May 24, 2007
Delegation Day in the Law Firm
Hildebrandt’s Rees Morrison passes along a simple but clever technique for encouraging attorneys to improve efficiency by finding delegable tasks for non-lawyer members of the team. The idea comes from the corporate world but should work to everyone’s benefit in a law firm as well. The law department asked its attorneys collectively to identify 20 activities that the lawyers were doing but that could be handed off to paralegals, administrative assistants or other support persons.
The panelist sharing the law department’s experience noted that staff members were energized by the initiative. What attorneys were happy to hand off was refreshing and challenging to others. Given the results, the department expanded its goal and accomplishments well beyond the original 20 activities.
I have heard of law firms declaring an e-mail free day to get the team members out of the habit of using e-mail instead of picking up the phone or walking down the hall. So, why not set aside one day per month or per quarter during which time attorneys are asked to identify one to three things they do that could be done by others in the future. Start with partners. Include their secretaries or assistants, i.e., have the assistant identify something that they could do for the partner that would free up the partner’s time for more valuable work. This could involve administrative activities, tasks involving billable work, or even business development activities, including those related to client relations and networking.
I would also suggest that we expand the charge to say “delegate or eliminate”. Parkinson’s Law is always at work in every law firm. For example, there is a natural tendency to add reports and reporting steps, but without deliberate efforts, they are seldom reduced. Thus, Parkinson’s Law is constantly driving non-billable time demands upward and pushing non-revenue producing expenses higher. To offset this tendency, management must be constantly diligent—simplifying and eliminating.
The idea is to take a little time once a month to think about how to do things better. Don’t forget to measure performance and results. Don’t hesitate to reward non-partner participants for ideas that prove to be unusually beneficial.
For the “delegate or eliminate” idea to really pay off for the firm, the mantra of good management applies here as well as everywhere else—plan, set goals, measure performance and hold people accountable.
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