Law Practice Management Asked and Answered Blog

Category: Human Resources

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Jan 05, 2022

Law Firm Remote Work Post COVID 19 – Is Remote Work Here to Stay

Question:  

Our firm is an estate planning practice in the suburbs of Washington D.C. We have five attorneys and six support staff working at the firm. During the COVID lockdowns in 2020, and to some extent in 2021, our attorneys and staff worked remotely. At first we all felt that productivity actually increased. However, after a month or two working remotely we began to change our minds. Communications with each other, review of work, etc. took much longer and once the lockdowns were lifted all of us were anxious to return to the office. We have been working almost exclusively at the office since the lockdowns were lifted. During the last several months we had to hire an additional attorney and a couple of paralegals. During the hiring process we found that prospective employees are demanding some form of remote work option. In order to hire these employees we had to provide them with a partial remote work option as well as signing bonuses. Is remote work here to stay?

Response:

I believe it is, especially in large metropolitan areas with heavy traffic congestion and long commute time. Law firms of all sizes are finding that hiring and retaining talent – attorneys and staff – is becoming increasingly difficult and is their number one strategic challenge and even more concerning than development of business. Large and small law firms are implementing permanent remote work policies in various forms.

Post-COVID-19, one of the innovations of the pandemic, the adoption of remote work, is set to attract the best talent to law firms. This was seen in a recent survey from legal recruiter Major, Lindsey & Africa, which found that most lawyers from the incoming generation are looking for an opportunity to work remotely, even if it’s just some of the time.

According to a recent survey conducted by FlexJobs survey, 97 percent of workers want some form of remote work post-pandemic, with 58 percent preferring to be full-time remote and 39 percent opting for a hybrid work environment. To provide insight into the broad interest in remote career opportunities amid an uncertain and fast-changing work landscape, FlexJobs has released a report: FlexJobs has released a report: Remote Work Statistics: Navigating the New Normal, which offers a by-the-numbers look at the current impact of remote work on the workplace.

“The data outlined in this report suggests that even during the most challenging of circumstances, remote work provides important benefits across the board,” said Sara Sutton, Founder and CEO of FlexJobs. “From improved mental health and better work-life balance to increased job satisfaction, the majority of employees have responded very favorably to remote work, with many now strongly inclined to pursue a permanent remote career. As we consider the future of work, it’s clear remote work policies will be critical in shaping the modern workplace,” Sutton concluded.

Visit https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/remote-work-statistics/ for more information.

I believe you should at least consider a partial remote work option going forward.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Sep 29, 2021

Finding and Hiring Law Firm Associate Attorneys During These COVID Pandemic Times

Question: 

I am the sole owner of an estate planning firm in Chicago Suburbs. I have three other associates in the firm. Our volume of business has expanded rapidly during the last six months and we desperately need one to two more associates on board. I have been looking for three months and have been unsuccessful. I have had some leads but when I made offers they were not accepted. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Response: 

These are tough times for attracting and retaining talent in all businesses. Law firms are having difficulty hiring lawyers as well as staff. Many of my law firm clients are telling me that finding clients is no longer their primary concern – their top strategic concern is now finding, hiring, and retaining lawyer and staff talent.

During these times it is imperative that law firms get creative and think outside of the box. Flexibility is key. Here are a few things that some of my clients have done that has resulted in successful attorney hires:

  1. Paid for sponsoring with Indeed ad placements.
  2. Took out a paid ad with their state bar association.
  3. Used a recruiter.
  4. Increased starting salary/bonuses.
  5. Added medical insurance as a benefit.
  6. Paid a signing bonus.
  7. Provided reimbursement for moving/relocation costs.
  8. Implemented a permanent remote work policy allowing all personnel to work at home a certain number of days per week.
  9. Increased number of vacation/personal time off days.
  10. Added 401k plan.

