'I’m Sorry, But The Lawyer Cannot Be Interrupted Now'
By Jim Calloway, Director
OBA Management Assistance Program

Time management for lawyers is a difficult task that will haunt us throughout our careers. As we talk to people from all walks of life it seems that everyone has time management issues. From the lawyer to the business executive to the garbage collector, it seems like few of us have sufficient time to do all of our work, enough time to spend with our families and the time would we like to meet all of our personal, community and social obligations.

Most lawyers put in a lot of hours at work. Some put all the hours in physically at their office. Others take work home each night. The technologically proficient have perfected the ability to remotely access their office computer system using a home computer or laptop. Rare is the lawyer who does not work at least a few nights and weekends. Many lawyers work most weekends at least for a few hours. Some firms essentially require it.

Of course, working too many nights and weekends is often not conducive to a good family life. That is why lawyers with families tend to take work home rather than staying late at the office.

Some lawyers are workaholics. Some actually enjoy their work so much that they enjoy working evenings and weekends. Most lawyers do not.

But as much as the majority of lawyers do not enjoy the necessity of working nights and weekends, a surprising number of lawyers actually do enjoy the mechanics of working outside of the "normal" eight-to-five. That is because we actually get more done.

The lawyer can drive to the office early on a Saturday morning and by a little after noon have as much or more accomplished than during a regular entire business day. Work day evenings often work the same way. After 5:30 or 5:45 p.m., productivity may literally zoom. Although weariness may soon detract from that productivity gain.

But how can this possibly be? The entire law office environment is designed to facilitate legal work. Law firms pay significant overhead expenses for a good workplace environment and all of the office tools to be efficient. The trained staff of a law firm is indispensable. How could it be that one can get more accomplished away from my staff?

The answer is simple. In the after-hours settings you have no interruptions!!

Let’s be honest. Have you ever had a major project or a big trial that required concentrated effort? Most of us have. Have you ever then gone to a law library to do the work, not because you needed the library resources, but because you needed the peace and quiet to get the work done? Have you ever stayed home to complete a big project?

Does your normal business day consist of being interrupted by telephone calls, queries from the legal assistant about assignments, potential emergencies from clients, potential new clients with problems, being interrupted to sign a letter or proof a pleading that "is due today" and so forth? Do you have a hard time finding more than 20 or 30 minutes to work without interruption on a single task? If so, it is no wonder that you find working on nights and weekends appealing, where you are totally in charge of your own time without distraction. It is like being sheltered in a cocoon.

Can you imagine trying to get your work done in this environment of distraction and interruptions if another person could stop you without notice and change your assignments? If you have trouble imagining that, just ask your legal assistant or secretary how it is.

Yes, all of your staff has to deal with exactly the same situation each work day. They have to answer the phone every single time it rings and deal with interruptions, directives and questions and tasks from lawyer and client alike. In my private practice, it soon became clear that legal assistants and secretaries were probably more efficient than me. I would probably never get anything done in their work environment.

It is true that there will always be days that do not go as you have planned. Some types of law practices require more tolerance of interruptions than others. Some clients require more ready access to their lawyers than others.

The lawyer who wants to run a top notch law practice has to learn to guard against interruption. Perfection cannot be achieved in this area, but we can all make progress. Everyone in the office must learn to stop interrupting each other and free up time to get the work done. In many ways this is harder for the small town lawyer. It will be seen as incredibly rude if some client drops in to be told that you cannot be disturbed when they just saw you walk into the office 10 minutes ago and they see your office door is open.

Minimizing interruptions will be an on-going challenge, but it is no harder than many of the other tasks that lawyers do. You need to have uninterrupted time to concentrate on major projects and tasks.

Here are some ideas and suggestions to help minimize interruptions in the law office.

