"Things refuse to be mismanaged long."
ADMINISTERING AND MANAGING THE CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAW OFFICE - A Solo's Guide
Getting Ready to Run a Business
The poet Robert Frost said, "The difference between a job and a career is the difference between forty and sixty hours a week." Administering a small law office is no small task. As a lawyer, your primary objective is to provide high quality legal services to your clients in a manner that results in client satisfaction with your efforts. You are also faced daily with a multiplicity of ever-changing human and financial dynamics that require correct business and client-centered choices. Your job centers around planning and problem-solving. You have to manage your caseload and your business. The twin goals are to create an office system that facilitates the delivery of excellent services to your clients, while stimulating the continued vital growth and productivity of your practice. As the person in charge of your office, you must equip yourself with the business knowledge, supervisory skills, and resources to meet these goals. The successful criminal defense lawyer usually manages his or her office in a manner that allows a substantial portion of the work to be done by other people, i.e., employees. Small Businesses CCH Toolkit Business Information Search Business Guidance Government Information Better Business Bureau SBA Small Business Advisor. American Express Business Site Nolo Small Business Info Ninja Suit Ehow (free membership for full access) Businesstown
This law office management page of the CCJA web site, with over 375 useful small business related hyperlinks, is devoted to assisting private criminal defense lawyers who are working without a net. Although listings of criminal defense lawyers increasingly include big name law factories, private criminal defense practitioners typically work in what can be fairly described as small law offices with one to four lawyers and one to four support persons. Most private defenders are working solo without any support network. Many graduated from law school and never gained a mentor. They simply began practicing law. The discussion on this CCJA Law Office Management (LOM) web page is geared for the small law office run by a private defender who is netting from $75 to $150 thousand per annum. The information you find here is not for the "big guns" who defend the mafia, the drug cartel, and Hollywood celebrity types. These folks, the oft-times arrogant, egotisical ones who make the chest-pounding speeches at the Las Vegas, ski-vacation, and island seminars and own houses in Aspen, LaJolla, and/or the Hamptons, have large staffs to take care of business. The criminal justice system has made those egocentric big shots mega-rich. If you are one of these folks, quit reading - this is not for you.
This material is presented for the defenders in the trenches, the ones who are not well-known senior partner types. Working class criminal defense lawyers who who show up at the courthouse every day are sometimes criticized because they don't produce anything, but they have an indestructible worth. If you are a day laborer in the vineyard of criminal defense, I salute you. You are the backbone of a lean and lonely line of lawyers, facing a government whose tendrils constantly thirst for ways to expand its power and, in the process, diminish the individual liberty and freedom that people in a just society deserve. It's you men and women in the courtroom, often defending the worst amongst us, that keep the government at bay and, in the process, protect our Constitution. You are the true guardians of liberty. You are the paladins of the citizenry.
More power to the fat cat chest-thumpers, but they need no help from CCJA in managing their law practices. Likewise, public defenders, prosecutors, and big law factories with a white-collar crime section can hire experts to streamline their offices. But what about the recent law grad, typically with $85,000 of law school loan debt from a private law school or $55,000 from a public one, who, without any mentoring, is trying to set up shop as a defender of those accused of crime? And how about the struggling neophyte criminal defense lawyer who has been licensed for a couple of years? If you are one of these folks, you already know that you need all the help you can get in starting up and/or managing your law office. One good resource is the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA; but, aside from the excellent Law Practice Today magazine, some useful free articles (1), (2) on budgeting, billing, and technology, plus their useful SOLOsez info exchange site, section membership has a price tag attached. You may find a few integrated state bar associations that provide solo practitioners with practice information, e.g., Texas. In recent years a number of practitioners have created blawgs, e.g., My Shingle has a list of them, Build a Solo Practice, HomeOfficeLawyer, TheNon-BillableHour, CounseltoCounsel, AmazingPractices, The Inspired Solo, Legal Insanity, MsJD (for XX's) that focus on law practice issues faced by solos. You may find help at this site that provides small firms with lots of useful business reading material. So, here we are with some modest CCJA suggestions and some links to free sources that nascent defenders can utilize in setting up a private criminal defense office and keeping it afloat.
