Law Practice Today

Even though you might have thought you wanted to remain a solo or part of a small partnership, almost every firm goes through a time when you decide you may want to expand your practice.  A variety of reasons may stimulate such consideration.  Sometimes it is a single incident, perhaps a repetitive issue, or maybe it is something that your partner/s are bringing to the table.

Reasons to Consider Growing your Firm

Here are some possible circumstances that may lead you to believe it’s time to expand.

• You are referring cases out that are in your area of expertise or an area you would like to develop, but you don’t have the time to do the work.
• Your work life has intruded on your discretionary time in a way that is unacceptable to you and your significant others.
• You are concerned that you aren’t giving the kind of time that you would like to give to your current clients and cases.
• You aren’t returning client phone calls promptly.
• Your support staff person/people seem very overwhelmed by their workload.
• You have a vision for the future of your practice that includes more time flexibility, greater income, or something other than your current situation.
• You would like the opportunity to mentor or develop a junior attorney but it isn’t possible under the current conditions.
• You are thinking about the possibility of retiring in five years, but you won’t have anyone to whom you want to sell or refer your practice.
• Other attorneys have been referring cases to you, but you are at the point where you might have to turn the work away.
• You see opportunities on the horizon, but you don’t have enough time to follow up on the ideas that you are seeing.
• You are spending too much time handling menial tasks that are necessary, but not the best use of your lawyering abilities. 
• You are having difficulty capturing all of your billing time due to interruptions and administrative tasks.
• You can’t remember the last time you took a vacation.

If any or several of these issues seem to ring true for you; perhaps it is time to add someone to your team.

One Group’s thoughts

At a recent meeting of small firm and solo practice attorneys, the single biggest stumbling block mentioned in regard to hiring was lack of time spent in the planning process trying to determine what level of staff was necessary.  Most of the people in attendance were considering hiring a new person, but they hadn’t determined the kind of person they needed.  Did they need additional clerical help, a paralegal, a part or full time lawyer, or someone on a project basis?  More importantly, what information was necessary to help them make such a decision? 

The group’s consensus was that the planning phase of the process was their biggest stumbling block when considering hiring.  When queried the group concurred that it was reasonable to expect that the planning process of sorting out the type and level of person to hire would take approximately eight hours.  They also agreed that they had probably already spent at least that much time, if not more, worrying about how to handle staffing.  What would be entailed in such a process?

First and foremost, the hiring lawyer/s must determine what they would be looking for from a new hire, by understanding what was driving the process.  And, they should think strategically about what they wanted to “offload” from their own current work and where they wanted the firm to go in the future.  Many attorneys find themselves spending a great deal of time on work that is at a lower level than their optimal functioning, making it difficult to bill time to the greatest extent possible.  By eliminating clerical work, or entry-level activities, the billing partner could maximize his or her value, at the same time offering a junior attorney the chance to build necessary skills to learn how to be effective.

Sometimes it isn’t an attorney at all that the firm needs to hire, but rather a support staff person or a paralegal.  Part of determining at what level to hire is looking forward to determine where you would like the firm to go.  If you are primarily interested in having someone else complete lower level work to free up the attorneys to do more lawyering, or you need to time to market your practice that you can “borrow” by having someone else do some other levels of work, perhaps you do not need to hire an attorney. But if you are interested in growing your practice to add new areas, or if you are referring cases because you can’t handle the volume, you may want to think about hiring a lawyer.

A good job description – written with specifics about skill sets and practice needs is critical to finding the right kind of person.  In addition, if you are making this decision within a partnership, it is critical to get buy in and agreement about the description of the new hire’s responsibilities before you get to the interviewing phase.  Too many firms decide the kind and level of person they want to hire through the interview process rather than by consensus in advance, or the description they post is insufficient to attract the right candidates.

Biggest Mistakes

Watching small firms and solos in the hiring process, the biggest obstacles they face are often the following:

Insufficient needs analysis – The parties do not take sufficient time in advance to determine their hiring needs; not just those that are immediate, but also looking forward into the future to think about likely scenarios that might arise in the next year or more.

Wait, Wait, Wait….Rush – Many smaller firms do not think about the necessary lead time that may exist between the determination of a need and actually having someone on board.  This is often particularly true if hiring is happening because someone else is leaving.  Often, although an employer has ample warning that someone will be moving on; they wait until after that person has left to hire someone new, often resulting in literally months of lost productivity.  Needless to say, you cannot always predict turnover, but if you know that you will need to hire – act now. 

Rushing not only creates a likelihood of not having thought through needs effectively, it also can short circuit an interview process to the point that it may not be thorough, to hiring a candidate who might not have stood out if the position was posted in more places.

Not thinking Strategically about candidate Sourcing – The first place that almost anyone looks for candidates is within the organization.  First and foremost you look to your partners, and if not there to your colleagues.  Sometimes these are a great source for candidates, but they may not be sufficient.  State bar associations with interest groups for small firms and solos that can be a place where members of small firms seek information, and hence might be a place to visit when considering a new hire.  If you are hiring an attorney, and particularly if you are looking for someone newly graduated from law school or relatively junior, the law schools around your state all provide free job listings at the schools and on their web sites.

Women’s bar associations and minority bar groups in your geographic area will also often be interested in posting your position free of charge and insuring a broader audience for your posting.  If you already have associates in your firm, asking for their input into potential candidate sources is also a good idea. 

Being Inflexible about Work Options – Several of the attendees at the meeting indicated that attorneys that they recently hired work on a contract, project, or part time basis.  In each situation, the hiring attorney had originally planned on having a different work agreement – in one case looking for a part time law student and ending up with a part time attorney, and in another case, planning on hiring a full time lawyer, but finding that the best candidate only wanted to work on a contract basis.  Sometimes you believe that you are looking to hire in one way, only to learn through the hiring process that your best candidate has a different idea about how their employment needs can be met.  If you are open to ideas, you might find a situation that meets both of your needs.

Thinking that changes will occur immediately – Although you may have been thinking about hiring someone for a long time, the actual process may take longer than you had anticipated, and the changes in your practice that you were seeking may also lag behind your expectations.  Remember that when you hire someone new, they will need to get up to speed on your practice, your clients, and your work methods.  Particularly if you are hiring an attorney directly from law school, it will often take that person time to be comfortable with the practice of law.  All of these things take time, and your early investment in a good orientation process will reap benefits far into the future.

If you plan well, and make good choices, you might start thinking about planning that long needed vacation.

Wendy L. Werner is the owner and principal of Werner Associates, a legal consulting and career coaching organization.  Contact her.