February 2002

Astute Attorneys Utilize Paralegals

by Forest Collins

According to the Department of Labor and Industries, "paralegals are projected to rank among the fastest-growing occupations in the economy through 2008." Why? Because it makes good sense to utilize paralegals. Unfortunately, many small offices do not realize the full potential of their support staff. Proper utilization of paralegals benefits you, the client and the paralegal.

Do you perform tasks that your assistant can do or be trained to do? If so, you are wasting time and money. By effectively delegating tasks to a paralegal's maximum skill level and training a paralegal to perform new tasks, you ensure that they are working at maximum efficiency. This frees your time to focus on tasks associated strictly with the practice of law. Not only is this a more efficient use of your staff's time, it translates to a cost-efficient way to run your office. Rather than employing a paralegal to perform clerical and secretarial tasks, those types of tasks can be turned over to a less experienced and less costly support-staff member. Running a time- and cost-efficient office, with well-qualified support staff who can take on a wide range of responsibilities, leads to the attorney's ability to take on a larger case load and greater work satisfaction.

In 1995, the American Bar Association's Commission on Nonlawyer Practice conducted a study which found that "large numbers of low- and moderate-income people — some studies show as many as 70 percent — do not hire lawyers to meet their law-related needs." Zona Hostetler, a lawyer on the commission, told reporters in response to the study's findings, "There are huge, astronomical needs that are not being met." She stated the two main reasons that these needs are not being met are "cost, and the fear of entanglement with lawyers." These are exactly the reasons that effective utilization of a paralegal can benefit your client.

Clients appreciate cost-effective handling of their cases, and generally have a lot of faith in support staff. When they receive an invoice that includes a para-legal's time, they see that the attorney has conscientiously saved them money. In addition to reducing client costs, paralegals can increase their comfort level. Often a strong bond is formed between a client and the paralegal working on their case, since lawyers are often busy and less accessible than their support staff. Without the ability to contact the lawyer's assistant, a client may feel frustrated or even abandoned. Frequently, a client may feel more comfortable interacting with a paralegal rather than a lawyer, whether it is because he is afraid of wasting the lawyer's time, incurring more costs, or because he may be slightly intimidated by the lawyer.

Effectively using a paralegal eases the cost burden on your clients and increases their satisfaction. Your paralegal is an extension of you — if clients are happy with your paralegal, they are happy with your services. A happy client is ultimately an effective marketing tool for your practice.

Employees generally like career challenges and want to assume more responsibility as their experience and skills increase; paralegals are no different. As they gain experience, they desire opportunities to perform a wider range of duties. In a recent survey by the National Association of Legal Assistants, such duties as drafting correspondence, assisting with clients, drafting pleadings, research, case management, and document analysis/summary ranked highly (within the top 10) as the respondents' preferred duties.

Providing a work environment that leads to greater job satisfaction for a paralegal means he is more likely to stay with your office. A highly qualified paralegal is a great asset, but a highly qualified, loyal paralegal who knows the specific workings of your practice can be invaluable.

• Hire professional, qualified support staff

If you are in a position to hire new staff, do so wisely. Hasty decisions can result in wasted time, energy and resources. Small-business owners often forget that part of owning a business is not simply performing services, but also practicing human-resource management. Careful screening, interviewing and selection can save countless hours and dollars in the long run.

• Train, delegate and provide feedback

Once you have hired a paralegal, it is time to train him and begin to delegate work to him. As a paralegal, one of the most frustrating aspects of a position can be a lack of opportunity to work on new and interesting tasks. But as a business owner or supervisor, delegation can be a frightening prospect. We often believe that only we can perform a particular task to perfection. Truthfully, it is more effective in the long run to spend time training an assistant to properly perform a task. Avoiding this step is a good way to "nickel and dime" your time away. Once you have effectively trained someone else to do a task, you can use your time more valuably.

Additional training possibilities to consider are CLEs and programs geared toward paralegals. Often the best-intentioned employers think they will eventually get around to training employees. However, in a hectic work environment, the practice of law takes precedence over training, and the potential of many employees goes untapped.

As your paralegal's knowledge and skills grow, evaluate staff responsibilities and make sure everyone is working at full skill capacity. As your paralegal learns to take on tasks that you normally would have performed, make sure his workload is not unmanageable. Transfer his clerical and secretarial tasks to an assistant or outsource service that can perform these tasks more cost effectively. Every time a paralegal spends an afternoon making copies or addressing envelopes, he is performing tasks that could be done at a much lower cost to you.

Managing employees is a constant job. It is not enough to simply train staff to perform tasks. You must provide feedback as well, correcting incorrect work, and praising work well done.

• Use technology to your advantage

Technology can be one of your best allies in working toward a more efficient workplace. Databases, mergeable documents, scanners, legal-research applications, and bookkeeping/accounting software are all tools that save time in the long run. Often, offices hesitate to invest time or money in technology and lose out on the many benefits these tools provide.

In the course of effectively utilizing a paralegal, it is important to be mindful of activities that are not allowed to be performed by nonlawyers, such as setting legal fees, giving legal advice, and presenting cases in court. For more information on this subject, you may want to refer to the American Bar Association's Model Guidelines for the Utilization of Legal Assistant Services (see http://www.abanet.org/legalassts/modguide.html).

Ultimately, your practice is a business; your expenses should be investments that provide the greatest return. With a little faith and guidance, your support staff can provide exponential returns.

The Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) offers help in the administration of your office. Contact us for materials, books and information. We also have law office software available for demonstration. See www.wsba.org/lawyers/services/lomap.htm, call 206-727-8237, or e-mail peter@wsba.org.