Some of us may have had the good fortune to clerk for an established firm while in law school. One of the advantages of clerking is to observe a real lawyer practicing law. Another is to learn how a law office is managed. The bar associations of several states have web sites containing useful information about LOM, e.g., setting billing rates, drafting an employee handbook, preparing a law office business plan, needs analysis for technology, cash flow budgeting, setting up trust accounts, evaluating office leasing needs, planning for relocation, LOM marketing strategies, becoming an employer, etc. (1), (2), (3). Most law schools offer a course in Law Office Management (LOM). No disrespect is intended, but sometimes the law school LOM course is taught by tenured non-practitioner professors who haven't recently had the responsibility of running a solo practice and/or meeting a payroll. Because they are acquainting students with a broad range of practice, from mega to solo, such courses can be generalist in approach. Fortunately, there are a few good how-to-do-it books for solo practitioners. See Books below. There are even a few web-based articles (1), (2), (3 -10 tips), (4), by practitioners or consultants and Blawgs (1), (2 - a consultant) devoted to LOM. Many of the law school LOM courses utilize the hands-on books, i.e., How to Start and Build A Law Practice and How to Get and Keep Good Clients, produced for several decades for the ABA by lawyer Jay Foonberg and now in its fifth edition. [Note: I must confess that I haven't read these books for many years, but you can review the most recent editions for yourself by going to Foonberg's web site which proudly proclaims that the How to Start ... book is the most stolen from law libraries around the country.] Sadly, the big criminal defense organizations, such as the NACDL (with +10,000 members) don't appear to spend much effort helping their defender members sharpen their managerial and business skills. The same may be said for the Macon Georgia based National College of Criminal Defense which, with a spindly staff of three ladies and a cat, appears to offer no law office management training. By way of contrast, the National College of District Attorneys, spearheaded by Dean Mary Galvin and courtroom technology guru Jim Dedman, Director of Academic Training, delivers a panoply of offerings, including dedicated courses in office administration and investigation. Yet, upon reflection, we would all agree that the management and design of the small criminal defense office, the staffing, and the procedures for delivery of defense services to the accused client are essential keys to successful, effective, and productive practice. Accordingly, CCJA presents this Law Office Management page as a starting point to partially fill the vacuum by providing a modicum of free advice and help for you, the fledgling solo criminal defense practitioner.
Learning Business Skills
Why should you be concerned with learning about the business skills, technology, techniques, and methods that provide the structural backbone of your service delivery operation. What's at stake? Your success as a business person depends on client satisfaction. If your clients think they've been mistreated, they'll tell anyone who will listen about the criminal defense lawyer who dropped them in the grease. They'll never refer you a case, and, if, by chance, they are ever the subject of another criminal accusation, they will not use your services. The dissatisfied client is the client who will balk at paying the balance of your fee. The dissatisfied client is the client who will jump ship and hire another lawyer. The dissatisfied client is the client who will file a grievance against you with state bar association. In short, sloppiness in delivering legal services to your clients spells disaster for your business.
Aside from courtroom and negotiation skills, your success in handling clients depends, in large part, on the way you manage your practice. Your attitude, behavior, and actions will set the standard for your employees. How will you structure your office, deal with difficult clients, find capable support personnel, motivate your employees, and deal with the stress that flows from trying to help people who face loss of life, liberty or property?
PUTTING TOGETHER THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A PRIVATE CRIMINAL DEFENSE PRACTICE
Starting and Operating a Business
To understand the legal issues involved in starting a small business and to protect your law office, see "The Upstart Small Business Legal Guide, Second Edition" complete with forms. Planning and budgeting are essential to your business success. For example, you'll need to set financial goals for your criminal defense practice, put a budget together, track your expenditures, and measure your financial progress. Start-ups will need a business plan for delivering criminal defense services. Check these sources also: Developing a Business Plan (1), (2), (3), (4 and a Blawg ) Incorporation (1), (2), (3) Financing & Banking (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) Management (1), (2) Trouble Shooting (1) General Marketing of Your Business (1), (2), (3), (4) Federal Taxes - (1- IRS Small Business Self-Employed Page), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7) Federal Government Guide to Government Sites - (1) You'll also need a plan for promote yourself and your defense business. See below, Build a Profitable Practice with a Marketing Plan and Stratagems.
Marketing and Management Consultants for Law Firms
There are a number of consulting firms that assist law firms with marketing and management solutions. They also help with career strategy choices. These consultants charge for their services, but most have web sites that contain useful free articles on the subjects of marketing and managing law firms. If you can't afford to pay for the consulting services, you still may want to avail yourself of the opportunity to gain free self-help guidance from the numerous articles about marketing and managing a law practice that are posted on these various sites. Here's a list of some of the companies whose sites you should investigate for valuable information on how to market your legal services: (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7).
Office Administration
- Organizational Structure - The organizational chart of a small law office is not complex. Why? Because there are few employees to recruit, train , and manage. The very fact that your office is small does create potential problems. For example, in a small firm where one or two people have the responsibility for management and day-to-day operation of the office, from handling the mail to ordering supplies to keeping the books and writing checks, it is difficult to avoid putting an employee in a position where it is difficult to commit fraud. With a large firm, one can divide the money-related responsibilities among several people. Not so with a small firm. Still, you must make certain decisions: Who screens mail? Who makes bank deposits? Who approves checks? Who signs checks? Who reviews bank statements? Who keeps the books? If one person is doing all of these things, that person must be absolutely trustworthy. Nevertheless, with planning and business organization (1) you can increase your own productivity and performance and that of your associates and support staff. .
