Solo In Chicago…Grow Your Practice!

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Well, I’m not sure about how “well-deserved” it is but I’m the author so that’s the expression I chose.

But back to managing a small law practice and specifically within the context of vacation planning. I wrote here about a good voicemail tip to use while you’re not available but wanted to post the very specific things I’ve literally just done as I’m headed out of town later today for 5 days (3 business days).

1.  Plan Ahead. This is more general but it’s really not that hard to control your calendar as a small firm attorney, right? Even as someone who has a very court-involved practice, things get set in only 3 ways:  **I schedule a motion, **there’s a date set while I’m in court (and thus can control when it’s set), and **an opposing party sets a court date. So I’ve had this vacation on the office calendar for 6ish months and nothing is scheduled over the next 5 days. And I had a more unexpected “vacation” back in February due to a death in my family where I only had a couple weeks to plan. Contrary to popular opinion most lawyers aren’t jerks and I recall the two cases I had up while I was gone were easily moved with a phone call to opposing counsel.

2.  Communicate your absence to clients. In this particular case for me all I’ve done is spoken to 2 clients with whom I have Court hearings late next week just so they know where things stand and that I’m prepared in advance. I wouldn’t want to not have communicated with those people and then they call when I’m gone and suddenly there’s worry that I may not be prepared for their court hearings.

3.  Arrange for coverage attorneys. A friend and fellow sole practitioner knows I’m out of town and he’s able to cover any court matters for me in the event of an emergency…only talking 3 business days.

4.  Out-of-Office e-mail/voice-mail messages. Oftentimes I don’t even mess with these if I know I’m going to be checking e-mail/voice-mail at least 1-2 times a day…why raise the fact that you’re out of town if you’re totally connected and functional, like in a conference/hotel setting? I’d say don’t. In this particular case I’m going to be in a fairly remote and not well-connected location so I have set-up these messages per this guideline and do provide the contact number for my “emergency attorney” in both the e-mail and voice-mail messages.

5.  Staff. As someone with one part-time legal assistant she’ll check office voice-mail daily and contact me only in a severe emergency. Once you have a larger, full-time staff I’m not sure if there need be any “vacation planning” other than internal planning with your staff.

6.  It’s a vacation. Definition:  a respite or a time of respite from something (like legal work!). Being like some lawyers I hear talk of essentially just working from a different locale is does NOT meet the definition of vacation thank you very much. I’ll admit that I’m going to bring a laptop with me and plan on one trip to some WiFi location for 30 minutes or something…but I don’t think that makes this not a vacation. On the laptop daily and making multiple calls daily…UN-vacation!

So I thought I’d look around and see what else is happening in the blogsphere…

A simple yet sensible post from Jim Calloway regarding the correct way to state your out-of-office/vacation voicemail. His advice:

Correct:: “I am out out of the office and will return June 15th.” Incorrect: “I will be out of the office from June 3rd through June 15th.” It is unneeded information that could lead to incorrect assumptions.

Good, good, just in time for my little Eagle River trip next week. Mastering the art of solo law firm productivity during vacations or other times away is actually quite important and not always an easy needle to thread.

Level 1 is providing for that bare minimum of coverage while your gone in the event of client emergencies and not upsetting clients too much that you’re gone. Level 1 should handled easily enough by having a lawyer or two who can cover your things or be available for client emergencies (client put in jail or something that can’t wait) and checking e-mail/voicemail daily or every other day or having an assistant handle the phones and contact you only in the extremely urgent situation.

Level 2 is creating a firm that in essence runs itself and remains productive/profitable when you’re out. That’s more difficult and really requires you to be a good manager. And I don’t mean lawyer working more while she’s away…that’s not a vacation. The answer here is great staff and clearly defined roles where they’re doing their work while your gone and it’s billable work…drafting pleadings, monitoring transactions, ect. In my opinion, in a well-oiled solo practice firm the only thing that really must stop when you’re out is new client meetings, the rest of the legal services business should march on.