1. Schedule time for uninterrupted work. All of us have directed others that we cannot be disturbed. But this is often in reaction to a crisis or impending deadline. Because of the lack of advance planning, other work may back up during this period. One technique is to block off at least a couple of mornings and afternoons each week when the lawyers are not to be disturbed. There will have to be exceptions, of course, but there is nothing wrong with scheduling an appointment with yourself.

Some law firms have actually taken the step of closing the doors and forwarding the phones to the answering service one afternoon each week. This sounds like a somewhat radical step, but clients and opposing counsel will soon learn that Wednesday or Thursday afternoons are not available for phone calls or appointments. They will also learn to appreciate the smoother work flow from the law firm.

Schedule times when you will receive and return telephone calls. To avoid playing telephone tag, include in your message the best times to reach you, For example, after a scheduled morning of uninterrupted time, you can stop at 11:30 a.m. and quickly try to return all of the phone calls received that morning.

Experiment with advance scheduling of blocks of uninterrupted time. You can count on the office support staff assisting you with this quest. They will appreciate this because when they are not interrupting you, then you will also not be interrupting them.

2. Use interoffice e-mail. The very best tool to use in curtailing your staff interrupting you (and each other) is interoffice e-mail. You absolutely, positively have to use this tool. Many times we are all guilty of remembering something important and going to a coworker to mention it to them right then before we forget it again. Using interoffice e-mail allows you to send the message right then while it is on your mind without interrupting anyone.

E-mail is extremely reliable. It patiently waits for you in your inbox until you decide to read your e-mail. It works 24 hours per day.

Certainly e-mail can be frustrating at times, especially when you are out of the office for an extended period and ready to find many unread e-mails. But those e-mails are still superior to a fistful of paper phone message slips, that will mostly give no clue as to what they concern. It may seem silly at first to send e-mail to someone next door or within your line of sight, but when you focus on preventing interruptions, you will soon see that interoffice e-mail is actually more useful than e-mail directed to other states or other countries.

Most lawyers express great enthusiasm over their e-mail accounts. If you are not using this tool, you owe it to yourself and your clients to give it a try.

3. Know your priorities. List your most important goals and assignments at the start of every day. Your "to do" list will help you stay focused on what really needs to be done. The list also helps you recover more quickly when you are interrupted. This is probably one of the simplest and single most important techniques for good law office management.

4. Try delegating your interruptions to others. It is important to help your clients understand how helpful your trained staff can be for them as well as for you. If a client spends 10 minutes on the phone with your secretary, but still wants to talk directly to you, you have not really gained anything. On the other hand, if the secretary successfully answers a simple query or locates some information for the client, everyone benefits.

It may be helpful include language in an engagement letter to new clients that encourages them to view your legal staff as the professionals that they are. It may help to simply state, "I’m not always going to be able to return your calls as quickly as I would like. If a matter is urgent, please explain it fully to Shelly so she can help you."

5. Cut short social office conferences. If visitors to your office are an interruption problem, try to minimize both the number and the time of these visits. There are several techniques to help you with this without appearing rude. Stand up to greet office visitors and remain standing to keep a visit short. Give yourself five minutes to visit and then cheerfully announce "Time to get back to work." Let visitors know that your time is limited with statements like "I’ve got a big brief due tomorrow."

Office meetings take a lot of time. If you will not be needed for an entire meeting, then make certain it is not scheduled in your office.

We’re not saying you should isolate yourself at work or avoid all social interaction. On the contrary, the next time a co-worker tries to visit with you in your office, feel free to schedule lunch with them that day or the next.

6. Avoid interrupting others and hope they will do the same. Think before you interrupt someone else in your office and think of creative ways to avoid bothering them if possible. Let people know that you believe their time is valuable. Hopefully they will reciprocate. A better working office environment for all will result.

Hopefully this short list of ideas for minimizing interruptions will encourage you to take a look at your office environment and see where there is room for improvement.

Those who wish to study time management in more detail are directed to The Time Trap by Dr. Alec MacKenzie. This is the classic book on time management.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal Dec. 8, 2001 - Vol. 72; No.35