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By Jared Correia
The job market remains tight for employers, and there is not necessarily an end in sight. There’s that old saying that “good help is hard to find,” and that may never be truer than it is right now. But if you’re only looking for a traditional hire, you may be overlooking some options that could be a viable fit in your environment.
On the Clock: Test Your Law Firm’s Efficiency
Now, you may feel overwhelmed. You may be convinced that your only route out of that is to hire an employee, a staffer, a lawyer, to assist. And while it is true that hiring is essential to law firm growth, it may not be the case that you’re overwhelmed because you need to hire. How would you know? Well, you should stress test your law firm around efficiency. Because if you can get more efficient, you can accommodate more work — potentially the work you already have. Most law firms operate on feel, but to be able to effectively determine whether you and your staff are operating at peak efficiency, you’ll want to start tracking some data. Probably the most effective KPI (key performance indicator) for law firms to determine efficiency is utilization rate, which is a measure of how much billed work is accomplished during the workday. The average small law firm’s billers are only actually billing ~25% of the time. That number can be improved, surely. And a simpler way to configure this may be to just monitor billable hours on a weekly or monthly basis, which many law firms don’t do, either.
So, one way to become more efficient is to better leverage technology in your law firm. Technology, especially cloud software, can grant law firms increased efficiency by reducing redundancy and streamlining work processes, including through the flexibility granted by those cloud tools. But in the modern world, technology can also serve to replace human operators. Automation tools assist law firms in generating documents, scheduling appointments, taking payments and acquiring signatures, and the technology tools that can do this are cheaper, faster and make fewer mistakes than humans. And the rise of AI will only make this differentiation more stark.
Contractual Obligation: Using Non-Employees to Fill Gaps In Your Law Firm
If your law firm is ultra-efficient and you still need some more help, that technology cannot provide, in lieu of an employee hire, you could begin to look at contractors. Lawyers use contractors for a host of projects: to generate first drafts of documents, for court coverage, to assist in research, or to work on specific files or inside of certain practice areas. If you’re willing to utilize virtual staff, you could potentially access less expensive overseas options, especially for non-substantive legal tasks. And, if your law firms would require a deeper relationship with a lawyer contractor, the “of counsel” relationship is a popular option for affiliating between lawyers that admits of co-marketing opportunities.•
Jared D. Correia, esq., is the founder and CEO of Red Cave Law Firm Consulting. A former practicing attorney, Jared has been advising lawyers and law firms for over a decade. He is a regular presenter at local, regional and national events, including ABA TECHSHOW. He regularly contributes to legal publications, including his column, “Managing,” for Attorney at Work, and his “Law Practice Confidential” advice column for Lawyerist. Jared is the author of the American Bar Association publication, “Twitter in One Hour for Lawyers.” He is the host of the Legal Toolkit podcast on Legal Talk Network. Jared also teaches for Concord Law School, Suffolk University Law School and Solo Practice University.
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