint feature empowers each stakeholder involved in the litigation to build structured, workstream driven project plans that provide certainty, visibility and clarity. Blueprint provided the means for Bird & Bird to say goodbye to maintaining and updating Excel spreadsheets and their reliance on legacy technology by allowing complex litigation matters to be quickly and efficiently deconstructed into a simple to execute the project plan, which detailed all the essential workstreams - composed of milestones and tasks - that are required to drive the litigation forward through to successful completion.
To eradicate voluminous email communication, Fibonacci provided a means for contextual discussion to take place: each conversation occurring within Fibonacci related to either the project plan, a milestone, or a key task. Less time is spent digging up emails or chasing responses as the entire project team had visibility over all the moving parts. This ensured resources were efficient and spent time delivering on their expertise, and spent time working the plan, rather than continuously planning the project.
Timeline
As litigation projects gathered momentum, Bird & Bird were finding it difficult to align the competing projective objectives of their multi-jurisdictional project teams. A lot of time and effort was being spent in coordinating the project and the key events related to each matter, often requiring accessing and reviewing multiple calendars and Excel spreadsheets.
Fibonacci’s timeline feature provided the means for all project stakeholders to efficiently and effectively access and view an events timeline, identifying event priority, estimated time and key assignees in the one place. It provides a source of information that assists Bird & Bird multi-jurisdictional project teams to align project objectives, identify possible clashes, manage resourcing and ensure visibility of all critical events and actions. Clients are also empowered to access a real time events timeline and can engage and collaborate with Bird & Bird as to project delivery.
Triggers
During complex patent litigation matters, it can be difficult to track all of the happenings whilst a project is evolving, some of these events will represent important milestones, and have consequences of their own. Traditionally, these events have been tracked manually by lawyers, using legacy technology, who have a tacit understanding of what to look for and what action to take when such events occur. This means that any information and knowledge related to that event is kept siloed. Bird & Bird needed a better way to manage these key events, ensuring that key tacit knowledge was shared amongst internal project members to track their completion, ensuring that key stakeholders are kept informed as and when events occur and what action needs to happen.
Fibonacci’s trigger feature ensures that when an important event occurs, tacit knowledge related to that event is transferred to the right people and that they are informed to make the right decision as to what action needs to occur.
Thoughts
Fibonacci brings everything together under the one roof in one platform: the constant itch to switch between inundated and outdated software solutions, and filtering overburdened email inboxes has finally been displaced. Fibonacci has not only made valuable information easier to access, but made it more insightful. Key decisions can be made quicker, and each stakeholder is empowered to always remain on the front-foot and make valuable proactive decisions.
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