Commentary: Your success and your assistant

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I’m writing this month’s column at 5:00 a.m., which means that the potential for wit and humor is out the window. Nevertheless, while this column may be a bit sleepy, it is packed full of essential information – specifically, how your assistant can maximize your success.

Your working relationship with your assistant can hugely impact your success as an attorney. A great assistant can help you organize, be on top of your calendar, be more efficient and improve client service.

In order to achieve all of these things, though, it is important to communicate well with your assistant, let him or her know how important their role is, and, above all, be respectful.

Once upon a time there was a lawyer named Carol. Carol had an assistant named Betsy and a client named Mary. Mary called one day while Carol was out of the office in a trial. Mary had lost the employment agreement Carol sent to her last week and had an employee starting who needed to sign it. When Carol didn’t pick up, the phone rang over to Betsy.

Remember the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books you read as a kid? These are your two scenarios:

A – Betsy picks up the phone, recognizes Mary’s voice, says hello, is friendly, and asks about the business. Mary is pleased to be recognized as a client and asks if Carol is available. Betsy says “Carol is out of the office, but is there anything I can help you with?”

Mary indicates that she’s misplaced the employment agreement and needs another copy today. Betsy quickly finds the letter sent by Carol to Mary last week with the employment agreement attached and says “I can resend that to you right away.” She forwards on the agreement (with a copy to Carol so she knows about the exchange with Mary).

Mary is so pleased with the good customer service that she tells the president of Giant ABC Company what a great firm Carol has, and Carol gets work from Giant ABC.

B – Betsy picks up the phone. Mary asks for Carol and Betsy replies, “Carol’s not here.” Mary states that she needs a copy of the employment agreement. Betsy replies, “Carol will be back in the office tomorrow.”

Mary hangs up the phone, frustrated that she has to wait to have her employee sign the employment agreement and tells three of her closest business associates, President of Giant ABC Company, VP of We Love to Spend Money on Lawyer’s Bills, Inc., and CEO of Huge Lawsuit in the Works.org.

All three people, plus Mary, are left with the impression that Carol’s firm has poor customer service and Carol misses out on getting additional clients.

As you can see from my little tale, customer service is essential. My firm enforces good customer service at all levels, which includes the support staff. Make certain that you and your assistant are on the same page when it comes to phone practices (i.e. friendly voice, client recognition, willingness to assist when possible). Even Starbucks prides itself on being able to recognize its customers’ names – make that your practice too.

Get organized

Now let’s talk about organization. It is amazing what a truly organized office can do for your efficiency. How many times have you spent 20 minutes looking for your notes from a meeting that you’re sure were on your desk?

I can’t possibly give you all of the tools for organization, because everyone is different, but invest in some books on office organization or attend a seminar (or ask your assistant to attend a seminar). Then work with your assistant to develop ideas for your office. Make it a plan that your assistant knows so that he or she can easily come into your office and find things in case that urgent client call comes in or a partner needs something while you are out.

Using dictation is another way to use your assistant to your advantage.

I’ve noticed that the newer generation of lawyers tends to do their own typing. I am guilty of this myself. We’ve all had computers since our teenage years and likely typed our own papers in college and our own outlines in law school, so typing our own work at the office seems comfortable.

But after some prodding from one of the partners at my firm, I have started to learn the skill of dictating, and it truly does save time. Those 10 minutes you spend formatting and correcting a document can add up. Having your assistant work on formatting and typing instead of doing it yourself can only improve efficiency.

This doesn’t mean you have to throw your computer out the window. You can still type some things – just be conscious when you are typing something that it could more efficiently be done by your assistant.

Finally, I want to briefly address the topic of respect.

Your assistant is hugely important to your success as a lawyer and your firm’s success. If you haven’t caught on already, you’ll learn soon that you can make or break the response time of a project and work production in general by the way you treat your assistant. If you treat your assistant well, he or she will want to go out of their way to help you, which will only improve your performance as an attorney, increase your success and the success of your firm.

As final note, the next Administrative Professional’s Day is April 21, 2010. Don’t forget!

Cindy L. Fryda who graduated from Marquette Law School in 2003, is a labor and employment attorney at The Schroeder Group S.C., Attorneys at Law. She started out working at a boutique labor and employment law firm, then she handled labor and employment issues for a $3.5 billion publicly traded company. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].