Rethinking the roles of your firm’s support staff

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Improve workplace efficiency by maximizing employee contributions

By Tony Ogden
Dolan Media Newswires

Improving your law firm’s efficiency is more important than ever, and a good place to streamline is with your support staff.

Several decades ago, said Jim Calloway, director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program, “we tended to classify staff as either secretaries or legal assistants, with a receptionist thrown in. The other model was the personal assistant, where somebody’s job was to accept orders for a single lawyer.

“Now, there are so many different skills that can be needed in a law firm environment.”

Instead of organizing support staff based on tried-and-true templates, try customizing your staff’s duties to fit your firm’s needs. It can yield better results.

But first, you need your staff’s input on the best way to move forward.

“The lawyer at the top of the pyramid is rarely the one who knows what needs to be done. It needs to be the staff that’s empowered and encouraged,” said Bill Jawitz, principal of SuccessTrack ESQ, a law practice management consulting firm in Milford, Conn.

Nancy Byerly Jones, head of NBJ Consulting & Conflict Resolution in Banner Elk, N.C., suggested asking staff members how they would organize responsibilities if they were the leader of the firm, and then giving them time to think about their answer.

Jawitz has his clients ask their staff members the following question: “Of all the things you do over the course of the year, what small number of things are repeated and take up most of your time?”

With this information, you can determine how to divvy up tasks.

Calloway recommends having staff specialize as much as possible. For example, one staff member can handle scheduling for all the lawyers in the firm, while another drafts contracts and another focuses on depositions. That will allow each staff member to become a master of his or her assigned role rather than trying to juggle multiple roles at a time. It also might require learning new technologies to operate more efficiently.

“Everyone on the team needs to do what’s best for the firm,” said Jones.

For support staff who shy away from learning the technology needed to accomplish their jobs effectively, “you have to work with them individually and privately to help them understand why they have got to make an attitude change,” said Jones. “You’ve got to give them time to do it, and if they don’t, you need to show them the door.”

Jones and Calloway also recommend backup systems in the form of cross-training and written procedures to ensure the practice doesn’t grind to a halt every time someone takes a sick day.

Also, Jones warned, avoid specializing to the point that staff members don’t have opportunities to expand their skillsets.