Successful law firms must attract both clients and talent in order to be successful. All businesses are suffering and having a hard time attracting and retaining attorneys and staff. This also means that other law firms are desperate and may try to steal you lawyers and staff with better pay or other incentives. You need to review all of your benefits and policies as well as compensation to make sure that you are more that just competitive – you need to be on the cutting edge and ahead of the pack. Employees now expect more flexibility, remote work, etc. than ever before.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Feb 10, 2021

Law Firm Partnership – Non Performing Partners

Question: 

Our firm is a litigation defense firm in the Chicago suburbs.  Four of us started the firm twenty years ago and we have since grown to a sixteen attorney firm consisting of eight equity partners and eight associates. The other four partners were initially associates and later admitted after they had been here for five to seven years. The other four partners bring in very little business and their production is dismal compared to the four founders. Our associates working attorney receipts are larger than a couple of our equity partners. Our compensation is a equal salary for all partners with remaining profits allocated to each partner based upon their ownership percentage which are 15% for each of the four founding equity partners and 10% for each of the other equity partners. They was no buy-in for the newer partners. Profits have been flat for several years and partner compensation as well. We would like to hear any thoughts that you may have.

Response: 

It sounds like partners are left to their own and are not accountable to other partners in the firm. Successful firms your size have performance expectations and guidelines for all attorneys in the firm with consequences for non compliance.

Many firms your size use a compensation committee to determine partner compensation and performance peer reviews – – both written and face to face interviews are conducted with each partner in the firm. Partner performance reviews are often avoided like the plague by many firms. They are time consuming and it is hard to give candid feedback to colleagues. However, without partner performance reviews neither the partners nor the firm will reach full potential. When partner performance reviews are used not only to review performance but to set measurable goals this data can be incorporated into the compensation system and provide additional hard data for providing a true measure of partner contribution and value.

You may have to consider changing your partner compensation system or changing nonperforming partners status to non-equity partners or associates.

You must muster up the courage to confront underperforming partners but before you do that you have to determine what the baseline performance expectations are for the firm, communicate them, and put in place consequences for non-compliance.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

 

Oct 21, 2020

Law Firm Effective Communications – During and Post COVID-19

Question: 

I am the firm administrator of a sixteen attorney firm in Kansas City, Missouri. We, like many other firms, have done our best to face up to the challenges presented by COVID-19. For several months attorneys and staff worked remotely from home office using the internet, telephone, and video conferencing as the primary means of communications with clients and the office. To our surprise it worked fairly well but most of the attorneys were glad when they were able to return to the office. We have been having discussions as to the long-term impact of COVID-19 both in the short-term while we continue our fight against COVID-19 and in the long-term after COVID-19 has been defeated. I would be interested in your thoughts.

Response: 

For years law firms have held the attitude that employees – attorney and staff alike must been seen, observed, and on premises in order to be productive.  Law firms that have had and continue to have their attorneys and staff working remotely during COVID-19 have disproved this premise. They have found that not only have their attorneys and staff been able to remain productive but in many cases even more productive then when they worked face to face in the office. However, communications has been a challenge for many firms.

Below is what I refer to as the scale of communication media and richness of each:

1. Face to face
2. Video Conferencing
3. Telephone
4. Email and text

Face to face is the richest form of communication and should be used for sensitive communications such as performance reviews and other such discussions concerning performance, praise, training and mentoring, etc. It should still be used when ever possible in these situations.

Video conferencing using platforms such as Zoom, GoToMeeting, Team, etc. in the second richest form of communication and should be used when face to face would normally be used but is not possible.

Telephone is the third richest form of communications and should be used for less sensitive communications or for face to face situations discussed above when a face to face meeting is physically not possible.

Email, text, and other written communications should be used for routine communications such as assignment of projects and tasks, work instructions, etc.

Sensitive and difficult communications should be communicated through a rich medium such as face-to-face meetings or video conferencing and routine communications through a lean medium such as a memo.

Media richness is determined by the speed the media provides, the variety of communications channels on which it works, the extent of personal interactions allowed, and the richness of language it accommodates. As tasks become more ambiguous, you should increase the richness of the
media that you use.

