703 Balancing Workloads, Associates and Paralegals

Content below this line is information for staff.

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Other Office Information

Exceptions
Marilyn for business balancing purposes or for any other reason may preempt protocol. The Lawyer/Paralegal Team is not exclusive. Any Paralegal may be assigned to a Marilyn keeper Client or another Associate’s Client. For example, Associates should be able to utilize a Paralegal other than her own when her Paralegal does not need or want more work, and when another Paralegal does. Other valid reasons will occur especially considering that (4) lawyers are utilizing only (3) Paralegals and business dynamics come into play.

This emailed to all 5/22/15 –

Please, everyone, understand how busy and overloaded our paralegals have become trying to keep up with work delegated by (4) attorneys. We are weeks, perhaps months, from hiring a third Paralegal, and then there will be a suitable training period before this new Paralegal is effective.

Although we had been in a slump for many months, that appears to be more or less over, especially with our Legal Staff shortage (one less Paralegal). Of course, that means an opportunity to follow the best business practices for this new era. Until we have a replacement Paralegal hired, trained and up to speed, it is imperative that some or all of the below adjustments are made –

Coping techniques in times of “Feast” (caused by new client overload or sudden Legal Staff shortage) –
1. Screen out the more marginal client applicants from scheduling Icons (by Business Staff).
2. Screen out the more marginal Icons from hiring us (by Associates who should refer some of the less wanted Icons out as is prudent).
3. Our lawyers should-could-may do more or less of the work normally delegated to Paralegals to fairly distribute billed hours between themselves and the Paralegals.
4. Associates can only be protected from burnout by being able to somewhat control their own workload destiny by saying “no” or “not right now” on taking on any particular new client.
5. Paralegals can only be protected from burnout by being able to somewhat control their own workload destiny by saying “no” or “not right now” on taking on any particular new client or any extra work offered by an Associate.
An Associate may elect to take on a client with no Paralegal support expected or demanded.
6. Slow up on cases that can tolerate it to spread the work out over the future (by Associates).
7. Negotiate the work start date for certain new clients to spread the work out over the future (initially perhaps by Business Staff but especially by Associates).
Please note that Paralegals only have #5 to protect themselves.

This emailed to all 12/10/14

When everyone is overloaded, there seems to be over delegation pressures that do not exist in slower times like now.  When Marilyn distributes her cases unevenly, Paralegal demand fluctuates.  So the problem seems erratic, elusive, and cyclical.  Since Pauline started, Marilyn has designated Pauline and Michelle on some of her clients, notably Bader, Lona; Chisum, Michael, and Quintana where in November Pauline billed 24.5 hours out of her 92.3 hours total for those clients.  What would Pauline’s billed hours have been in November without Michelle delegating her work?

As of 1/1/16