The $35K Surprise That Legal Project Management Could Prevent ft. Dolapo Olushola-Uwaifo

A litigator can manage a complex case, argue in court, and negotiate a settlement. But who's keeping track of the staffing, scope changes, and budget surprises along the way?

In this episode of Between the Briefs by Steno, Adrian Cea and Joe Stephens sit down with Dolapo Olushola-Uwaifo, Director of Legal Operations and Portfolio Management at Baker Donelson, to discuss how legal project management, better processes and meaningful technology adoption help law firms work smarter.

What You'll Learn:

Why legal matters should be managed as projects with clear plans, staffing, budgets, and timelines
How legal project managers identify scope creep before it becomes an unpleasant client surprise
Why effective legal operations involve much more than tracking budgets and producing reports
How to evaluate legal technology using measurable improvements rather than impressive demos
Why Dolapo's legal background helps her design processes attorneys actually trust
How firms can secure attorney buy-in when introducing new workflows and systems
Why simpler processes and strong change management plans improve adoption
How AI could change the economics of legal work without eliminating the need for professional judgment
Why time saved through AI can create opportunities for client development and strategic work
How portfolio management systems turn large volumes of case data into useful business intelligence
Why legal operations has evolved from a support function into a strategic part of law firms
What law schools should teach future attorneys about managing the business of legal practice

The big question sitting at the heart of this conversation is if lawyers are already managing complex legal projects every day, why aren't more of them trained to manage those projects effectively?

Highlights:

00:00 Meet Dolapo Olushola-Uwaifo: Legal Operations at Baker Donelson
01:14 From Future Litigator to Legal Operations Leader
03:30 How Vanderbilt Law Opened the Door to Legal Innovation
06:50 What Do Legal Project Managers Actually Do?
07:13 Why Every Litigation Matter Needs a Project Plan
09:40 How Scope Creep Creates Unexpected Legal Bills
12:35 How to Tell Whether Legal Tech Is Actually Worth Buying
14:55 Why Dolapo Measures Every Legal Tech Improvement
16:44 Does Having a Law Degree Make Legal Ops More Effective?
20:12 Can AI, Billable Hours, and Law Firm Profitability Coexist?
21:19 Why AI Won't Eliminate the Human Side of Legal Practice
23:38 How Lawyers Can Turn AI Time Savings Into Revenue
26:29 Why Attorneys Resist New Workflows
28:00 How Real Case Experience Helps Win Attorney Buy-In
29:30 Why Complicated Legal Systems Fail Before They Start
31:18 How Legal Operations Has Changed Inside Law Firms
32:14 Why Clients Started Demanding Legal Project Managers
35:00 Why One Legal Project Manager Isn't Enough
37:58 How Portfolio Management Turns Thousands of Cases Into Business Intelligence
41:31 Dolapo's Hot Take: Legal Ops Is No Longer Back Office
42:15 Why Law Schools Need to Teach the Business of Law
43:36 Closing Thoughts

Quotes:

“Your job really is to take away that element of surprise.”

“You still have to apply your legal judgment to whatever work product it spins out for you.”

“You can't be lawyering and thinking about the operations of lawyering at the same time.”

“Legal Ops is no longer a back office function. We are now front and center.”