Alright so I enjoy the Quixotic tales describing the new “Solo” who has just hung his shingle with trepidation, big dreams, and 500 brand new business cards as much as anyone…it wasn’t that long ago that I was there.
But, is your Firm TOO Small?
I’ve been thinking about this recently after some mildly disturbing interactions with some colleagues recently. First, a client of ours needed to locate some paperwork urgently from a former attorney. So I and the client contacted the lawyer and she was out-of-town for the winter, she had zero access to documents via electronic means, and she had zero staff. The document was finally obtained more than a week after our request, fortunately, the attorney’s spouse was going to be in Illinois and could locate the document. Second, the opposing firm in a case I called over the holidays where the firm’s telephone message reported that they were closed from 12/24-1/4 and callers couldn’t even leave a message. Third, the accountant I called recently, and I was only given a voicemail option, and then my call was returned 4 days later.
So if you’re too part-time, too inattentive to clients and opposing counsel, you very well may be too small and likely too exposed to ethical and malpractice liability.
Have you considered…
–A back-up lawyer to fill-in some gaps while you’re on the links in Arizona?
–A part-time assistant to check e-mail/telephone messages daily?
–An ‘Of Counsel’ set-up with a larger firm?
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I am constantly shocked by attorneys who have no support staff. I don’t know how they can do enough work to make a living without support staff.
Me to…although I think early on it may be necessary. Personally I just have one support staff myself at the moment. I’m more amazed when I hear people almost exclaim as a badge of honor “I’m a true solo” meaning it’s good they have no support staff. That surely shouldn’t be the long-term goal even if it’s a short term necessity.
They certainly should have some kind of back up plan. What disturbs me most is your example of the firm who’s telephone message said they’d be away for over a week with no way to leave a message. That firm had many technological solutions, even without support staff. They could have checked messages from wherever they were visiting and returned important calls. They could have forwarded calls to their current location. While I understand them wanting to take a break, one of the consequences of running a small business is never being able to have a true vacation.
Attorneys can be very professional and busy without hiring support staff if they are responsive and leverage technology. Usually, I would much rather speak or email with an attorney than leave messages with the attorney’s assistant. It is a shame that the professionals mentioned in the post above could not access their documents digitally and reply promptly to voicemail and email since these are easy things to do.
I think practice area matters a lot…there’s a big customer service need disparity between say having 20 estate planning clients and say 50 real estate transactions where there’s a lot of “logistics.” I would say there are a few areas that the lawyer should almost never do: billing/billing collections follow-up, pure logistical calls like client meeting scheduling, incoming phone calls, and keeping work processes flowing when you’re in court or out of the office for extended periods.