The Hidden Dangers Lurking Within Law Firms By Nancy Byerly Jones

Sloppy Leadership

This may include the total absence of leadership, sporadic effective leadership), internal competition amongst the firm’s leaders, or a lack of understanding regarding what leadership means.

Even firms smart enough to have full time legal administrators can experience ineffective day to day management if the wrong person is chosen for this critical position. Other firms refuse to spend the money on administrators because they lack the foresight to see beyond the salary costs or to recognize the big picture benefits for the firm with an experienced and properly selected administrator on board. Other attorneys refuse to give a non-partner the authority needed to do their jobs properly.

Sloppy Hiring, Training & Supervision of Staff

Malpractice will ultimately raise its destructive head when too little attention and planning is given to who is hired, the quality of the training offered and to the supervision of our employees. All too often, the hiring decision is made too quickly and with little thought put into the interview process itself much less the potential "fit" of a particular applicant within the firm’s culture. No supervision is preferable to supervision by the wrong person. Those addicted to abusing their authority or with poor interpersonal skills are all too often put in supervisory positions. With no watchdog over them, the odds are greatly increased for high employee turnover, low office morale, increased malpractice risks and lower productivity.

Greed

A multitude of problems begin to invade our firms when monetary greed begins to outweigh our compassion for our clients and dilutes our loyalties to the oath we took when we became Officers of the Court. Greediness (and likewise extremely poor planning and management) can quickly lead to an excessive number of cases on our plates. When our volume is too high in comparison to our attorney and staff capabilities, our work quality and the time to commit to each matter is severely compromised. Chronically excessive caseloads may appear to be a mark of success, but at the risk of appearing harshly blunt, stupidity is the more accurate word.

Do you share the costs and liabilities with partners, but otherwise operate as individual practices that just happen to be under the same roof? Are regular and productive communications among the partners few and far between? Does each section of your firm follow its own systems and procedures separate and apart from the other departments?

No Accountability

To set goals, adopt systems or formulate procedures is a bit useless unless all attorneys and staff are held accountable to do what is needed and expected of them. What does accountability mean in your firm? Has leadership taken the necessary time to define different levels of accountability and the corresponding disciplinary actions? Are the rules fairly enforced across the board? If an attorney’s account receivables are consistently too high, is he or she ever held accountable to stop the financial seepage? Do some employees get away with ignoring office policies while others are expected to strictly adhere to the rules? Holding ourselves and others accountable is one of the largest gaps in our paths to success. We want success, but when the steps towards reaching our goals are awkward or tough ones, we often shy away causing huge detours (or worse!) in our efforts to reach our firm’s goals.

Poorly Balanced Lives

The well-balanced, healthy lawyer wins. It’s that simple. Ignore your health and the importance of finding a healthy balance between your professional and personal lives and it will catch up with you in and out of the office. Worse, a failure to encourage a healthy balance for your employees will ultimately backfire as well.

Lousy Attitudes

Chronic, lousy attitudes are the perfect feeding ground for the germs of malpractice. We all know the energies zapped and productivity loss when in the company of a chronically negative individual. The bad effects of their poor attitudes far outweigh any skills or "pedigree" they may have. Other attitude monsters are reflected in statements such as "It’s someone else’s job" or "I’m too busy" both of which are simply copouts to do one’s part. If we are enabling such an environment to exist within our firms, we should not be surprised when we must also share the "costs" of the harm done by such attitudes.

Final Two Cents Worth

We all need to remain acutely aware of the age-old traps that can harm our clients and be alert to the hidden dangers that may be alive and well within our firms. We may think we’re too busy to bother with such matters. When a malpractice claim or grievance lands on our desk, however, many new deadlines will be imposed upon us whether we have time for them or not…not to mention the other negative ramifications and "costs" we will no doubt incur. It’s a no thinker that to avoid such a path is a very wise decision to make and more importantly, to act upon.

Leadership, Attorney-Staff Relations
& Simplified Action Planning

Take Time to Recharge Your Stress
Management Batteries