HomeMy WebLinkAboutexhibit 1 - revised proposalCity of Miami
City Attorney's Office
Revised Proposal for a
Performance Review
of the
City Attorney's office
A1thanWeil,Inc,
The leader in Legal consulting.
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Table of Contents
Page
I. Introduction 1
A. Background 1
3
A. Overall Quality of the Legal Function 3
B. Cost Containment and Cost Effectiveness 5
C. Selected Issues Relating to Outside Counsel 6
D. Productivity 6
Ill. Methodology (Work Plan) 7
IV. Consulting Fees 10
V. Staffing 12
VI. Supplemental Information 15
A. Quality Management 15
B. Confidentiality 16
C. Why Altman Weil? 16
II. Project Scope and Objectives
I. Introduction
A. Background
On June 26, 2003, Alejandro Vilarello, the City Attorney for the City of Miami,
Florida, contacted Altman Weil, Inc. about the firm's consulting services to government
legal agencies. Mr. Vilarello heads the Miami City Attorney's Office (CAO). The
consultants are delighted to be able to provide this proposal in response to the request
of the City Attorney. The original proposal was sent to Mr. Vilarello in July 2003. After a
series of discussions, it was revised in March 2004.
The City of Miami has a population between 350,000 and 400,000. Its legal
needs are handled by the City Attorney and the City Attorney's Office, which employs
approximately 30 lawyers and 30 other staff members.
The CAO serves the Mayor, City Commission, City Manager, City Clerk and city
departments and boards as they establish new legislation and administer policies and
programs of benefit to Miami residents. This service takes many forms, from helping
the community through ordinance preparation and enforcement, to providing city
departments with legal advice in matters such as complex real estate and financial
transactions, to representing the city's interests in litigation. The CAO consists of four
divisions: Land Use & Workers' Compensation; General Government; Legislation, Labor
& Police Legal Advisor; and Litigation.
Mr. Vilarello was first appointed City Attorney in 1998 and reappointed in 2001.
He first joined the CAO in 1983, initially as an Assistant City Attorney and then as the
Chief Assistant City Attorney of the General Litigation Division. Mr. Vilarello has also
served as the City Attorney for the City of Hialeah, and as a staff attorney for Legal
Services of Greater Miami, Inc.
It is the understanding of the consultants that the overall goals of the
performance review are to evaluate, and where necessary, offer recommendations to
improve the quality, cost-effectiveness and service delivery of the City Attorney's Office.
To attain these goals, the project will focus on the following primary objectives:
• A review of the performance of the City Attorney's Office, its lawyers and
staff members, including the issues of the skills and efficiency of the office.
• Whether the needs of the major clients of the City Attorney's Office -- e.g.,
the Mayor, City Commission, department heads, etc. -- are being
adequately met. This would include the issue of the quality of client
service being delivered by the lawyers and staff of the City Attorney's
Office, as well as outside counsel retained by the City.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 1
■ An analysis of the appropriate mix of inside and outside lawyers needed to
adequately handle the City's legal work in the most cost effective way
possible, in a manner consistent with high quality legal services.
■ The processes for identifying, selecting, retaining, monitoring and
controlling the performance and cost of outside counsel.
■ An analysis of the best structure, organization, staffing and management
for fulfilling the responsibilities of the City Attorney's Office.
We want to emphasize that all our consulting is to law offices and legal
organizations, and that accordingly, we understand the pressures and challenges of
practicing law in a high volume environment where there is a significant amount of
public scrutiny. We pledge to conduct the performance review in a manner that gives
respect to the people and the positions in the City Attorney's Office, including that of the
City Attorney, while providing the City of Miami with an objective, expert review of the
performance of its legal function. Included in the review will be a significant amount of
benchmarking of the City Attorney's Office's performance against other municipal law
offices for which we have worked.
We will complete this consulting engagement over a period of six to 12 weeks
from the time we are engaged by the city.
