By Julie Bays

Summer vacations can reveal whether a law office has systems or simply has very capable people remembering how everything works.

Every firm has those tasks that “only one person knows how to do.” That may work most days. But it becomes a risk when that person is out of the office, on vacation, sick, caring for a family member or leaves the firm. The lawyer may know the legal strategy. The staff member may know how the billing gets finalized, where the templates are stored, how conflict checks are handled, which court notices require immediate action and which recurring deadlines are easy to miss.

That kind of institutional knowledge is valuable. But it should not live only in one person’s memory.

A good summer project is to identify the most important recurring tasks in your office and make sure at least two people know how each one is handled. Start with the basics: client intake, conflict checks, calendaring, e-filing, billing, trust accounting procedures, document naming and storage, mail handling, client communication, file closing and backup procedures.

Then write down the steps while the person who knows the process is doing the work. That is often much easier than trying to recreate the process from memory later. You do not need to create a giant office manual no one will read. A short checklist, a shared procedure document or a task template may be enough to prevent confusion.

This is especially important for solo and small firm lawyers. In smaller offices, one person’s absence can disrupt the entire workflow. A lawyer may not realize how much depends on one staff member until that person is gone for a week.

This kind of planning is not just about convenience. It improves client service, reduces the risk of missed deadlines, supports supervision and helps the law office continue providing competent legal services when someone is unavailable. It also makes vacation more realistic. Lawyers and staff are more likely to take needed time away when they know the office has a reliable system for keeping work moving.

Before the next vacation begins, ask a simple question: “What would be difficult for someone else to handle if I were gone next week?” The answers will show you where to begin.

A helpful Attorney at Work article, Got a Process for Your Processes? Create Law Firm SOPs in 5 Easy Steps, explains how to begin creating standard operating procedures for recurring law office tasks.