- Facility Management - What's involved in the operation (1), (2) of a business? Organization of the work in your office will allow you to increase your billable time and provide better service to your clients. The trend in practice is to move to a paperless office. Every law office needs a software system to assist with management of the office, transforming data into documents, coordination of the staff, keeping track of documents, communications, etc. There are a number of available practice management software systems (1), (2), (3). Here's an article briefly comparing the first two systems.
Tip: How do you manage your small criminal defense firm to avoid major problems? You do this with preventive maintenance. You can anticipate problems before they arise. You can have systems at play that will either avoid problems or contain them. For example, you can create the proverbial "back-up system." In space travel they call such systems "redundancies" because they serve as duplicates for preventing failure of an entire system upon failure of a single component.
- Caseload & Docket Management - As a trial lawyer, you must keep track of time limits and deadlines established by statutes and court rules. Exact time limits vary among the jurisdictions, but every case has time limits and deadline that must be met. Time management advice is freely available on the Internet (1). You'll also find listings for a many different forms of law office software that facilitate active computer assisted caseload and docket management (1). Keep your calendar on your computer.
Never miss a deadline! Effective calendaring of your cases is essential. Keep a special calendar that tracks your docketing and filing deadlines. A timeline with a monthly calendar of deadlines may help keep you out of high water. Many of the problems that arise out of attorney-client relationship result from scheduling lapses on the part of the attorney.
- Time Billing, Fees, and Client Monitoring Systems - Whatever billing format you use, be certain that it is readily understandable and sufficiently descriptive for your clients to comprehend what services you have performed for them. This can prevent client dissatisfaction. Keep time records contemporaneously with your efforts. If you are billing by the hour, send written bills regularly. As a matter of standard office procedure, all checks for fees should be made payable to your firm, not to an individual. Your time and billing system should feature various forms of fees, e.g., flat, hourly, etc., and trust accounts, e.g., IOLTA (TX) and non-IOLTA. (Trust accounts).
Billing is a bit more complicated than simply generating a written bill - sending out the bill - receiving payment of the bill. You need to be aware of a few basic realities of billing. Poor turnover causes cash flow problems. "Turnover" is the average length of time it will take you to convert your billable time into cash in the bank. If you are billing hourly, the turnover benchmark to shoot for is about 90-120 days. Bill promptly each month. A good average for payment of accounts receivable is 60-75 days. Avoid situations where more than 15% of your billed fees are over180 days due. You may encounter clients who will try to stretch out their payment. When there is a lengthy turnover period, you may have to spend time and money on collections rather than earning new money; also, there is the cost of borrowing money to cover cash shortfalls as you wait for payment. One way of avoiding billing problems is to bill against a cash advance; the client posts a cash advance that you deposit in a trust account, and you draw funds from that cash advance, being certain to inform the client with periodic bills of the status of the cash advance. At the end of the case, you return any balance of the cash advance remaining.
You must use your computer to assist with keeping time records and billing. That means purchasing a software program, obtaining the necessary training to operate it efficiently, and using the system both to keep accurate records of time expended and to bill regularly and promptly. Old-fashioned manual timekeeping and billing is a thing of the past. You'll save time and money when you get your computer time and billings system operational. Once your billing software is in place, you can eliminate many cash flow bottlenecks. There are abundant timekeeping and billing programs on the market. For the criminal defense lawyer on a shoestring budget, the cheap way of keeping time is TraxTime ($39). Next up the line for a low-cost Windows-based time and billing program is RTG. If you have the money, Timeslips is one of the more popular accounting and billing software programs available to criminal defense attorneys in small to medium-sized offices. LexisNexis' Time Matters is the overwhelmingly popular case management software of choice among my solo-practitioner defender friends, partly because it combines everything, e.g., time, billing, accounting, document management, e-mail, calendars, phone records, etc., into one system that avoids the hassle of switching from one program to another. Lexis gives you a free trial and a 90-day money-back guarantee. Amicus Small Edition 2008, a new billing and practice management system designed specifically for the solo practitioner and small firm (1), and CaseData's litigation technology services employ Internet-based databases that work through a browser. There are numerous other billing software programs (1) on the market. Some software (1), (2), (3) is designed to integrate practice management, calendaring cases, checking conflicts, dockets, contacts, documents, e-mails, instant messages, monitoring case status, tracking time, billing, accounts payable/receivable, payroll, trust account, and other financial software into a single program that eliminates the necessity of having to enter data over and over and insures that all you data is in one place. These integrated systems claim that you can enter information once and see the whole picture. Check available software online and be on the lookout for one of the local legal technology trade shows that are being held in all parts of the country. You will probably want to do your own timekeeping, billing, and collection, (1), (2) but there are companies, e.g., (1), who do this work for sole practitioners and small firms.
