As a senior lawyer, you definitely know a thing or two about practice management. Perhaps you are fortunate enough to have someone whose entire job description involves managing your law practice. Nevertheless, in the areas of practice management that are relationship based, a good lawyer always needs to assess how to make things better. Here are some comments and questions your support staff may be thinking about but not saying out loud to you.
We can get a better sense of workload demands, looming deadlines, and overlooked tasks if we have some uninterrupted time together to take stock of what is needed for each case. Particularly in an age when many communications completely bypass legal staff, the posture of the case may have changed significantly in ways that can affect the workload. Case review is also a time when staff can ask for clarification of instructions that weren’t completely understood.
Are you taking a late lunch or are you working remotely this afternoon? Don’t make staff guess about the basics of your schedule. When a partner asks where you are or a client asks when he can expect a return call, it makes you and the staff member look bad when the answers are vague.
Your poor time management has a ripple effect in ways that may not be evident to you. Waiting to finish something until just before what you perceive to be the deadline may, in reality, be too late. Whenever possible, don’t wait to review the work that has been done by your staff. Correspondence waiting for your signature may need to be redrafted if it sits too long, or staff may need to refamiliarize themselves with the next steps. Don’t avoid uncomfortable phone calls or correspondence, leaving staff to field calls from increasingly distressed and dissatisfied clients.
Law is a stressful business, and it is virtually impossible to avoid times when your personal stress level is high. Remember that it is part of your job to avoid passing that stress along. Be available for consultation when rush projects are being completed, but don’t hover. Don’t say, “Is there anything I can do to help?” if what you really mean is “Why aren’t you finished yet?” Your tense mood affects everyone around you and doesn’t help get the job done.
“It’s none of your business,” you say. That may well be true, but handling expectations will help you get the best from your staff. Even though you have no intention of retiring within the next several years, to your 20-something office staff, you look old, and retirement must be looming. Depending on circumstances, you don’t need to address this perception directly, but be mindful about how you speak about caseloads, and how sore your muscles feel when you come back from the gym. If you do have a date for retirement in mind, don’t keep it a secret from your staff. Depending on the nature of your practice, you may need to stop taking on new cases two to five years in advance of your projected last day in the office. In a solo or small-firm practice, you’ll need their help with the tasks necessary for closing down or selling a firm. You undermine trust and morale when they surmise the circumstances for themselves or overhear someone alluding to it. You may be sure that if a client or someone else in the firm is aware of your impending retirement, your staff will learn about it instead of hearing about it directly from you.
Unless you and your support staff have agreed to retire together, they may well be nervous about finding their next job. In a large firm, perhaps they will simply be reassigned upon your departure. But even in such circumstances, it is a kindness to say a few words to your colleagues about how valuable someone has been to you. If you are closing your firm, it is imperative for you to assist your staff member in finding a new position. You will need their help in the weeks or months it takes to wrap up your practice. If they are left to fend entirely for themselves, they may feel there is no alternative but to jump quickly, and from your standpoint, prematurely, to a new job. Assuming that they want your assistance and want to continue to work in the legal field, talk to your colleagues and friends about their qualifications. If you are a member of a law-related listserv, let others in your geographic or practice area know that a valuable employee may be available soon. Draft a few paragraphs to have on hand, which you can adapt for a letter of recommendation so that you can send it out immediately upon request.
Dividing up the way we think about people into “lawyers” and “nonlawyers” isn’t a useful way to think about a legal team or the world in general. Each of us has talents and skills that contribute to our mutual success. No one works in a law firm because they want an easy, low-skill job. Our outside interests, family obligations, personality, finances, skills, and inclinations have brought us to our current jobs. We want to be valued members of your legal team.