Our law firm clients have advised us that after awhile they missed the face to face interaction and found that the major problem with working remotely was that the communication with other members of their work team took much longer than walking over to the next office or desk and was frustrating. While I don’t believe that traditional offices will completely disappear, I believe that law firms have learned lessons from COVID-19 and we may see the following changes in the future:

  1. One lessen that was learned was that law firms could trust their lawyers and staff to work and be productive without being on premises and being seen.
  2. More work and related processes will be reengineered. Law firms have identified work and processes that simply don’t need to be done or need to be done in different ways.
  3. More law firms will implement cloud-based practice management and telephone systems.
  4. Video conferencing is an effective communication medium replacement for certain face to face communications and will be use more frequently for team and client meetings as well as initial new client intake meetings.
  5. Law firms will be more willing to institute remote work programs.
  6.  Law firms will reexamine how they use office space and will consider alternative office space arrangements.
  7. Lawyer to secretary ratios will increase.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Feb 06, 2020

Law Firm Marketing and Business Development Coordinator or Director

Question:

I am the sole owner of an estate planning firm in San Francisco Bay area. I have four full-time associates, six paralegals, two secretaries, a firm administrator, and four other staff members. We are a high volume operation and we do a lot of marketing. We need help coordinating and handling and coordinating the marketing. Are we ready for marketing coordinator or director?

Response: 

Personally I think the firm is a little small for a full-time marketing position. If you can find a person that is willing to work part-time that could work in a firm your size. Many firms your size and larger that have a firm administrator include marketing responsibilities on the firm administrator’s job description and have marketing and business development coordination handled by the firm administrator. Here is an example of the marketing and business development duties that your administrator could handle.

Advertising

Coordinate the firm’s advertising program established by the owner.

Business Development

Coordinate and implement the business development program established  the owner

  1. Sponsorship’s and Community Programs – oversee, plan, and coordinate the firm’s:
    (1) Client seminars
    (2) Webinars
    (3) Ad hoc events
  2. Database Management and Distribution of E-News Letters

Oversight responsibility by performing or delegating the following:

1  Updating Firm E newsletter database

2 Monthly review of E newsletter Database blocked list report,
contacting contacts for updated email addresses, and updating
e-newsletter and all related databases.

3   Update Other Firm E-newsletter Databases

4   Update case management and time billing databases

5   Distribute Electronic E newsletters.

Client Testimonials

Prompting the owner monthly to solicit one client testimonial from a client and posting or coordinating with the firm’s website provider for them to post the testimonial to the website.

  1. Business Development Committee Meetings – Friday Attorney Meetings

2  Schedule, coordinate, and maintain a file on the firm’s file
server of action items and notes from each meeting.

3  Coordinate and assist in the implementation of action items.

Public Relations

Coordinate the firm’s public relations program.

Electronic Media

1. Website

Oversight responsibility for maintaining the firm’s web site and keep
the website’s content fresh and updated in coordination with website provider.

2. Social Media

Update entries on social media.

Directories

  1. Coordinate external directory listings
  2. Update the firm resume and material for printed and electronic directories.

Client Communication/Satisfaction Program

  1. Oversight and coordination of the end of matter survey/online review
    program and maintain database of responses
  2. Prepare monthly client survey report from survey database.

Firm Announcements

Supervise preparation and distribution of firm announcements

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Jan 22, 2020

Associate Performance and Coaching

Question: 

I am a partner in a three attorney law firm based in Orlando, Florida. I did a quick Google Search this morning and stumbled upon your excellent blog posting – Associate Attorney Compensation.  John did an excellent job in answering the attorney’s question.  We have an associate who I like very much; however, heading into her 3rd year with the firm, she has gotten a bit comfortable with our laid back style of management.  Our situation is similar in many respects to the situation posted by the Chicago attorney.

I would like to find out more about whether coaching could help us improve our associate’s performance. Her billable hours are 800 per year and net profit after deducting her salary, benefits and assigned support staff from her collected fees is around $15,000 and this does not take in to account other office overhead. Frankly, I am a bit hesitant to spend more money on her practice area as it is not really producing a profit for the partners in the firm. However, I am exploring ways that we can improve the situation for this part of the law firm.  I look forward to chatting with one of you. Again, I enjoyed reading the article.

