October 2005

Law Office Management Assistance Program

Business Skills — They’re Not Just for Business People Anymore

by Peter Roberts

Have you heard of the Association of Legal Administrators (ALA)? Legal administrators are the managers of the daily operations of larger firms. They are most frequently spotted in firms with more than 15 lawyers. (Lawyers can be legal administrators as well, but lawyer-administrators typically do not serve as managing partners.) ALA has more than 9,000 members and is headquartered in Chicago. The Puget Sound Chapter (PSALA) serves Washington state.

Business skills are of large concern to ALA. Not only does ALA promote educational opportunities for its members for improving how law offices are run, the organization also cares very much about those associate lawyers in larger firms who begin to encounter difficulties when working with business clients — or any client for that matter.

A Survey of Associate Business Skills

In an effort to understand what associates are facing, ALA commissioned a study to measure what business skills are important and when they are most important in the progressing career of a law firm associate.1 Managing partners, partners, associates, and executive directors responded to the survey. This study was conducted for several specific reasons, including:

1.  The concern about the general lack of business knowledge and management skills among law firm associates.

2.  The impact of that lack of knowledge on efficient client service, good firm business practices, lawyer and staff job satisfaction, and firm progress and profitability.

3.  The lack of any consensus of what baseline business and management skills associates should acquire.

The results of the survey were distilled into 58 identifiable business skills for -associate lawyers to have at several stages of a standard seven-year progression to partnership.

Addressing the Need

ALA then commissioned the development of a Business Skills Curriculum (BSC) as an aid for firms to structure the training of their associates by augmenting their present efforts of orientation, training, and mentorship. The BSC directly addresses the 58 skills identified in the survey.

Now comes PSALA. This local chapter of ALA is one of the international organization’s largest. PSALA secured a grant from the Foundation of the -Association of Legal Administrators to implement the BSC for associates in the Puget Sound region.

Washington Leads the Way

This two-year pilot program is presently ongoing through September 2006. Each month, a notice goes to all PSALA members announcing the date, location, topic, speaker(s), and learning objectives for that 90-minute session. Those members encourage their firm’s associates to register and attend the session (cost is $25 or $45, depending on whether their firms purchased the BSC from ALA). Selected topics include:

Major Matter Management
Law Office Technology Skills
How to Attract New Clients
Legal Presentation Skills
How to Retain Your Best Clients
Effective Client Interviewing Skills
Working in Teams
Mastering Your Client’s Business Environment
Diverse Firm Structures
Time Management

As the WSBA’s practice management advisor, I recognize that many of the skills also have relevance for the solo and small-firm lawyer. The WSBA Law Office Management Assistance Program (LOMAP) offers resources to members in a variety of skill areas to help their practices thrive. ALA and PSALA are taking the lead for the larger firms. Together with LOMAP, we can enable our Bar’s newer admittees in any sized firm to achieve success and a more satisfying practice. 

Peter Roberts is the WSBA Law Office Management Assistance Program practice management advisor. He was a legal administrator for 18 years in firms on the East and West coasts and presently serves as chair of the Government/Judicial Section of the Puget Sound Chapter of the ALA. He can be reached at peter@wsba.org or 206-727-8237.

NOTE
1  See http://www.alanet.org/periodicals/-article.html for a discussion of the survey and its results. The study states: “The most impressive finding from this study is that the 265 questionnaire respondents (partners, associates and executive directors) agree overwhelmingly that associates, by the end of their seventh year of practice, should have a competency level of Knowledge and Understanding or Application for all 58 business, management and supervisory skills. Furthermore, this agreement exists across all respondents regardless of their position, the size of their firm, or their gender.”