Law Practice Tips

Making Your Law Office Staff Part of a Team
By Jim Calloway, Director
OBA Management Assistance Program

During the typical weekday we probably spend more waking hours with our co-workers than with our families. We lawyers tend to think very highly of our office staff indeed. Whether they fill the job role and title of secretaries, receptionists, legal assistants, litigation paralegals, billing and accounting clerks or administrative assistants, they are the ones who truly keep the law offices running. They deserve our appreciation and thanks.

So, if you forgot to let them know how much you appreciate them last month, you can still do so now. If you remembered to acknowledge them last month, write down a reminder to do something special for them again - without waiting an entire year.

Larger law firms spend great resources on their Human Relations (HR) departments. If you are a partner at your law firm and think that you do not have a professional in charge of HR at your law firm, you are without a doubt correct. Someone is in charge of HR, but they may not be a professional at it. A solo and small firm lawyer should be aware of two things:

1. You, too, have an HR dept.
2. Evidentially you are in charge.

HR departments handle an array of issues from overtime to hiring to job training. For larger operations, there are various federal workplace mandates. They assure non-discriminatory job policies and are the ones who remind the lawyers not to ask how many children an applicant has in a job interview. ("Well, I'm just making polite conversation.")

This will not be a discussion of the HR functions in a law office. Rather, this will be a discussion of human relations (lowercase) - that is how your staff works with you, how they can do a better job and how you, too, can do a better job.

Lawyers, generally speaking, are not the easiest people to work with, and that's putting it charitably.

Do we really need to complete this thought? Most lawyers are driven professionals who demand a lot from themselves and from those who work with them. They are intelligent. They deal with important issues in a pressure-packed environment. Often, there are brutal time constraints and a huge amount of work that has to be done. The lawyer has to deal with clients, witnesses, judges, court personnel and opposing counsel. Is there any wonder that a lawyer doesn't always put his or her best foot forward in the office?

But all lawyers have to agree they get more work done with help, even if that is only one staff member. And two or more people working together as a team will increase productivity. The dictatorial style of management doesn't work anymore.

So, let's talk about ways that you can show your staff you appreciate them, ease areas of tension and conflict and promote a more efficient working environment - every working day of the year.

1) Training - The person working in today's law office has a much different working environment than that of a few decades ago. There are many more computer-related tasks and many more devices that are used. The real estate agent will say there are three important things about real property - location, location and location. In the same vein, there are three important things about the Twenty-First Century law office - training, training and training.

Professional law firm staff are usually excited about learning ways to improve and to do their job better. They probably wouldn't be working in a law office if they did not feel that way. Training does not require sending the staff out of the office to sit in a classroom all day. That might be a good idea, but often there is no available classroom training for law office-specific products we use today. But there are many creative ways to provide educational opportunities. The problem is often setting aside the time to do so.

Here are some ideas to assist in meeting this need:

• Stock good self-training and reference material. Send a staff person off to the local book store with instructions to look through all of the reference guides on your word processing program and select the best "how to" book for the firm library. They can purchase it on the firm credit card, get a check cut for the amount or you can pick it up later. Do not expect them to "front" the costs. Many more specialized books like "Amicus Attorney in One Hour for Lawyers" that are produced by the ABA Law Practice Management Section can be purchased at a discount through the OBA Management Assistance Program.
• Shut down for some in-house training. Many times our staff can "self-train" if we just give them time to do so. The problem is that we are seem to be too busy. So schedule a date in advance where everyone will spend a day (or a half day) not working on client files but instead learning about their software or perhaps designing some macros and other shortcuts.
• Schedule a "lunch and learn" session. This is a variation on the in-house training idea. Have one person shut their office door all day and learn from the books and trial-and-error about some shortcuts and techniques. They can make a brief outline. Then the next day a staff luncheon is scheduled at which that person passes out the outline and "teaches" a brief class in what was learned. Lawyers like it because it happens during lunch and does not impact billables. Staff often likes getting a free lunch.

Even though we've used technology as our example, the law firm staff library should include materials on substantive areas of law and ethics as well. There are some handbooks for legal secretaries that can be purchased as well. It also never hurts to have a training session just to review firm policies like file opening procedures.

2) Ask your staff about their office problems and try to help solve them. You may think that you get constant feedback from your staff as you work with them every day, but the reality may be somewhat different from their point of view. Take the time periodically to ask for their feedback. But when you get feedback, try to do something about the situation or if that is impossible, at least take some time to explain why nothing can be done. People love to be asked for their opinion, but when their feedback is apparently ignored, the result can be detrimental.