Our work plan (methodology), anticipated benefits, schedule and fees, and our
qualifications constitute the remainder of this proposal. Questions regarding the
proposal should be addressed to James Wilber at (414) 427-5400 or
iswilber@altmanweil.com.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 2
I1. Pro-ect Scope and Ob-ectives
The City Attorney is interested in having outside experts review the efficiency and
effectiveness of the City Attorney's Office. Among his goals are to better assist clients
in achieving their goals while continuing to maintain high standards of professional
conduct, to review the existing procedures in the office and how it interfaces with the
city's administrative staff, and to establish systems to ensure accountability between the
CAO and clients. It is the consultants' judgment and experience that to accomplish
these goals the project should focus on the four key areas (labeled A through D), as
follows:
A. Overall Quality of the Legal Function
The consultants propose to determine the overall quality of the legal function of
the City of Miami by comparing the performance of counsel against an extensive list of
criteria developed by the consultants over the years. The following are the general
areas covered by the criteria (i.e., each area contains numerous criteria):
• Overall philosophy regarding effective litigation and cost containment;
• Organizational structure of the City Attorney's Office as it relates to
effective delivery of legal services;
• Retrieval and use of prior work product;
• Utilization of technology and automation;
• Supervision of legal work; and
• Training and professional development.
1 The consultants are cognizant of the fact that the City Attorney and City Attorney's Office have one and
only one client, namely, the City of Miami. Throughout this proposal, however, for ease of reference,
representatives of the city, I.e., its elected officials, appointed officials, department heads, etc., will be
referred to as "clients."
2 Given the amount of time that would be spent during this project assessing performance, surveying
clients, Interviewing lawyers and staff, and observing office operations, no outside consultant, including
Altman Weil, could or should attempt to judge the substantive quality of legal work or advice, or the
individual performance of any specific lawyer or staff member. That responsibility is properly charged to
the City Attorney. All references to quality and quality legal services in this proposal refer to whether the
lawyers and staff members of the department have the proper structures, policies, systems and
procedures in place that, taken together, are likely to lead to high quality, cost-effective legal services.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 3
The methodology for achieving this portion of the project includes:
■ Altman Weil will design, conduct, tabulate, and analyze two confidential
Internet surveys:
A confidential survey of key clients of the City Attorney's Office. The
results of the client survey will be benchmarked against the
extensive Altman Weil database of the responses of other in-house
law department clients to similar surveys.
A confidential survey of the lawyers and staff members working in
the City Attorney's Office. The purposes of the survey are to
determine the staffs views and ideas regarding the effectiveness of
the legal function, and working together with the consultants, to find
ways to Improve the operations of the department, making It easier
for lawyers and staff to more effectively serve their clients.
In order to save time and expense, we will conduct the surveys on a secure page
on our Internet site: Each respondent will be given a unique user name to allow secure
access. Those who prefer to complete a paper questionnaire and fax it to our office will
have that option. .
The Internet survey provides several compelling benefits:
• It is substantially less expensive than old-fashioned paper
questionnaires.
it will provide us with important data that we can use to focus our
research — especially the interviews — on the issues that are most
important.
It will test and validate our analyses and recommendations before
they go into our report. This, in turn, will help build support and
buy -in for the initiatives that are undertaken as a result of our
report.
• It will provide the city with a reliable, measurable baseline that can
be used to evaluate the improvements made in the future.
▪ We will review the present organizational structure of the city's legal
function, to assess the compatibility of the structure with the organization's
need for high quality legal services.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 4
▪ We will also review the present system for supervision of the legal work
being performed in-house. This will include an analysis of the philosophy,
structure and systems in place regarding supervision of the work being
conducted by lawyers, paralegals and staff members.
▪ We will review the effectiveness and efficiency of work flow and work
delegation in the City Attorney's Office.
■ Finally, we will interface with the business process analysis now being
undertaken in the City.