Most criminal defense practitioners try to get paid "up front" because they know that criminal clients are notorious for refusing to pay any unpaid balances after disposition of the case. (1), (2 - ever considered an online payment option). Still, you may occasionally face the specter of collecting an unpaid balance. If you are going to chase this money, have a bill collection policy in place with someone assigned responsibility to enforce it. In a small office, you may be the person who has to police the system. The typical approach by a solo practitioner to collecting unpaid bills is to send a reminder letter 30 days after the unpaid bill is sent. If the reminder letter produces no response in 30 days, a more emphatic letter can be sent, followed shortly by a phone call from the employee responsible for billing and collection. If the client still does not respond, the lawyer typically tries to talk with the client personally to resolve the situation. In cases where the client does respond but expresses inability to pay the balance, it may be possible to work out an installment payment plan. Other alternatives include discounting the bill or simply forgiving the unpaid balance. Suing the criminal client for an unpaid account is a rarity, though possible. [For information about attorney's fees, see Ethics. Concerning fees, if you are interested in the salaries the big metropolitan firms pay their lawyers, check this site.]
How much should you charge the client? Financial management advisors suggest that the billable fees should be at least three times your salary. Your compensation is generally about 30% of the practice's revenue.
Tip: Regarding the structure of fees, in most instances criminal defense lawyers should charge flat fees. There's a reason. Your typical client wants to know how much the representation will cost. Most clients don't like to go into an attorney-client relationship where cost is an open question. When you bill by the hour, the "How much will it cost?" question cannot be answered. Looking at hourly billing from the client's point of view, there may be concern about the lawyer stretching things out and stacking up unnecessary billable hours. Of course, some criminal cases and some clients are not suited to a flat fee and mandate hourly billing.
Tip: If you bill for your services, always be sure that your bills go out on the first business day of the month. Bills have to go out on time.
Tip: Arrange for your client's to pay by credit card (1). At the initial interview, the prospective criminal client may say, "I didn't bring my checkbook, and I don't have enough cash on me. Do you take plastic?" Be prepared and ready to respond, "Will that be Mastercard, Discover or Visa?"
Tip: Clients still like to receive tangible evidence of their attorney's work. This means that paper will remain part of the office work product, even if courts eventually allow everything to be filed electronically. If you think about it, we lawyers like to have our how-to-do-it information on paper. For example, if you find the material on the CCJA site useful, you'll probably print some of it out, rather than relying on the presence of the web site as a resource.
- Accounting Systems - Where does the cash go? When trying to determine your office's financial performance, the tendency of the rookie lawyer is to look at cash flow. This is not the best indicator. To judge your operation's performance, look at your books. You can readily determine how much money is coming in and how much is going out. More importantly, you can get a handle on how the money is being spent. Your accounting records will reveal the financial health of the operational parts of your practice. Operations include things like finance, client management, human resources, facilities, and technology. You should reconcile your accounts monthly. Of course, you can hire an accountant (1), (2), (3), (4) but many solo defenders keep their own books (1), (2). There are a number of inexpensive software programs. Check out these sites (1), (2), (3) for downloads, some free, for small business accounting, finance, spreadsheets, etc. See Resources below.
From a layman's standpoint, be aware that there are three key income related concepts: Cash (money in the bank), Accounts Receivable (unpaid invoices) and Work In Progress (work that has been done but is yet unbilled). Your basic goal is to turn work in progress into accounts receivable that yield cash.
Tip: When determining the percentage of billable fees that you actually collect (the billing realization rate), 90% is a good rule of thumb for maintaining a healthy practice. This percentage is extremely important., e.g., if you bill 2000 hours and have a 50% billing realization rate, you are effectively billing only 1000 hours.
- Budgeting Expenses - As a rule of thumb, you should have at least six weeks of cash on hand to cover office practice expenses. Once your practice is off the ground, try to avoid debt that exceeds 50% of the average total of your work in progress and accounts receivable. Finances (super links to business sites). Bank Rates. Federal Reserve. Taxes (1), (2), (3). Before you buy supplies, computer hardware or software, etc., check these consumer-oriented sites (1), (2). Think about using business plastic. Know how much short-term liquidity you should have. Learn about business entertaining.
