Articles Posted in Productivity

Bain & Company’s Management Tools and Trends 2007 at slide 5, reports on the degree to which 1,221 international executives agreed to certain statements. The most consensus, where some 91 percent of the executives agreed, was for the statement that “culture is as important as strategy for business success.”

This finding suggests to me that whatever culture is in a law department may have more to do with the law department’s success (however you measure that) than does strategic planning by the general counsel and senior lawyers..

Regrettably, it is difficult to come to grips with the meaning for law departments of the term “culture” (See my posts of June 4, 2007 on culture; Feb. 4, 2006 on the three keys to culture; May 4, 2005 and Nov. 16, 2005 on smoke and mirrors; and Dec. 21, 2005 on that term as it applies to law department alignment with clients.). For one difficulty, it is hard to separate “culture” from “values” (See my posts of May 31, 2006 about how all management expresses values, and four references; Oct. 22, 2006 about the importance of culture and values; Feb. 16, 2006 on organizational DNA and culture; and Dec. 9, 2005 #1.)

The set of concepts that law department managers can apply to improve their operations is actually quite small. I count a half dozen of them.

1. You can streamline a process (See my post of May 28, 2007 on five aspects of processes; and May 28, 2007 on Six Sigma.).

2. You can standardize practices (See my posts of Nov. 3, 2005 about standardizing outside counsel practices; Feb. 21, 2007 about standardized bill formats; but see my post of April 17, 2007 that debunks standardization of legal work.).

For in-house counsel, meetings are both crucial and excruciating (See my post of March 27, 2005 on their productivity drag.). In addition to what I have written before (See my posts of April 2, 2007 and 10 references cited; and July 29, 2007 with six suggestions.), from my own experience as a consultant I offer these suggestions.

1. Go over the pre-read material beforehand

2. Each person at the meeting should keep track of the conversation and help keep it on the rails

From the voluminous literature on stress relieve (See my post of May 18, 2007 on in-house counsel stress and seven references cited.), here are some techniques that may help beleaguered in-house counsel.

1. Sort out those things that you can influence from those which you can’t control. For example, you can get the brief done in time, but you can’t control how the judge will rule.

2. Keep a list of tasks you need to do and set priorities on them (See my post of April 18, 2005 on the power of to-do lists.). Often stress is a reaction to feeling overwhelmed, and can be held at bay when you have a better sense of the overall picture. Follow the advice of Stephen Covey: Spend your energy on what’s important, not what’s urgent (See my post of April 8, 2005 on SMART goals.).

A number of tips were discussed previously (See my post of Nov. 6, 2006 with three tips and six references cited; June 16, 2006 and five tips; and Dec. 28, 2006 with additional suggestions and comments.). Some law departments have even taken training on e-mail effectiveness (See my post of July 20, 2007 on Capital One and two tips.).

A piece in the NY Times, Nov. 4, 2007 at BU 17, offers some more ways to take charge of your email inbox. For example, put limits on your viewing time. If you only devote 10 minutes to your inbox when you turn to it you should become more discriminating in how you use your time.

Second, use your software’s preview function so that you can quickly dispatch unimportant messages such as chain letters, jokes, and messages copied too promiscuously.

Everyone talks about working longer hours and working more thoughtfully but an article in the Harvard Bus. Rev., Vol. 85, Oct. 2007 at 63, argues that “the core problem with working longer hours is that time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story.”

What I took from the article is that if the lawyers and staff in a law department improve their capacity to work — their energy – they will be much more productive and engaged. Energy comes from building up physical energy (such as taking breaks to walk around), emotional energy (such as relaxation rituals and positive emotions), mental energy (such as periods of time to focus without interruption), and human-spirit energy (feeling appreciated and committed to work that is important). All this makes much sense to me.

All law departments need someone from time to time to notarize documents. To be sure of that resource, one law department paid for several of its administrative assistants to become notaries. The departmental budget covered the cost of their training, about $350, and picks up the costs of licenses, which cost about $450 per year.

One of the peripheral issues that then arose was whether the notaries could sign and execute documents for the personal needs of employees. The policy eventually decided on was that the notaries could do so on their own time and could charge for the service.

This is an example of a management practice that ought to be codified so that there is consistency across the department and everyone knows where the lines are drawn (See my post of Sept. 5, 2007 on compilations of policies.).

InsideCounsel, Sept. 2007 at 56, recognizes IBM as one of its innovative counsel. IBM earned those accolades because it uses some 76 retired IBM attorneys for a wide range of patent-related matters. IBM had to solve some difficulties to create this extensive network. The law department needed to address issues associated with malpractice insurance, conflicts, bar credentials and attorney-client privilege. All were resolved.

The department also had to tie in those lawyers to the in-house attorneys and to the technology systems that both share.

Many law departments might find it advantageous to draw upon their retired lawyers (See my post of June 12, 2005 about how to prepare for the retirement of a veteran lawyer.).

More valuable than mission and vision statements, in my view, are summaries of a law department’s practices in certain areas. A statement of when budgets should be required by law firms and how those budgets will be reviewed and recorded makes sense. A summary of how to and when to conduct a competitive bid by law firms for a matter will surface misunderstandings, clarify goals, and help keep that intent in everybody’s mind. Outside counsel guidelines are a third example of departmental policies (See my post of July 2, 2007 on guidelines for the oversight of outside counsel.).

Any repetitive process creates an opportunity for some structure. If there is a practice to evaluate the performance of law firms, some level of codification helps bring about consistency and quality. Likewise, a brief statement of what is expected when member of the law department interview applicants will help.

Successful and productive in-house counsel often lean heavily on their administrative assistants (See my post of post of May 17, 2006 on the title and definition of this position.). If trained, motivated and capable, a secretary can handle a wide range of tasks (See my post of March 18, 2005 on limits to what paralegals can do.). A good executive assistant helps with much more than scheduling, addressing envelopes, and fielding telephone calls. The person needs to be able to keep confidences, exercise good judgment (such as when to interrupt a meeting), and show initiative.

According to many people, it’s becoming harder and harder to find qualified people for this position at the compensation levels permitted by Human Resources. For more ideas, visit the website of Lawyers Right Hand. For this reason as well as because new lawyers coming into law departments are technologically proficient, I foresee that the ratio of lawyers to administrative assistants will keep moving higher from the current 3 or 4 to one.