B. Cost Containment and Cost Effectiveness
Obviously, the degree of the cost effectiveness of the legal function is a primary
benchmark against which success needs to be measured. In order to carry out this
portion of the project, the consultants will:
• Compare and make specific recommendations regarding the cost and
amount of staffing of the legal function with those of similarly situated
organizations with which the consultants have worked, and also with
• relevant survey data on in-house law. departments.
■ Included here will be comparisons regarding overall size of the staff,
utilization of paralegals, cost of the Internal legal function, outside counsel
expense, and other factors that bear on the ability of the legal function to
deliver high quality legal services in a cost effective manner. These
performance measurements will be benchmarked against two industry
surveys:
The Altman Weil / Association of Legal Administrators 2003
Government Law Department Performance Metrics Survey, the first
of its kind in-depth benchmarking survey of government law
departments across the country; and
A major benchmarking study of the performance of other municipal
and county legal agencies, conducted recently by the consultants
as part of performance reviews of several major city and county law
departments. The study contains benchmarks regarding
department budgets, caseloads, staffing, organizational structures,
use and cost of outside counsel, etc.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 5
C. Selected Issues Relating to Outside Counsel
Operations of the City Attorney's Office with regard to its use of outside counsel
will be analyzed:
■ Reviewing the current outside counsel program for reasonableness,
including the process utilized for attorney and law firm selection,
approaches to alternative pricing structures, and an assessment of the
systems and controls in place regarding the selection, retention,
monitoring and control of outside counsel.
"' Determining the best use of inside and outside counsel, the appropriate
mix between them, and the most cost effective way in which to deliver
legal services to clients.
■ The review of outside counsel will include comparisons with benchmarks
relating to the cost of outside lawyers, contained In the Altman Weil /
Association of Legal Administrators2003 Government Law Department
Performance Metrics Survey, and the private benchmarking survey,
mentioned above, conducted of other city and county law offices.
D. Productivity
Closely related to the issue of cost effectiveness is that of productivity of lawyers
and staff. Here, the consultants will:
• Review, analyze and critique the City Attorney's Office's productivity
guidelines or performance measurements that apply to lawyers,
paralegals and staff of the legal function, suggesting modifications to
them, as appropriate.
■ Review strategic staffing decisions, including evaluating the Law
Department's overall workload, number of lawyers and support staff and
their abilities to aptly and effectively perform the services required of the
law department, including a proper matching of skills and experience.
• Review overall lawyer and staff performance vis-a-vis the productivity
guidelines and client service.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 6
111. Methodology (Work Plan)
The proposed methodology involves a phased approach in which the consultants
will gather data and other information from internal and external sources, and will
conduct interviews of members of the City Attorney's Office, key clients and selected
outside counsel. The project will also include a satisfaction survey of the major clients
of the CAO, including benchmarking of survey results against the Altman Weil database
of surveys of clients by other in-house law departments. These information -gathering
activities will be followed by an analytical phase that will culminate in preparation and
presentation of a practical report with specific recommendations.
Steps are presented sequentially in the work plan, but some take place
concurrently.
Step 1 — Kickoff Meeting, Data Accumulation and Analysis
Upon receipt of instructions to proceed with the project, the consultants will
present a detailed request for information which will cover key data to be collected and
compiled by personnel of the City Attorney's Office, including information about staffing,
organization, budgets, systems and procedures.
In addition to the detailed request for information, and as mentioned earlier, the
consultants will prepare a confidential questionnaire to be filled out online by all lawyers
and staff members of the City Attorney's Office. All responses will be held strictly
confidential. A tabulated, summary report of questionnaire responses will be provided
as an attachment to the report, but all comments will be aggregated such that it will not
be possible to determine sources.3
While in Miami for interviews (see Step 2), the consultants will hold a kickoff
meeting with the lawyers and staff of the City Attorney's Office. The purpose will be to
introduce to CAO personnel Altman Well and the consulting team, to discuss
confidentiality, and to describe the project and everyone's responsibilities for facilitating
its timely completion.