- Bookkeeping & Payroll Compliance - Avoid check writing. Online bill-paying is readily available from most financial institutions. You can pay your bills online as often as once a week.The service allows you to pay bills immediately or at a future time of your choosing. Once you have entered the information into the program, you can pay a stack of bills in a brief period. You can arrange to automatically pay recurring bills such as telephone, insurance, Internet service, etc. With electronic bill-paying you still receive statements from your providers with detailed explanation of charges. You can use the service as a reminder to alert yourself of payments due. It is also possible to download transaction data from your electronic bill-pay service to your accounting software. As to your payroll, you can set up an online payroll through a payroll service such as Paychex (1). Of course, you will have to pay for the payroll service, but they also prepare most of your tax reports. Concerning bank accounts, one revenue account is typically adequate. You should also have two trust accounts, one IOLTA and one Non-IOLTA. For assistance with payroll tax compliance, check this site.
- Supplies and Equipment - Purchasing Procedures - Supplies (1), (2), (3), (4) forms (1), (2), (3 - IRS), (4), (5 - includes social security forms), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10 - free employment, rental and lease agreements) and equipment (1), (2), (3 - computer software, hardware suppliers) are available through the Internet. Check with consumer organizations, e.g., (1), (2), to determine the quality of products. Check with the Better Business Bureau if you have reason to suspect that a vendor may be a bit shady. When looking for the physical location of the business or service nearest to your office, Google Local provides your answer. You have to buy or lease scanning, printing, copying, and computer equipment for the office.
[The textual comments here will always be a little dated. I simply don't have time to keep up with the constantly expanding changes in computer technology.] Get some advice before purchasing hardware and software. Cutting-edge technology is not required. It doesn't need to be complicated. Sometimes you can find excellent prices on hardware or software that has been recently supplanted. Oftentimes, the supplanted technology will have been tested by the marketplace and proven to be excellent support. Some solos may even be able to install their own computer hardware and/or software, but some will need help with the installation. Most good computers come with adequate software included in the price of the bundle. At the present time, you can purchase a good desktop computer and flat screen monitor for around $1000. [Minimum requirements should include 1 gigabyte of RAM, a 160-gigabyte hard drive, an Intel chip with approximately 2.8 gigahertz, a CD drive, and a rewriteable DVD drive; Windows XP Professional or XP home will provide a good operating system; the new MS Vista will come with newer units; combine that with WordPerfect or Word and a PowerPoint presentation package and you are set.] There are many uses for a computer, e.g., timekeeping, billing, e-mail, word processing (Microsoft, WordPerfect, and the best deal in town OpenOffice -Microsoft Office-compatible and downloadable for free but watch out for sites that try to poach by charging you for a download; if you want a hard copy of Open Office, buy Open Office for Dummies with its CD), document assembly (To speed up your motion practice, you may want to purchase document assembly software, e.g., HotDocs, Qshift, etc.; I suggest writing your own motions.), web-based research, case management, conflicts, calendaring, courtroom presentation (PowerPoint, etc), scanning (You will need a scanner.), speech recognition dictation (1 - Dragon), printing, copying, faxing (You will need fax capability.), to name a few. If you aren't knowledgeable re the capabilities of technology, seek help regarding what is available, what it can do, and how much it will cost. You can start by talking to colleagues and vendors or by reading what other similarly situated solo lawyers have written about the type of office equipment that they think an office needs. For example, you'll have to have a scanner, e.g. Xerox and Fujitsu have good reputations. You may want to invest in a tablet PC or it's cheaper cousin the cyberpad notebook. See the Law Office Management Bibliography. Leasing may make more business sense when the equipment in question is likely to quickly become outdated or obsolete. There is a constant stream of new computer products and peripherals. The nature of the particular product may dictate the wisdom of lease or purchase. Obsolescence is always a consideration. For example, when you are shopping for a copier, consider renting a digital copier rather than buying one. Consider buying, rather than leasing, a laser FAX machine. You can rent or buy a postage meter or utilize an Internet supplier of stamps that you can print. When you purchase or lease new technology systems equipment, there will often be a transitional learning curve during which you or your staff will be learning how to operate the new systems while functioning under the old equipment. However you look at the issue of office equipment, to run a successful defender office you'll have to keep up with changes in technology (1), (2), (3) and budget for regular upgrades.
