5 Common Concerns When Delegating Work and How to Tackle Them
1 “If I don’t do it myself, it will not be done right”
This is the first thought that comes to our minds when delegating isn’t part of our everyday routine yet. It’s common and understandable, yet it’s far from being beneficial for you or your firm. Believing that you’re the only person that can perform a task effectively will not only make you waste resources but, if you think about it, it can also be a little naive. For example, how many good law firms are out there? How many competent, efficient, committed, and even perfectionist legal practitioners have you met throughout your entire career? How many people are as passionate as you about law, that will want to perform their job properly? You can be absolutely certain that there are people out there that can, and will, be the right fit for your practice, the key is knowing how to choose the right person. […]
How to Turn Clients Away Without Creating Offense
I’ve written about warning signs that a potential new client may be a train wreck waiting to happen to your law practice. If you pay attention to such warnings, then you may find yourself wondering just how to turn clients away without creating offense. That’s just what one of my clients struggled with recently. Here are my thoughts and thoughts from other attorneys, too.
How NOT to Turn Clients Away
Attorneys have a variety of ways that they handle potentially undesirable clients. Here are 3 methods that I do NOT recommend using to decline the representation. […]
Lists Improve Lawyer Time Management
“Duh! Tell me something I don’t already know,” you might have said to yourself when you read this headline about lawyer time management. I’m sure you already have some kind of list on your desk, on your computer, or on your mobile device right now. And yet, I frequently find myself coaching lawyers about creating and reviewing lists to improve lawyer time management and reduce the overwhelm of modern law practice.
There are many different kinds of lists with different functions and different ways to manage them. This post will include a “list of lists” and a brief description of their benefits or functionality. Check out David Allen’s, best-selling book Getting Things Done and his website of the same name for more elaboration on some of these ideas. I also invite you to share your suggested additions to this list in the comments below. […]
Where Can I Find a Virtual Paralegal to Match My Practice?
“There just are not enough hours in the day to do everything myself! I want to improve my work-life balance by delegating tasks, but no one is available. I keep reading and hearing about virtual paralegals and virtual assistants as affordable options, but I wonder: Where can I find virtual support which meets the needs of my law practice?”
Solo and small firm attorneys often share these same thoughts. For both groups, virtual paralegal or virtual assistant support is often the perfect solution provided you find the assistant who matches your needs. The first step is deciding what task(s) you want to delegate. That list will grow quickly if you could find the right person. Your next move will be checking out the following sources to identify the names of virtual paralegals or virtual assistants who have experience in your practice area. […]
Overcoming Fears of Virtual Legal Assistants
Is running your law practice growing to more than you can handle, but maybe not enough for full-time help? As a prudent business person, perhaps you aren’t ready to make the commitment to hire more staff or to lease additional space to accommodate them. If you find yourself working too many long hours just to keep up, and doing work that you should be delegating, maybe it’s time to experiment with a virtual paralegal or virtual administrative assistant. Virtual workers can permit you to flexibly expand and contract your office staff as your needs fluctuate on a project by project basis. […]
Overcome Bad Habit Loops
This year is almost over. As you think about next year, do you have things you want to do differently? Have you started contemplating your New Year’s Resolutions yet? Do you notice some of the same items on your list that you had last year? Perhaps you are a victim of “the power of habit.”
New York Times business reporter, Charles Duhigg, published an excellent book called The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business in 2012. He summarized research by neuroscientists on habits and provided illuminating case studies of how people and companies broke bad habits and transformed their futures. Using the research and principles Duhigg described, I’ll provide some guidance on how you can look at the patterns in your life to design structures for better habits in the future. […]