The consultants will also compile comparative costs and related statistical data
as is available from Altman Weil surveys of in-house law department operations and the
private benchmarking survey mentioned earlier. The purpose and benefit of compiling
3 We take confidentiality very seriously. If we are to obtain the information we need to fulfill our
duties pursuant to this proposal, we must be able to promise confidentiality to everyone — including clients
(e.g., the Mayor, City Commission and department heads), and the lawyers and staff of the City
Attorney's Office. Accordingly, no one associated with the City of Miami will see anyone's individual
questionnaire. Nor will we disclose to city personnel notes or oral or written reports regarding the source
of any comments obtained during interviews or otherwise in the course of this project.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 7
this information is to establish benchmarks against which to measure the performance
of the City Attorney's Office.
As indicated previously, the consultants own and conduct a number of annual
surveys of the legal profession. As such, we have direct access to data that are critical
to the success of the project. Specifically, the surveys that will be used to benchmark
the performance of the City Attorney's Office include:
■ The database of responses of clients to the client surveys of other in-
house law departments conducted by us over the years.
■ A major benchmarking study of the performance of other municipal and
county law departments, conducted recently by the consultants during
performance reviews of several major city and county civil law offices. The
results of that benchmarking study can be utilized on an anonymous basis
by the consultants for the Miami project. The tabulated benchmarking data
is available for use, but we cannot, of course, disclose data on any
individual law office that participated in the survey (they were promised
confidentiality in exchange for their participation). The study contains
benchmarks regarding department budgets, caseloads, staffing,
organizational structures, use and cost of outside counsel, etc.
■ The Altman Weil / Association of Legal Administrators 2003 Government
Law Department Performance Metrics Survey.
▪ The Altman Weil 2004 Law Department Compensation Benchmarking
Survey.
■ The Altman Weil 2003 Survey of Law Firm Economics (which contains,
among other things, hourly billing rates of private law firms, that we will
use to compare with those being charged the City of Miami by its outside
counsel).
Step 2 — Internal Interviews
Having reviewed the Information gathered in Step 1, the consultants will visit the
City of Miami to conduct confidential interviews with attorneys and legal services staff.
The consultants will also interview several key clients of the City Attorneys Office,
including the Mayor, the City Manager, selected members of the City Commission, and
department heads.
As indicated earlier, all interviews will be confidential. As consultants with almost
33 years experience in handling projects similar to this, we cannot overemphasize the
need for keeping confidential as to source all lawyer and client interviews. This means
that the consultants will not disclose individual responses to interviews to anyone
employed by The City of Miami.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review Prepared by:
Miami City Attorney's Office Altman Weil, Inc.
March 18, 2004 Page 8
Step 3 — Client Survey
The consultants will prepare an instrument to confidentially survey the major
users of legal services at the City of Miami regarding services provided to them by the
City Attorney's Office and by outside counsel. The consultants will work with the City
Attorney to put the questionnaire in an acceptable form. It will then be deployed on the
Internet — on a secure page on Altman Well's web site — tabulated and analyzed directly
by the consultants, and will provide a major source of feedback on the performance of
the department. Results of the survey will be included as part of the report. The results
will be benchmarked against the Altman Weil database of responses of clients to
surveys for other in-house law departments.
As mentioned, the consultants will also conduct a series of interviews with key
clients of the CAO to solicit feedback regarding client expectations and perceptions of
the CAO's performance. In addition, the consultants will arrange to interview by
telephone a handful of outside counsel regularly used by the City of Miami.
Step 4 — Interface with City -Wide Business Process Analysis
On the consulting team will be Altman Well's senior technology consultant, who
will interface with city officials regarding the present city-wide business process
analysis. This will ensure that the recommendations made by the consultants regarding
the City Attorney's Office are consistent with the business process analysis.
Step 5 -- Analysis and Report Preparation
After the client survey and interviews, the consultants will analyze all data and
information collected, and will prepare a report of its findings. As mentioned, the report
will be practical and specific in its recommendations. In addition to presenting a
comprehensive report of findings and recommendations for each objective in the
proposal, the report will address each objective not only as it pertains to the City
Attorney's Office as a whole, but will also make specific references and
recommendations as they pertain to individual divisions. As mentioned, these findings
will, of course, include specific and relevant comparisons to the breadth of
benchmarking data we have available to us.