Response: 

Whether coaching can help depends upon the specific situation and the cause or causes of the problem. It sounds like you might want to kick the can down the road and have someone deal with the oversight responsibility that you and your partner should be handling. Typical causes of poor associate performance include:

An outside coach could possibly be helpful if the problem is poor time management or poor timekeeping habits. You would want her on board with using an outside coach and might want even to consider having her pay half of the coaching fee. However, if the problem is one or a combination of the other three areas, an outside coach might be a waste of money. Maybe you and your partner need coaching on the top three areas. It is also possible that you simply have an associate that wants to work nine to five and may not be wrong person on the bus. Successful professional service providers whether they be attorneys, accountants, or management consultants don’t work forty hour or less weeks – they work fifty hour plus weeks.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Jan 08, 2020

Law Firm Partner Compensation and Performance Reviews

Question: 

Our firm is a fourteen partner firm in the northern suburbs of Chicago with ten partners and four associates. We are a general practice firm with different partners focusing on specific practice areas. Our partner’s compensation is determined by a three member compensation committee.  The compensation committee uses a combination of quantitative data based upon working attorney fee collections and client fee originations and makes a subjective determination regarding other contributions that a partner has made to the firm. The problem that we have is the compensation committee does not have a way to effectively measure the other contributions that are being considered subjectively. We would appreciate your thoughts.

Response: 

Your problem is a common problem. While it is easy to measure working attorney, responsible attorney, and originating attorney fee collections, billable hours, realization rates, and other hard measures of short-term financial performance, (it is hard to capture the subtler aspects of partners’ contributions such as mentoring new lawyers, firm management, idea development) and its virtually impossible to measure the long-term present value of each partner’s work and contribution.

The key is to make the subjective considerations more measurable. Many firms are supplementing the easily measured economic contributions per partner with additional measurements to determine the actual value per partner and incorporating into their compensation systems. Some firms:

Partner performance reviews are often avoided like the plague by many firms. They are time consuming and it is hard to give candid feedback to colleagues. However, without partner performance reviews neither the partners nor the firm will reach full potential. When partner performance reviews are used not only to review performance but to set measurable goals this data can be incorporated into the compensation system and provide additional hard data for providing a true measure of partner contribution and value.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Oct 10, 2019

Finding and Training in a New Estate Planning Attorney

Question: 

I am the owner of an estate planning firm in the Western Chicago suburbs. My practice is a specialized practice that focuses on estate planning, estate administration, estate litigation, and elder law. While I was a solo practitioner for many years approximately four years ago I brought in an associate that had three or four years experience with an other estate planning firm. Unfortunately, he just gave me his notice and advised that he was leaving to join another firm. We have too much work for me to handle by myself and I am going to need another attorney with estate planning experience. How do I go about finding this person. Any suggestions that you have will be appreciated.

Response: 

I have assisted several of my Chicagoland estate planning law firm clients as well as clients in other parts of the country and I can tell you that experienced estate planning/administration and elder law attorneys are like gold and hard to find. This was even the case during the 2008 recession when recent law school graduates and experienced attorneys with other skill sets were having difficult times finding jobs. Now, with the current job market, finding experienced estate planning/administration and elder law attorneys is even more difficult. Many of these attorneys tend to work in small firms, are loyal to their firms, and less mobile. They tend to stay put and often remain with one law firm for their entire careers.

I would start your search for an experienced attorney by:

  1. Putting the word out through your professional network. Ask around.
  2. Prepare an ad for the position
  3. Post the ad with www.indeed.com, ISBA.org Career Center, LinkedIn, local suburban bar associations, and local law schools.
  4. Have resumes come to you electronically.
  5. After initially reviewing resumes and narrowing down to candidates of interest use a telephone interview as your first interview and face to face for a subsequent interview if appropriate.

If after thirty days or so you are having no luck you might have to consider using a local headhunter or simply looking for a recent law graduate and investing the time to train a new attorney.  Several of my estate planning/administration and elder law clients are having to hire new law graduates and train them. Many have been quite satisfied with the results and now believe it is the best way to go. Recent law graduates start with a clean slate and do not bring in any baggage or bad practices or habits picked up in other law firms. They are often more loyal and stay with the firm longer.