The following anecdote was related to me by Nancy Byerly Jones, an outstanding law office management consultant from North Carolina. It exemplifies a good solution based on feedback.

The legal secretary was under too much pressure - too many conflicting deadlines and too much work was piling up. One additional source of tension was that the two lawyers she worked for often gave her multiple assignments designating them all as a high priority. Sometimes everything was due today! When everything could not get done, there was often second guessing about what was done and what was not done. Was the brief more urgent than the research memo?

The consultant got one of the lawyers to agree to spend a moment with her each morning helping set her priorities. She then compiled them in a list that was kept on her desk. New assignments were added to the list at the bottom. When someone had an emergency or urgent assignment, they were asked where it went on "the list." Other lawyers who had assignments "bumped" lower on the list were so informed. Soon the prioritization of which lawyer's work got done first became a matter handled by referring to the list and discussions between the lawyers. The secretary was no longer caught in the middle.

One can see this working in the solo practitioner law office setting just as well. The lawyer breathlessly rushes in with a project that has to be done immediately. The secretary hands the lawyer "the list" indicating that these were the projects to be done today and asking which one should be bumped off to make room for the new assignment.
Lawyers spend their careers solving problems for others. Why not ask your staff if they have some problems in the office setting? A more efficient law office may be the result.

3) Have an internal attitude check - There will no doubt be times in every lawyer's career where the stress and pressure cause him or her to react in a poor manner. It is very easy to snap at a secretary or to point out to a legal assistant a drafting mistake in a less than diplomatic way.

Often the lawyer will vent and then move on to the next project, without regard to the emotional turmoil that may be left in the wake of the outburst. The lawyer may have dozens of pointed discussions or confrontations in a day. By the end of the day, the discussion with the secretary may have receded in memory.

But in the memory of the poor staff member, the incident may be magnified rather than having receded. The lawyer may be furious that a carefully crafted settlement proposal is unraveling. The staff person may believe that the frowns and attitude still relate to the prior outburst over the mistake. The lawyer may believe the secretary is a great office worker who just made one mistake that was corrected, but the secretary may be in fear of losing the job which is needed to feed his or her family.

If unremedied and unchecked, the result of such regular outbursts may be that the valued secretary takes another job to avoid the stress and in response to the fear of being terminated for mistakes.

The lawyer should contemplate his or her personal management style and whether there is room for improvement.

Some Do's and Don'ts for giving feedback to staff:

• Don't get into detailed criticism when you are angry. We all know how that is likely to end. Concentrate first on getting the task done correctly, particularly if there is a deadline. Defer discussion until the following day or perhaps the afternoon.
• Don't ever, ever criticize one staff member in front of another staff member, or even worse, a client. There is no role for public humiliation and those who are not involved are made uncomfortable by being forced to listen. Having a client overhear is even worse. The staff person will be more upset at a relative stranger hearing this, and the client will be given a bad impression of the law office in general.
• Do schedule time for regular feedback to assistants regarding the quality of their work. Many lawyers hate to do this, but it is needed. Some of us forget to give positive feedback as often as we should and a set time (monthly or no less than quarterly) allows us to do that. Otherwise the assistant may only get feedback when there are mistakes.
• Do encourage a friendly working environment.
• Do share and encourage a good sense of humor. Humor can be the greatest stress reliever.
• Do watch your attitude and take time for your staff when they need you. An arrogant attitude or conveying the idea that you are too busy for the staff or are more important than they are is a sure way to create future problems.
• Do be aware of your staff's attitudes. Some may be coping with personal problems. Others may be coping with job stress. But if an otherwise happy employee becomes sullen and withdrawn, you owe it to yourself to express concern and see if something can be done.
• Do encourage feedback. This means not over-reacting or retaliating when the feedback is unpleasant or upsetting.

When discussing job performance with the person or persons who answer the telephone, your attention is directed to our article entitled "Your Best Public Relations Tool - The Telephone." It was originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal on April 7, 2001.

Conclusion
There are enough difficulties in the practice of law without having internal problems within the law office. The wise attorney understands that when you hire people to work with you, you get a package. They may have great skills and a few personal problems. They may have great potential but be relatively untrained.

You can promote a loyal and productive office team by promoting clear communications, by being honest in your dealings with the assistants, by appreciating their individual circumstances and workload, by giving negative feedback appropriately and likewise giving praise when it is earned. A positive office environment will be evident to your clients and others.

Originally published in the Oklahoma Bar Journal May 11, 2002 - Vol. 73; No.15