Step 6 — Presentation of Report
After the report is prepared, the consultants will present it in person to the City
Attorney and other officials of the City of Miami, at the City Attorney's choosing.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 9
IV. Consultin • Fees
Professional fees for this consulting engagement will be fixed at $78,000. Our fee
would be billed in three equal installments:
■ $26,000 upon acceptance of this proposal;
• $26,000 upon completion of the on -site interviews and meetings; and
▪ $26,000 upon delivery of the final report and recommendations.
Expenses will be charged in addition to fees, in accordance with our standard policy on
fees and expenses, which states the following:
Altman Weil staffs consulting matters to provide the expertise and depth appropriate to
serve client needs. Individual billing rates are based on the professional's level of
experience, reputation and ability. Staff time is also billed in this mannerwhen staff can
deliver services at a lower cost to clients. Hourly rates are comparable to those of
lawyers and paralegals.
We record time in increments of six minutes. We generally charge on an hourly basis
for work performed in our offices and on a per diem basis for work performed outside of
our offices. Travel time incurred during the workday is charged at half of our standard
hourly rates.
A retainer is required for initial engagements and for certain types of work. We may
also recommend a fee not based on time, such as a fixed amount, a percentage or a
contingency. You should suggest such an arrangement if you prefer it to an hourly bill.
The factors we consider for the fee we charge for a particular consulting engagement
Include:
• Use of specialized forms and documents we have developed;
■ Results obtained for a client;
Time limitations placed on the firm;
■ The complexity and uniqueness of the issues;
• The degree to which the fee is contingent upon results; and
• The exclusivity of the relationship with the client.
In addition to professional fees, we charge you for all expenses incurred on your behalf
to perform this assignment. We charge for actual expenses incurred for bulk mailings,
specialized printing, advertising, research services, travel, lodging and meals. We also
add a disbursement charge of 3% of the fees billed to cover routine postage,
reproduction, facsimile, telephone, overnight delivery and incidental supplies.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Well, Inc.
Page 10
Unless we agree to special billing arrangements, our invoices are rendered monthly for
services and costs. Invoices are due within 15 days of the invoice date and are payable
in the currency in which the invoice is rendered. If a client wishes to disengage us from
an assignment, the client is obligated to pay fees and expenses on a quantum meruit
basis.
Questions can be directed to the consultants working on your engagement or to our
accounting department.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 11
V. Staffing
Our project team will headed by James Wilber, a principal of Altman Weil, assisted by
consultant Virginia Grant and senior technology consultant, David Briscoe. Mr. Wilber
and Ms. Grant work out of the firm's Midwest Office in Milwaukee, and Mr. Briscoe
works out of the Philadelphia area. The consultants have significant and extensive
experience consulting to the law offices and departments of major US cities and
counties.
James Wilber is a principal of Altman Weil, Inc. He heads the firm's services to
government law departments and leads consulting projects in performance reviews and
audits, and in organization, strategy and outside counsel management and relations, In
the past few years alone, Mr. Wilber has led performance reviews of the Los Angeles
County Counsel's Office, the Philadelphia City Solicitor's Office, the Oakland City
Attorney's Office, the City of Houston Law Department and the San Antonio City
Attorney's Office, among others.
Prior to joining Altman Weil, Mr. Wilber practiced law and managed law offices for 14
years. His law office management experience is extensive: as a managing attorney in
both the public and private sectors, he was resporisible for the hiring, training,
supervision and development of lawyers, paralegals and law office managers. Other
duties included responsibility for financial analysis .and budgeting and law office
technology and computer applications. Mr. Wilber is licensed to practice law in, and is a
member of the state bars of, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan, and is admitted to
practice before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Wilber, a Fellow in the College of Law Practice Management, has written and
lectured extensively on management issues in the legal profession. He is the Editor of
the Report To Legal Management, and is the Editor of the international Practice
Manager of the international Bar Association. Mr. Wilber has been published or quoted
in numerous publications, including the ABA Journal, The American Lawyer magazine,
the National Law Journal, and the journals of many state bar associations. He is an
officer of Committee 10 (Practice Management and Technology) of the International Bar
Association.