- Communication Systems - Your electronic communication system is analogous to the circulatory system of the body. If it is ineffective, your office will soon be moribund. Communications systems encompass computer systems, telephone systems, cell phones, e-mail, pagers, fax machines (They utilize phone lines.), handheld PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), etc. Be certain that you office electronics are linked to the Internet with high speed, e.g., DSL, connections.Cell phones and PDAs have long been wireless. The Blackberry Wireless also provides powerful voice and data delivery. When you buy a laptop computer, make sure it is also capable of working in a wireless (WiFi) environment. We are well into the age of wireless laptops, cell phone/digital camera/PDA combinations, and web conferencing. Here's a source for free conference call software. The free to-do-notes organizer from Accomplice syncs with your PDA. We are also entering the age when court systems will not only allow lawyers to file court documents over the Internet but will require it. Within a couple of years, all federal courts will allow e-filing. Most courts with e-filing are adopting the Adobe pdf format for e-filing. To play the e-filing game, a lawyer will have to have a computer, high-speed Internet access, and Adobe's Acrobat pdf writer software. Most will also need a scanner that will allow the scanning of paper documents into electronic files that can be transmitted on the net. Note, the feds keep a record of who looks at the e-filed documents; they also notify counsel by e-mail when a document is filed.
Network your office so that all of the computers are connected via a network. With regard to intra-office communication, networked e-mail provides a superb alternative to post-it notes and oral discourse. Does it make sense to e-mail your secretary? For several reasons the answer is "yes."
Tip: For security purposes and to keep track of who in your office is doing what, make it an office practice to use passwords for your computers and codes for long distance calls.
- Managing Human Resources - The human resources of your business are its employees, i.e., your support staff and any associate lawyers that you may employ. You are the heart and lungs of your office. You cannot shirk or shift ultimate decision-making regarding your clients' cases. But the support staff is the circulatory system of your practice. Your associates, if any, are like extra appendages. Success in a solo or small law office depends largely on the efforts of your non-lawyer staff and your associates, if any. Your job is to learn how to manage your human resources in manner that both encourages productivity and positively motivates each person to perform with his or her utmost skill. As a small business owner, you cannot avoid dealing with personnel issues.
One of the first steps in learning how to supervise employees is to think of your employees. Try to visualize the job from the employee's standpoint. Let each employee know what is expected of him/her. Do this by having a written job description for each employee in your office. Employees will be concerned about things such as role, job security, benefits, and training. If you want to create a pleasant atmosphere for your personnel, you will have to give it some thought. For example, think about how you can best define and explain the job to the employee. Think through the various benefits that you can confer on your personnel. Think about the efficacy of occasionally using a collaborative approach where you involve employees in your decision-making by asking for in-put. Consider having a weekly staff meeting. Ask your staff for suggestions as to what can be done to improve their working conditions. Do something nice for your staff, e.g., treat them to a nice lunch or a mini-shopping spree. If you hire an inexperienced associate, consider how you will go about training the associate to be competent. Check these sites (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7) for some free information about handling and successfully resolving the myriad of human resource development issues.
- Benefits - Retirement Plans - Regular vacations are good for employee morale and also act as deterrent to fraud. There are always perks that you can make available to employees to improve the work atmosphere. For example: you can negotiate low cost health club rates for yourself and your employees; you can pay for training seminars and office skills courses at local community colleges; you can provide information about financial planning; you can provide flexibility in work hours; you can arrange for office pick-up of certain delivery services such as cleaning; you can give your employees used office equipment such as computers and/or printers when you upgrade. Employee pension plans are expected by most full time employees. Study the various pension plan options (1), (2). Employee health insurance, a very valuable benefit in modern society, is discussed in the next section. Parking can be expensive, e.g., the average rate for an unreserved parking space is about $143 a month in 55 metropolitan markets, for your employees. Perhaps, you can arrange to pick up this cost.
- Insurance (health or medical, malpractice, property, workers' compensation or employment) Your health and the health of your employees are vital ingredients in the recipe for a successful law practice. Major medical insurance (health insurance) provides payments for hospitalization, prescription drugs, and medical services. Dental and vision insurance are additional options to your health insurance coverage. One who leaves a job with health insurance benefits may have the right under the federal COBRA law to continue the coverage for a year by paying the premiums. Life insurance is a necessity for those with dependant children. It may be economically efficient to rely on low cost term insurance rather than whole life insurance to provide for the needs of minor children. [Suggestion: When you handle your life insurance and disability needs, also consider documenting a contingency plan for your practice in the event of your untimely death or significant disability that requires closure of your office. Prepare a plan that designates another competent criminal defense lawyer to review your files, notify each client of your death or disability, and determine whether there is a need for immediate protective action. This may help lower malpractice premiums.] Auto insurance (including collision, e.g., when your car is in a collision, and comprehensive, e.g., when your car is damaged by something other than a collision or is stolen) is required; higher deductibles mean lower premiums. Before you buy you may want to check the vehicle's safety and thefts stats. Disability insurance provides a stream of income when one becomes unable to work because of a disabling injury or illness. Paid maternity benefits are a form of short term disability insurance. The disability payments can be used to cover