A few suggestions concerning recent law school graduates:

  1. Look for candidates that took elective courses in estates/trusts/elder law.
  2. Look for candidates that had meaningful clerking experience with law firms specializing in estate planning/administration and elder law. Not running errands but meaningful experience.
  3. Develop a comprehensive training plan with specific timelines designed to get the attorney billable and productive as soon as possible in easier forms of work (possibly guardianship) and then gradually move the attorney into simple estate plans and more complex areas over time.
  4. Be patient – the process will take time – consider it an investment.
  5. It will take time for you to make money from the new associate. Be happy if you cover the cost of the associate in the first year.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Sep 19, 2019

Do You Have “Stars” in Your Partner Ranks?

Question: 

Our firm is a second generation insurance defense firm in Bakersfield, California. We have fourteen lawyers, nine of which are partners. While all of the partners are great trial lawyers, work hard, and bill the required lawyers none of our partners are good at business development, leadership, or management. Our business comes from the client that we inherited. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Response: 

Successful law firms need at least a few star partners in their ranks.

“People are our most important asset” is a standard phrase heard in business. A more accurate and honest statement in many industries might be” competent people are a necessary component of our success.” However, as important as the company’s people are, they are somewhat expendable. The reason is simple. In most businesses the company’s competitive advantage does not rely on the retention, motivation, and behavior of particular individuals. Instead, it turns on shelf space, brand strength, core position, distribution systems, price, technology, product design, location, or any number of other variables that can exist apart from individuals who created the product or service. So except in the long term, most companies profit does not necessarily correlate with their people assets.

This is not the case for law firms. A law firm’s success depends not just on its people assets but on stars. Who are an organization’s stars? They are the individuals who have the highest future value to the organization, the men and women critical jobs whose performance is central to the company success. In a law firm, if a star leaves, the firm and its clients notice the difference. If enough stars leave the firm’s financial performance suffers. In a law firm, partners for significant clients, practice areas and offices are its stars.

In law firms stars are typically partners, but not all partners are stars nor are all stars partners. What  what makes them law from stars is that they propel the business model along all three of its dimensions – building and enduring client relationships, performing up to their full potential in putting the firm first, and implementing strategic imperatives. Because they are so accomplished other members of the firm emulate their behavior.

You need to either develop or eventually recruit a few star partners that have the leadership, management, and client development skills that help the firm grow or stagnation will develop over time. I have seen make practices such as yours limp through second generation and dissolve in third generation.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

Aug 01, 2019

Care and Feeding Associate Attorneys

Question:

I am the owner of a law firm in Chicago suburbs that specializes in estate planning. I started the firm twelve years ago. Over the years the firm has grown from just myself as a solo to a firm with myself and six associate attorneys. Prior to starting the firm I worked in several other firms as an associate and as a partner. I felt I was not being compensated for my hard work so I started by own firm. I have always worked hard and in addition to managing the firm and bringing in all the clients I bill 1700 billable hours a year. My associates are a disappointment. They work the bare minimum, some are lazy, and none are even billing 1400 hours a year. Some are not even billing 1200 hours a year. I have tried bonus systems based on production of fees collected and they have had no effect. In my old firms this was not the case, everyone worked hard and was self motivated. I am at a loss and I don’t know how to motivate these associates. I would appreciate any thoughts that you have regarding what I should do?

Response: 

I suspect that you, as a founder, expect the same sort of work ethic and drive that you, as well as others, in your prior firms had over the years. Welcome you the new generation of workers and the era of work-life balance. This is not to say this generation of workers is lazy – their priorities in life are different and work is not the only priority in their lives as it may have been in yours. They may not also not have the drive and self motivation that you had and require direction. You can’t simply put them on autopilot – they require care and feeding in the form of:

Often a little care and feeding will go a long way to changing performance and often accomplishes more that formulaic bonus systems. Here is a prior blog on how to go about this. 

I agree that 1200 billable hours is unsatisfactory and you should be expecting 1600 for your type of practice.  Expectations need to be established, if they aren’t, and consequences for non-compliance. I think bonus systems such as yours are fine but often do not accomplish desired results without some care and feeding. If you are unwilling to do some care and feeding your other option is to fire your worst offenders and try to replace them with self-motivated associates that have a documented track record of performance. Getting the right people on the bus can be more productive than care and feeding beyond a certain point.

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John W. Olmstead, MBA, Ph.D, CMC

 

 

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