Mr. Wilber is a cum laude graduate of the inaugural class of the Southern Illinois
University School of Law, having served as Notes and Comments Editor of the law
review. He also has a bachelor's degree from The University of Michigan and a master's
degree in English Literature.
Virginia Grant is a consultant working at Altman Weil, Inc. She serves clients in the
areas of organization, client satisfaction, strategic planning, management structure and
recruitment. She also assists in implementing diversity initiatives and other human
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Well, Inc.
Page 12
resources practices in private law firms, corporate law departments, and government
agencies.
Ms. Grant has extensive experience in reviewing organizational structures, staffing
utilization and internal work processes. In conjunction with other members of the
Altman Weil team, she tailors recommendations specific to the inquiring law
department.
As a consultant with Altman Weil, Inc., Ms. Grant has conducted numerous client
projects involving strategic planning, process improvement, organizational and
management studies, lawyer and paralegal development programs, and client
satisfaction. Her efforts in these areas give Altman Weil clients an opportunity to better
meet the needs and expectations of their clients.
Prior to joining Altman Weil, Ms. Grant worked as a Litigation Paralegal in large law
firms in Chicago while attending law school. Ms. Grant was conferred a Juris Doctor
from John Marshall Law School in Chicago. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Political Science, cum laude, from Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio.
She has authored articles on recruiting and retaining "Generation X" lawyers, diversity in
the legal profession and associate training and development. Ms. Grant has also
contributed to the publication of the American Bar Association's Section on Law.
Practice Management and various other legal publications.
Ms. Grant is a member of the National Bar Association, American Bar Association, and
Wisconsin Association of African American Lawyers.
David Briscoe is Altman Weil's senior technology consultant. He specializes in
strategic technology planning, acquisition and implementation. For over ten years, Mr.
Briscoe has worked with law firms, corporate law departments and governmental
agencies to better equip today's knowledge worker attorney with the tools and skills
necessary to compete. He has worked with professional service firms throughout the
United States, Canada, Central America and Europe.
For the past year, Mr. Briscoe has specialized in e-commerce issues relating to the
marketing, acquisition and delivery of legal services over the Internet. Drawing on past
experience with both corporate in-house counsel and private law firms, he has assisted
firms in using the Internet/Intranets to; strengthen client relationships, brand their
business, leverage internal people and work product resources and create
unprecedented strategic advantage.
Mr. Briscoe is familiar with a broad array of legal technology systems including financial
accounting, document management, case management and video conferencing. He is
proficient in all the phases of a system implementation, including business process
analysis, system design, data conversion, system testing and rollout, and end -user
training and support.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 18, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 13
Prior to joining Altman Weil Mr. Briscoe worked for a software development house that
designed customized financial analysis tools for law firms in fourth generation
development languages (Informix, Progress & Ingress).
Mr. Briscoe has extensive speaking experience with professional service firms, state
and national bar groups, the Association of Legal Administrators, industry groups, in
house legal departments, and legal technology vendor conferences. He is the author of
more then 30 articles on technology in the professional services sector.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorneys Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Well, Inc.
Page 14
VI. Supplemental Information
A. Quality Management
Altman Weil, Inc. is an organization of professionals, motivated by quality service
and the personal satisfaction of helping clients achieve their organizational goals. To
help our clients perform at the highest possible level, we have implemented a rigorous
quality management system that promises timely, creative and practical advice.
To ensure quality management, we take the following steps:
■ Assignment of a project manager: The consultant managing a consulting
assignment generally has years of consulting experience, leading
challenging, complicated assignments to a successful conclusion.
