ByLawyers News and Updates

Time management

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By Guy Dawson, CEO

 

 

Time is finite.
We all have the same quantity.
It cannot be enlarged or extended.
It is set and settled.

 

 

 

So the use of our time, effectively or clumsily, productively or wastefully, differentiates between good outcomes and modest ones. Many of us say: How can we do more when we work all day already? This fails to appreciate that it is the effective use of time, not just time spent, that counts.

So, the question is how to use time effectively?

Not surprisingly it starts with spending no time at all on work through automation.

Interactive data bases populating pre-written letters and documents with automatic entry of accounts to client ledgers. Sublime – concentrate on the law not the production. Introducing such a system is astonishingly time saving to those who have not experienced it before.

It progresses to introducing a system that provides direct access to information that may be needed to find an answer to a legal question or to a practice or procedural issue without any time spent looking for it. Information retrieval can be a major, time-consuming activity in all but the rote work in a practice, and even then there are occasions you need to look something up.

Having established a sewing machine system for handling matters, attention needs to be given to the time spent in communications with staff members, particularly in dealing with the many questions that arise each day such as customer complaints, wage increases and holiday rosters. By having in place a management system that deals with the various office policies and procedures, and that is accessible, and readily understood, by all staff is a major time saver. It also empowers staff members by providing them some independence.

The nature of legal practice is such that no one has the time to devote to administration unless it is critical. Despite good intentions the only consideration given to time usage is at best occasional, when forced on the principal, usually in situations such as a failure to meet a time constraint.

In a truly contradictory fashion time spent on the practice, which is largely seen as the most non-productive expenditure of time is in fact the most productive time saving activity of all!

A source of anxiety

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By Guy Dawson, CEO

All of us behave to comply with the views of the group to which we belong. It is our collective mindset. We witness this in our children every day as they seek to fit in with their peers at school. Long hair short hair, shirt in shirt out, don’t drop me off in the Porsche please use the ute, can’t leave before midnight not 10 please Mum. And so it goes. As Aussies we don’t much like the way the Yanks carry on and as for the French or the Germans well what are they all about, they don’t even play cricket.

And so here we are in 2017 in a group which boasts of a 30% depression rate and twice the general population’s substance abuse. And this group has since 1970 multiplied in number 50-fold. This is us – legal practitioners.

So what goes on that makes our group have such a high level of dysfunction? Why is it that almost universally practitioners express their desire to do something else if only there was something else they could do?

Perhaps some answers.

The job is demanding – Organise the office. Use matter management software, accounting software, purchase or subscribe to reliable up to date legal support materials including precedents. Manage risk by using matter plans for the conduct of every matter.

Clients are always trouble – Learn how to ensure the monkey stays on the client’s back – not yours. Put the client’s interests in front of your own. Candour efficiency and charges that are reasonable and in line with the market, are essential in minimising trouble.

Can’t rely on the staff – Incentivise, train and have strong reliable office values. The psychology of all businesses flows down from the top. Your nature will be the nature of the practice. Ideally, light hearted, efficient and successful.

There is always conflict – speak to the other side’s practitioner. Seek compromise and agreement. Resolve arguments as quickly and cheaply as possible. Never put fee earning above quick resolutions.

My professional responsibilities and compliance requirements overwhelm me – remember the purpose of all the rules is to ensure that the relationship with clients is an honest one. Get the retainer right, do the job well and on time, charge market rates, communicate with clients. Easy really !

With the deregulation of fees our profession became a business and put us in competition with an ever-growing group of fellow members.

For the sake of the law it is time we recognised that a ‘business’ model does not work and we returned to the days when we were a profession and part of an important group worthy of the respect of the community for the role we play in the implementation of a fair and stable civil and criminal system. The practice of law is a challenge not a sentence. It has scope for great satisfaction but like all good things takes some work to achieve.

 

The search for an easy way

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By Guy Dawson, CEO

Bearing in mind that easy paths are always downhill is it possible to practice law in an untroubled way? It seems unlikely in the face of the evidence of the widespread dislike of the lawyers lot. Why is it that a serious approach to the lawyers duty to act in the best interests of their clients is assumed to be difficult and preclude good humour and a light touch. Must it be so? No. The onerous complexity of legal practice is reduced by matter and information management systems that are readily available. Why is it that, after years of study, the pursuit of knowledge stops on graduation and inertia replaces investigation of the next step of converting intellectual preparation to its practical application.

The practice of laws is not a sentence to misery but it needs effort to find the easy path which is not downhill. Systems systems systems is the answer. Spending the time and the money to introduce them is the only path to practicing happily.

Office organisation

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By Guy Dawson, CEO

The importance of office organisation cannot be overstated. It provides the basis of profitable and worry free practice. Profit is not necessarily related to size or location or how busy a firm may be. Research shows that busy firms are often poor profit performers due to poor office organisation and managerial practices. The more profitable firms simply better organise and manage their practices.

The work in a practice is usually either low margin repetitive work like conveyancing which is handled by staff members under the supervision of the principals or high margin work in which the costs are less critical to the client than the quality of the advice. Low margin work requires highly organised practices and this can be achieved through the adoption of readily available technology and systems.

Such systems establish the role of each person in the practice by allocating their responsibilities. These are defined in a position description. In performing their role staff need direction, ongoing support, and training. Office policies are the everyday rules by which the office ship is steered and must be foremost in everyone’s mind all the time. Examples include, how to answer the phone, how to behave towards clients, how to deal with complaints, on time delivery of work. This is best achieved through saving a policy manual on the desktop of each staff member and regular if not daily but brief meetings for discussion by all team members. By this means a team is created with a supportive and coherent approach to the complex work of a legal practice.

Time spent on a practice is rewarded in multiples when working in a practice.

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