Charlotte, N.C. (February 21, 2017) – Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP is pleased to announce the launch of the firm’s Legal Project Management team. Leading the team are Fred M. Wood Jr., Evan M. Sauda, and Doug Woods, all of whom are Legal Lean Sigma® certified, and Neale Johnson, whose many years of experience representing the construction industry give him the practical knowledge of project management principles that allows the firm to implement Legal Project Management effectively for the benefit of its clients. Clients can expect to collaborate with the firm to apply to their matters tailored Legal Project Management principles, including process improvement, technology, and value-based pricing for select engagements, to drive quality, value, and client satisfaction.

“We believe it’s time to work the way our clients work in the way we manage and deliver legal services,” said Fred Wood. “Leveraging Legal Project Management principles benefits all clients, but Legal Lean Sigma® techniques, in particular, benefit those with high-volume repetitive legal needs, such as lease negotiations, responding to subpoenas, and similar-issue litigation, offensive or defensive. Applying Legal Project Management principles and Legal Lean Sigma®, as we’ve adapted it, allows us to provide further cost savings, efficiency, predictability, and pricing transparency. This is what our clients are asking of us.”

The firm is committed to leveraging Legal Project Management and value pricing strategies to deliver legal work to maximize efficiency and client satisfaction. As an added benefit, Legal Lean Sigma® certified attorneys also offer a spectrum of consulting services that range from designing overall process improvement and project management strategies to solution implementation for law departments.

Wood is the Charlotte office litigation practice area leader, chair of the firm’s business litigation team, and co-chair of the firm’s business court team. He represents companies in a variety of matters, including cases involving unfair business practices and methods of competition, the North Carolina Trade Secrets Protection Act, business torts, and class actions. He is a certified Legal Lean Sigma® yellow belt.

Sauda has more than a decade of experience litigating complex business disputes. He routinely appears in state and federal courts, including the North Carolina Business Court, and handles binding arbitrations, both before the American Arbitration Association and other quasi-judicial bodies. He is a certified Legal Lean Sigma® yellow belt.

Woods is the firm’s director of pricing and client value.  He manages the firm’s project management and pricing initiatives. He has vast experience implementing value-based, win-win pricing solutions for law firms, Fortune 500 corporations and Big 4 accounting firms. He is a certified Legal Lean Sigma® green belt and is a certified public accountant.

Johnson leads the firm’s construction practice, assisting owners, general contractors, and trade contractors with contract negotiation and preparation, dispute avoidance and dispute resolution services.  He has prepared and negotiated agreements involving public and private projects, where he applies more than 15 years of construction litigation experience to help clients identify and allocate business risks during contract formation and to reduce conflict during project performance.  Johnson partners with clients and employs legal project management techniques to control matter schedules and cost, and developed the firm’s unique value-based fixed pricing structure for complex litigation matters.