This week I will summarise the general and documentation requirements of such a system.
The term quality management system refers to the international LAW 9000 standard. It is a system because it is a collection of business processes and their interactions needed to implement quality management.
Next I have defined terms I will use often in my discussion of the QMS for law firms.
Definitions
Quality“Quality is fitness for use“, the service should meet its specifications
Quality Policy
The quality policy is a general statement made by top management that it intends to achieve quality because of the firm's operation.
Process
Activities, actions or functions designed to bring about a desired result.
Procedure
The procedure documents the step-by-step detail for the process activities and actions that must be executed in the same manner in order to always obtain the same result under the same circumstances. They typically include what, when, where, and who should do the activity identified.
Work instruction
Whilst a procedure documents the step-by-step detail for the process, a work instruction defines further details of one or several process step(s) that the business has put in place. Work instructions are for work performed in one area or function and typically tell you “how” to do the activity.
Quality Manual
The quality manual outlines the policies, procedures, work instructions
and requirements of the QMS and describes the interaction between the processes.
General requirements of the quality management system
- determine the processes needed for the QMS and their application
- determine the sequence and interaction of those processes
- identify and ensure control over any outsourced or subcontracted processes that affect the quality of goods or services
- comply with all statutory requirements that apply to the provision of legal services and conduct of legal practitioners.
I hope that the previous paragraph will make more sense when read in the context of the documentation requirements that follow.
Documentation requirements of the QMS
Earlier I referred to the QMS as a collection of processes which are activities, actions or functions designed to bring about a desired result (see the definition earlier on the page). Processes for management of activities, processes for provision of resources and processes for product realisation and measurement are all part of the QMS.
We saw in the definitions above that procedures and work instructions reflect your processes in writing. They are the bulk of the documents required by the LAW 9000 standard.
Below I have summarised of all the documents which must be included in the QMS for law firms:
- documented statements of a quality policy and quality objectives
- a quality manual - please see definition provided earlier
- documented procedures required by LAW 9000 standard
- Control of documents
- Control of records (of all types)
- Internal audits
- Control of nonconforming product
- Corrective action
- Preventive action
- documents needed by the organization to ensure the effective planning, operation and control of its processes
- records required by this standard
- an engagement policy
- a business plan
- a risk management plan
- records as required by statutory or regulatory provisions applicable to the organization.
In the coming weeks I will discuss the importance of each QMS document and provide an example.
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