INTRODUCTION
This paper offers a basic discussion of small firm organization and management. I hope I can pass on a few tips to keep others from making the same mistakes I’ve made (not that there have been many).
- INTRA-OFFICE MANAGEMENT
- General Office Management
Establish how your office is going to be run. This sounds simple enough, but you must have a plan for managing case files, dealing with clients, accounting and time management, managing business functions, and handling employees. Write these procedures down and have them in place before you start your law practice.
Have a good office manager to run your office. Do not leave the day to day management of the office to the partners – attorneys are busy people, and they want to spend their time practicing law, not ordering more light bulbs. They don’t want to mess with the little details, so have someone in charge of this. Another added advantage of having an office manager is he or she can be the go-between and the buffer between the staff and the partners – someone with authority to whom the staff can vent without bringing he partners into the mire. It’s also much more cost effective to have an office manager – you don’t want the $300/hour partner worrying about the broken ice machine.
- Law Office Organizational Structure
If you are considering a solo practice, you are probably a free spirit and don’t want to submit to the will of others or don’t have the patience for the inefficiency or bureaucracy of a big firm or government practice. Typically, people like you – creative types – are not very organized.
But in order to get through law school and pass the bar exam, you’ve already mastered some organizational plan or strategy. Although you might not believe it, the bar exam did prepare you for the practice of law. So you know how to organize, now you just have to apply it to your business.
Here’s the bad news: unless you owned a small business before, you have never organized anything like your “practice.” You are going to be amazed at how hard it is and how much you don’t know, even though you are licensed to practice law.
The most important skill you learned in law school is how to find information. You are going to get to put that skill to use in more ways than you could have imagined. You need to research, plan, and implement a practice management strategy that will work for you and your employees. This organizational plan will take years to fine tune, and will constantly evolve. Understanding this from the beginning is the first step to success. So the next time you are alone looking in a mirror say out loud “I understand that planning and implementing a practice management strategy is a lifetime commitment. It is like getting married or having a child. I understand that and I am committed to work on it like it is a marriage or a child for which I am responsible.” Maybe if you say it out loud you will believe it – and do it.
- If you are not organized, you are sure to commit malpractice (or at least your clients will think you did)
I should not have to tell you, but I will. The bottom line is this. If you don’t keep an organized calendar and you don’t calendar deadlines, eventually you will probably commit malpractice.
- Clients expect lawyers to be professional and business-like.
If you are organized, and responsive, and responsible, you will appear to be professional. Theoretically, as a lawyer, you are a professional. However, if you do not act like a professional, how can you be a professional? Always act in a professional manner, in all aspects of your life. You should dress like a professional, talk like a professional, and always treat everyone in a respectful manner.
- Time is Money
It is an old cliche, but very true, especially in the legal business. You must really apply this law of life to your business. You must figure out what your time is worth then figure out what each and every activity you are doing is really worth. Is it worth it to be setting up your own filing system? Maybe yes, since a business consultant might charge $150/hour. Is it worth it to actually do the filing? Probably not, when you can pay a college student $8/hour to do the filing for you.
This cliche is also true when managing your billable hour. If you are organized, it will be easy to make the transition from one client to another without losing billable time making the transition. It is easy to bill 8 hours in a day when you work all day on the same brief for the same client. It is hard to bill 6 hours in a day when you work for 8 different clients, respond to phone calls, review and respond to emails, review mail, and give general advice.
- Why reinvent the wheel?
When organizing your practice, make sure you consider how you are going to save those documents that are created over and over again. It could be as simple as creating a form file, it could mean creating subdirectories for each client wiht the type of documents, or it could mean investing in some law practice management software that databases your documents when you create them.
A commonly used integrated system with a document management component is pclaw. PC law allows you to index your document by document type and include a description, mater, date created. There are other software programs out there too, including Perfect Law and Abacus Law. The good thing about going with a program usedby a lot of people is that it is likely you will find help from an unlikely source, other users.
- Maximize your profit margin
Working smart, understanding your worth, and using document management software will maximize your profit margin. Obviously you have to do what you can to cover your expenses, but don’t forget to always be looking forward. As you grow, are you really going to have time to “work” your cases as you know you should if you are managing your office and filing your pleadings in your cabinet? Smart business people maximize their profit margin as early as possible. Be smart. Spend money when it will make your business more efficient, which will allow you to maximize your ultimate profits.
- There is life outside the office
Remember a lawyer is what you are not who you are. You will be a better lawyer if you are a happy lawyer. Don’t you like your kids or spouse or friends? Take time for yourself, if you don’t you will not be practicing law for very long.
- Law Office Management Principles
- Work on your practice, not for your practice
Working on your practice, not for your practice is the tag line for the principles laid out above. Work smart – bill time and market your practice. Only you can do those things. For the things that a $10/hour file clerk can do, hire a part-time file clerk to do it.
