Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Practical Continuous Improvement for Law Firms: DMAIC, STEEPLE, Root Cause Analysis, Creativity Techniques, Kotter’s Change Model, de Bono’s Six Hats, and Measuring Impact

Published by a LexisNexis Practice Management expert

Practice notes

Daily life throws up a constant run of challenges, and the law firm workplace is no different. The context keeps evolving; for example, firms have navigated hybrid working while seeking to optimise the use of artificial intelligence. A dependable framework helps us solve problems, adjust to shifting circumstances and determine the most sensible path ahead. This Practice Note explores the central themes of continuous improvement and covers:

an overview of problem solving
the fundamental structure of continuous improvement
ways to assess the effect of present problems and identify future issues
selecting suitable tools to analyse underlying causes
effective methods to spark creativity and generate ideas
two models to support implementing change across your teams
how to evaluate the outcomes of the changes you introduce

An introduction to problem solving

Problem solving is not:

change for its own sake
merely repairing what is broken
only large-scale shifts

Instead, problem solving is:

ongoing analysis of the firm’s processes to find where time, money and other resources can be saved or used more efficiently...

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Beth Pipe , FCIPD

OnLive Learning

Beth is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and has spent over 25 years specialising in Learning and Development. During that time she has worked across a broad variety of different industries and has, for the past 15 years, worked closely with a number of well known law firms; this has involved putting in to place systems and structures to encourage, enable and track the effectiveness of learning activities. Adept at face to face course delivery, and always enjoying excellent feedback, Beth is also accomplished at online delivery and created OnLive Learning in response to the challenges presented by the 2020 Covid-19 restrictions.Beth has written extensively for LexisNexis on subjects such as Performance Management, Managing Change and Stress Management. Away from her training delivery she is a published author writing about local history, hiking, wildlife and the outdoors and is...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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