personal expenses when there is no income, but disability payments probably won't be sufficient to keep your office afloat during the interval when you are unable to work. For this you will need business continuation insurance, which is not the same as property insurance. Malpractice insurance for lawyers is required only by Oregon. Alaska, New Hampshire, Ohio, and South Dakota require lawyers to reveal to clients whether they carry malpractice insurance. Delaware, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Virginia mandate that lawyers disclose on their annual registration whether they have malpractice insurance. Other states recently joining the bandwagon that requires lawyers to give notice whether they carry malpractice to clients or to licensing authorities include Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, Malpractice insurance is not cheap. Most lawyers need it. However, criminal defense is not a high-risk field of practice for insurance carriers. See the excellent article written by young lawyer Kevin Bannardo, A Defense Bar: The "Proof of Innocence" Requirement in Criminal Malpractice Claims, 5 Ohio St. J. Crim. L. 341 (2007). If you decide to purchase malpractice insurance, be certain to get competitive quotes. Visit with the company representative and explain the efficiency of you law office's risk management system, e.g., the type of computerized software you utilize, and how your office procedure is designed to prevent errors and omissions. You may get a discount on your malpractice premium. Your malpractice rates may also be influenced by the area of the country in which you practice, your prior claims history, and the deductible you are able to assume; again, a higher deductible means a lower rate. Most malpractice policies are "claims made" policies, providing coverage only for claims made while the policy is in effect. They do not cover dishonesty or other intentional acts. Caution: As a solo-practitioner or member of a small firm, you won't be able to negotiate the high volume discounts on insurance that the big firms can. For insurance guidance, check the Internet ( 1), (2), (3), (4). Generally speaking, the kinds of insurance you don't need are things like flight insurance, mortgage life insurance, insurance on your outstanding credit card balance.
- Motivating Employees & Improving Office Morale - Nothing impedes success of the workplace any more than an atmosphere of negativity. How well do subordinates receive and respond to your communication? Do you share ideas, discuss tasks, have common understanding and vision of the direction the office will take? Studies confirm common sense is revealing that motivated employees are more productive, stay longer and provide better client care. Your job is to create a positive working environment for the office staff. The atmosphere of your office flows from the top, and it's infectious. That means that your attitude, behavior, and actions toward your employees and clients will influence their response to you. This site provides a free subscription to an email newsletter containing tips on boosting employee morale. See Managing Human Resources above.
- Supervisory Skills & Meetings - It is essential that the lawyer in charge develop supervisory skills that will increase productivity and performance of the associates and the non-lawyer support personnel. Here is some good advice regarding meetings that could apply to staff meetings as well as meetings with clients, witnesses, and with the opposition for purposes of settlement. When you conduct meetings, it's good practice to have an agenda and adhere to it. Set ground rules. Keep people on topic. This article discusses ways of managing difficult employees.
- Hiring and Firing Decisions - As a solo defender, you will first have to decide whether you need and can afford support personnel. At some point you may shift from a one man/woman shop by hiring your first employee. The computer age has made it possible for a single lawyer with lots of tech skills to handle many tasks previously relegated to support staff. In my experience, however, successful defenders always seem to have an excellent support staff. Sometimes the ratio of lawyer to support staff is 1:1. But the most successful defenders typically have: (1) a personable well-trained secretary to generate written work product, supervise the receptionist, handle e-mail, and help with fee collection and basic bookkeeping; (2) a paralegal to assist with legal research, document drafting, client contact, filing deadlines, and shouldering much of the burden of getting the case ready for court; and (3) a receptionist who greets visitors, handles the phones, copying, snail mail, etc. Law clerks and file clerks can often be drafted from local law schools to do legal research and writing. Most students spend three years in law school. So, the shelf life of a law student employee is limited. The heavy-hitters sometimes employ one or more full-time trained investigators to interview witnesses and gather defense-building information. The reality is that most defenders cannot afford a support staff of three to six employees.
At some point you may need to hire a lawyer as an associate. The associate may be a rookie lawyer, e.g., a recent law school grad (maybe your former law clerk), or an experienced lateral hire, e.g., an experienced public defender or prosecutor who is ready to make the jump into private practice. A mistake in who you hire as an associate can be devastating to your practice. Recruiting an associate will occupy your time and, for a time, lighten your wallet. Rookie lawyers are typically looking for a job that will train them; the rookie will probably not bring any business with him/her; after a couple of years working for you, and with no hope for being made a partner, the rookie may depart for a solo practice. You will incur training costs to bring a rookie up to the necessary competency level. With a lateral hire associate, you get an experienced hand who is capable of handling complex tasks and who may bring in some new business. Of course, you will have to pay more for a lateral hire. Before taking on an associate of any sort, be quite sure that your have enough extra work and revenue to justify the additional expense, and enough time to justify the added effort of training the rookie and orienting the lateral hire. Assume that there will be a period during which you will have a net loss from the increased overhead costs flowing from adding an associate. At the other end, when an associate leaves your firm, you will either have to find a replacement or scale back your practice. Some solo lawyers report success in sharing an associate with another solo; this approach can reduce costs but requires a very clear written agreement delineating the nature of the shared rights and responsibilities of the parties. [Note: For those who prefer a one person office, contract services are available for most support services that would be performed by full-time employees.]