■ Experienced -based staffing decisions: The firm assigns consultants to
projects who have successfully participated in similar client assignments.
■ Important document review: To ensure the highest quality standards,
Altman Well, Inc. requires an internal review process for all project reports
and other important documents. Prior to sending a report to a client, the
report must be reviewed by another Altman Weil principal. The purpose of
this review is to ensure the best possible readability, clarity and
effectiveness.
Dedication to client satisfaction: Altman Weil is motivated by client
satisfaction. More than 50 percent of the firm's work each year comes
from prior clients.
■ We practice what we preach: Altman Well regularly conducts client
satisfaction surveys of its own client base. The firm uses the survey
results to ensure the highest degree of client satisfaction and to identify
and address client service Issues before they become a problem.
a Mandatory education and training: Each Altman Weil principal attends the
Harvard Business School Executive Education Program — Managing
Professional Service Firms along with other ongoing practice specific
training and education. Many of our consultants participate in continuing
education programs required to maintain their professional accreditation.
Each consultant establishes annual training and education goals as part of
their performance management program.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, inc.
Page 15
B. Confidentiality
Altman Weil, Inc. and our employees will treat all information provided to us
confidentially. If you desire, we will be glad to execute a confidentiality agreement of
your drafting.
C. Why Altman Weil?
There are many good consulting firms. What makes Altman Weil the best choice for
you?
First of all, we are the leading management -consulting firm to the legal profession.
Unlike most of our competitors, we were founded for, and specialize in, the legal
profession. Our approach to consulting engagements maintains a sharp focus on the
basics: sound, bottom -line management and innovative quality client service in today's
highly competitive legal market. Our strengths include:
• Over 33 years of consulting experience to the legal profession;
" A long tradition of leadership in and support to professional organizations
such as the. American Corporate Counsel Association, the American Bar
Association, the International Bar Association, the Association of Canadian
General Counsel, and the Association of Corporate Patent Counsel;
■ Unsurpassed experience, depth, and expertise of the consultants, who are
experienced lawyers, financial or marketing experts, and business people;
' Broad experience across the entire legal profession through consultants who
serve law firms and corporate law departments, and understand the
dynamics of both and their interrelationship;
• Creative thinking and perceptions of experienced, but independent, advisers
resulting in better quality systems and documentation;
• Experience in developing methodology for complex projects;
• Ability to build momentum and enthusiasm for consulting assignments;
• Emphasis on the design and delivery of specific plans for implementation;
and
■ Long-term, ongoing client relationships.
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
Page 16
Altman Weil serves law firms and law departments throughout the United States,
Canada, Europe and Australia. Altman Well's headquarters are located in Newtown
Square, Pennsylvania (suburban Philadelphia), with offices in Wisconsin and affiliates in
Canada and London. The firm was founded in 1970.
In addition to offering management consulting services, Altman Weil conducts
economic surveys of various segments of the Bar. Altman Weil Publications, Inc. publishes
a monthly newsletter, The Altman Weil Report to Legal Management, which explores
topics of current law office management interest. James Wilber is the Editor of that
newsletter.
Members of the firm are co-authors of three important texts on law office
management: How to Manage Your Law Office, Law Office Automation and Technology
and Introduction to Law Practice Management, a student text. Matthew Bender & Co.,
New York publishes these books.
Altman Weil enjoys an excellent reputation in providing management consulting
services to private law firms, corporate law departments and government legal
organizations. As a result, most of our client base and growth have come from
references. These references occur because we emphasize product and
implementation, not just concept. We recognize how important it is to our clients not
only to understand and justify what is needed, but also to have the proper tools and
methods for actual implementation of our recommendations.
This proposal will remain in effect for 30 days, after which time fees may be revised.
When you are ready to proceed with these services, please sign below and return this
page.
Accepted by:
Date:
Revised Proposal for a Performance Review
Miami City Attorney's Office
March 16, 2004
Prepared by:
Altman Weil, Inc.
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