If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.
Many professionals live by that axiom, and lawyers are no exception. But productivity expert Ann Gomez says lawyers will accomplish more in a day if they leverage the strengths of their support staff.
“A lot of people think, ‘If I’m the best person for the job... why would I outsource it? Why would I delegate it?’ ” says the president of Toronto-based Clear Concept Inc. “What we should be asking ourselves is, ‘Does someone have the skills to help me get partially or all of the way there?’ And when the answer is ‘yes,’ that’s when we should be delegating.”
Besides increasing their productivity, lawyers who effectively delegate work to support staff also reduce costs for clients. Working collaboratively with administrative assistants, law clerks and other staff makes for more motivated, engaged employees.
But establishing solid lines of communication, and putting in place systems to help ensure that happens, takes time – a scarce and valuable commodity in law offices.
“A lot of times, support staff are waiting for the lawyers to set the direction and define who is doing what,” Gomez says. “The problem is the lawyers sometimes don’t know how to best use their assistance. They’re running so fast just trying to keep up that there isn’t that time to plan what’s the best allocation of responsibilities across the team.”
The productivity consultant says the most effective legal teams she’s worked with are the ones where lawyers avoid a top-down approach in favour of working in partnership with support staff.
“When they collectively view it as their practice, and they have common goals but different responsibilities to achieve those goals, that’s the best recipe for success,” Gomez says.
Paper management is one area in which support staff should take the lead, she adds.
Markham, Ont., lawyer Laura Williams entered the profession with more insight than usual into the frustrations support staff can encounter on the job. Williams has a sister who worked as a legal assistant at a fast-paced law firm in downtown Toronto.
“Seeing it through her eyes, I gained an appreciation for the fact that your legal support and administrative support in any professional services environment, that’s really the engine of providing service,” says the founder and principal of Williams HR Law Professional Corporation.
While Williams has always appreciated the key role legal and administrative support plays in a practice, she has worked to create strong professional relationships with staff, making use of various tools and strategies to do so.
For instance, she and her legal assistant have terms of reference in place that spell out their respective roles and responsibilities. That means Williams is accountable when her desk is left in a mess. And it’s also on her if she doesn’t fully communicate instructions or properly delegate a task.
“A lot of lawyers give fly-by-night instructions. Or they expect their assistants to be mind-readers, and they’re not,” says Williams, who together with Gomez will be presenting a webinar on May 19 about boosting productivity by working effectively with support staff, as part of the CBA’s new Solutions Series. “A lot of assistants or legal support staff feel frustrated and disrespected because lawyers don’t take the time to give them the information to enable them to do their jobs effectively.”
One of the easiest ways to clarify who is doing what is to establish a solid priority management system, Gomez says. This starts with a to-do list that, in addition to regular planning meetings, helps lawyers share their priorities with support staff.
Williams says her approach includes checking in with her assistant at the start and end of each work day. The interaction may be brief and she and her assistant don’t have to be working the same hours, she adds, but the system reduces the risk of tasks falling through the cracks. The check-in is also an opportunity to identify any emerging issues that require immediate attention.
Williams also recommends consulting a third-party expert, who can assess what additional supports are needed in an office and recommend strategies for successfully implementing them.
Technology, for example, is one factor that continues to drive changes in the way lawyers and support staff work together.
Ray Adlington, CEO/managing partner of Halifax-based McInnes Cooper, says the digital age means clients increasingly expect a quick response to their inquiries.
“More and more, that’s falling to the legal assistants when lawyers are unavailable as they are working on other client files,” he says. “There’s more independence in the (support) role than there ever has been.”
McInnes Cooper has several initiatives underway aimed at better supporting staff and strengthening their working relationships with lawyers. The efforts are also tied to the firm’s emphasis on employee engagement and value standards.
One change McInnes Cooper has made is adding legal support clerks who are responsible for such tasks as photocopying and scanning.
The firm also has a centralized word processing department to assist with complex assignments.
In addition, McInnes Cooper is launching a pilot project, called “support check,” with the goal of developing a better understanding of how lawyers and legal assistants work together. Information gathered from talking to personnel will be used to determine future work assignments and support requirements.
“We’re doing a lot from a communications standpoint, really looking at how do we best engage our support team members?” says Angela Lewis, the firm’s managing director of administrative professional resources. “We’re focused on increasing communication, and showing how their efforts really lend to the larger picture.”
McInnes Cooper is also creating a set of best practices for lawyers and legal assistants, with training to help boost working relationships. And the firm is embarking on technology checkups for all personnel, with one-on-one tutorials offered to help ensure proficiency standards are met.
JoAnn Alberstat is a Halifax writer and editor.
P.S. Are you or other lawyers at your firm planning to attend the Boost Your Productivity II: Working Effectively with Support Staff webinar? If so, and you would like your support staff to contribute to the discussion, please encourage them to complete this anonymous survey by Friday, April 29.