The basic rule of hiring is: Hire competent people! Competent people have job skills and are technologically proficient; they are emotionally balanced, trustworthy, loyal, willing to adapt, and willing to learn, How do you find a top-notch secretary or paralegal? My advice is that you use an employment search firm. You'll have to pay a hefty placement fee. But in the long run it will be worth the cost. Make it clear from the start that you are only interested in talking to highly skilled applicants. That way, the firm will do the screening and you will not have to spend valuable time interviewing unsuitable candidates. If
you don't want to pay a placement fee to an employment service, you can try to find competent office personnel on your own. You can do some web-based investigation of applicants. Some competent people in search of employment are posting job applications to the Internet. Employers can also post help wanted ads. You may find competent folks to fill your staff positions by searching the mega-employment web sites at both Monster and Yahoo. If you aren't familiar with salary ranges for legal secretaries, paralegals, (1), (2), (3), (4 - average salary +- 40K), lawyers (1), (2) etc., in your community and others, check out the salary wizard for ball park figures. Be aware that the average business with less than 20 employees will pay over $5,000 per employee each year to comply with various federal regulations, some of which are described in later portions of this web page.
Weed out applicants who won't fit into the dynamics of your office system. You do this by conducting a complete interview of the applicant. Whether you are doing your own screening and hiring or using a screener to winnow out undesirables, you'll still have to have an interviewing plan. What should you include in your interviews? Always check computer program knowledge and typing (1), (2 - typing test and free lessons) skills. Call all references and speak to them personally. Try the collaborative approach to staff recruitment and retention. If you have other employees, make sure they are introduced to the applicant. Get your present employees' thoughts about the applicant. You don't want friction between staff members.
As a safety valve, be certain that the people you do hire are hired for a probationary period. If you feel that a new hire isn't working out, discharge the individual before the probationary period expires. Let your new employee know from the start that if they aren't fired up with enthusiasm for the job, they will be fired with enthusiasm. See "From Hiring to Firing: The Legal Survival Guide for Employers" by Attorney Steven Sack. If there are significant lapses in an employee's performance, document them with a memo. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you can fire an employee for any reason. Though employment at will is the general rule, there are numerous federal and state laws that protect the employee against wrongful discharge. See the list below.
One way to avoid having to discharge employees is by promoting good work ethics. Conduct an annual review of your employees, and provide periodic feedback so your staff will know how they are doing. Create motivating workplace, e.g., up-to-date furnishings and equipment, and financial, e.g., raises, bonuses, incentives. Check these sources for more information about hiring and firing (1), (2), (3), (4). Educate yourself about the cost of employee turnover. All the statistical information you can imagine about wages, earnings, and benefits can be found on the Labor Department site.
Firing (discharging, terminating) an employee is always an unpleasant task. To be fair to your employees, let them know what you expect of them. When there are lapses in performance, give your staff member the opportunity to bring his/her work up to standard. Have progressive disciplinary procedures in place.Take time to create a set of written rules and standards of office practice. Of course, you will always have to follow your official disciplinary rules and standards. The employee should always be allowed to respond to performance issues. You must substantiate and document any disciplinary inquiry and action that you take. This means documenting all conversations and disciplinary action. If you have to discipline or discharge an employee, communicate this personally, always with a witness, and in writing. Be professional, respectful and polite but firm and unwavering. Don't discharge an employee unless you are reasonably certain it is the correct action to take. Don't waver when you meet with the employee to deliver the termination message. Indicate that the decision has been made. Don't ever make it personal. It's always strictly a business decision. Provide any information concerning severance benefits. Be prepared to deal with the employee whose frustrations might manifest themselves in aggressive retaliatory acts, e.g., sabotaging files, erasing computerized information, etc. After the exit interview, accompany the employee to gather his/her personal possessions, obtain any office keys, ID cards, phone cards, parking permits, and other office equipment, and escort the employee out of the office. Reassure remaining employees that they are doing a good job. If an employee separates from your employment voluntarily, request a letter of resignation that contains the reason for leaving and the last day of active work.
Outsourcing may be a good alternative to hiring and firing. Whether to send your office work out to an independent contractor is a big decision. The fees are not cheap, but savings may be substantial. The number of outsourcing firms increases each year. Here's an example (1) of a firm that can take over substantial typing duties.