The Bottom Line
LPMT is the only section exclusively devoted to the practical aspects of starting, growing, and prospering in your law practice. Each issue of The Bottom Line offers practical tips to further the knowledge of our members in law office administration, financial management, legal ethics, time management, marketing a law practice, office systems and procedures and law office technology.
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Letter from the Chair
From the April 2012 Issue
Managing people remains the greatest challenge in law practice management.
On the whole, lawyers do poorly at the task. Partly it’s because law school and the bar exam do not make people skills a prerequisite. Indeed, success there may inculcate a notion of superiority. Of course, having superior skill in one domain – knowledge of the law – does not necessarily translate into having skill in other domains. Another reason that lawyers do not put a premium on managing people is that they generally need to please those above them to succeed – senior partners, courts, clients – not the people they supervise, a fact common to most professionals. Contrast this with the necessary skills of a business executive/ manager who needs to motivate others to achieve success.
Of course, most lawyers will rate their people skills as "above average," just like all the children in Lake Wobegon. Examples abound of other lawyers behaving badly (that is, worse than we think we do).
If one is fortunate to manage a small firm, one can influence the structure of how people relate to each other as part of their job. One’s current framework is neither preordained nor unique. Take a second look. You cannot change others – and not even yourself without substantial struggle. What you can affect, however, is the structure of work relationships under your control.
To counter the alienation experienced by many legal professionals and other employees, build a sense of inclusion, that what everyone does has value and meaning. Ameliorating the sense of alienation increases motivation and dedication to task. The first step might be the hardest: To embrace the idea that employees should not be treated as fungible automatons there just to punch a clock and get paid.
The determining factor in the well-being and attitudes of employees is how the firm/ company/supervisor structures the work and work relations and how employees are included and rewarded (and not just monetarily, although a few dollars more down the road has a remarkably positive effect).
Just as firms are reconceiving billing and revenue arrangements, perhaps one should rethink compensation and rewards. By this I don’t mean only in terms of a fatter paycheck. People want to work in an environment in which they are acknowledged and appreciated.
Involve all employees in your firm or legal department. Recall the advice given to first-year associates: even if you are working on one part of a larger matter, think of your responsibility in terms of the whole matter. That is, don’t ignore something that needs attention by thinking, That’s not my job. Adopt the now-familiar appeal, If you see something, say something.
Encourage questions. Usually when folks ask you a work-related question, it’s about something you want them to know. Make it easy to ask questions, expressing the attitude that, as they say, there are no dumb questions. (Extensive research has also concluded that questions are one of the best ways to learn.)
An inclusive workplace also builds loyalty, an extremely valuable virtue in a profession built on trust.
One can justify improving the structure of relationships at work in terms of higher productivity and the like. Perhaps more important, how you relate to others with whom you work is an answer to the question, How do you want to live your life?
Again, I’m sure you’re above average. After all, you’re a member of LPMT.
Will Hoffman
2011-12 Chair
Law Practice Management & Technology Section
LPMT@calbar.ca.gov
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