Owning and running a law practice takes a lot of time, energy, and resources. As a lawyer and business owner, are you focusing on ways to make your law firm profitable? Are you doing administrative tasks or focusing on revenue-generating projects?

If you are still focusing on administrative tasks (think printing paperwork, filing documents, taking client calls, legal research, and scheduling meetings) it is now time to shift your mindset, and your responsibilities. If you haven’t hired a virtual assistant or created a team that you trust and can delegate to, then it may be time for a change in your mindset.

Lawyers are known to be compassionate, driven, and organized, which can help in building a successful and profitable law firm, but being able to determine when and how to delegate tasks, as well as which tasks and to whom, can be challenging. If you haven’t taken the steps necessary to delegate to a team that you trust, this process may seem impossible.

Delegating is particularly important with heavy workloads, meeting deadlines, and reducing burnout and stress. Just because you have a team or have an assistant, doesn’t mean they should be in charge of everything, all at once. It’s important as you hire to create a team that you trust, and that trusts you, so you can determine who is going to do what and how they are going to do it. Make sure you are providing them with proper resources.

There are several ways you can free up your time and make space for legal, intensive work that improves your law firm’s profitability. One way is by hiring a virtual assistant, the other is building a great team.

1. Hiring a Virtual Assistant: There are several benefits to hiring, or outsourcing, administrative work. If you are trying to save money, a virtual assistant is an inexpensive way to delegate menial tasks. It is possible to delegate to a virtual assistant that works remote as well. Delegating to a virtual assistant can free up your time, provide a client-centered experience, and complete tasks that are not making you money directly. That leaves you with focusing on billable work and revenue-generating projects.

Since the 2020 Legal Trends Report found that law firms only spend an average of 2.5 hours each day on billable work, it’s more important than ever to find ways to do more billable work and improve your law firm’s profitability.

2. Build a Great Team: Building a team that you trust to run your business while you are gone, takes time. It also takes skill. Hiring in general can cause a shift in how your law practice operates. It is important to spend time on hiring so you hire the right people who provide the right skillset.

The true magic lies in the skill of delegation. Any experienced lawyer understands that delegation is not a loss of power or a way to pass on responsibility, but rather a smart way to manage resources and time.

Delegating can not only provide you with more time in your day, it also gives you the opportunity to take that vacation you have been putting off or take time away to focus on your family.

This process can be a challenge and a shift in the day-to-day. Hiring highly experienced and qualified team members is crucial to the future success of your business. Overall, it could mean lower costs and more revenue for your law practice.

Do you need further assistance with building a great team? We recommend Build My Great Team^® Staffing Solutions.

Stop spending countless hours away from representing your clients. This staffing solution handles the time-consuming administrative work that is involved in screening and interviewing applicants. They will find highly qualified candidates for you.

They will sift through contenders based off of your current needs, interview potential candidates on your behalf, and present only the top prospects.

Click HERE to read more about this program.

• Author Details

Abbie Guerrero

Abbie Guerrero

Assistant Marketing Manager/Resource Advisor

Abbie joined the Atticus team in 2021 with more than a decade of digital marketing experience. She is results driven and has an extensive background in content creation, lead generation, understanding the customer development process, solving problems, and advertising. She is an expert at building relationships and sets high quality expectations. She loves to set and exceed personal and professional goals.

Abbie is currently the Resource Advisor for Atticus livestream webinars and workshops. In addition to her Resource Advisor role, she is the Assistant Marketing Manager. In this role she leads the strategy for digital marketing, creates content for weekly newsletters, all advertising campaigns and executes many ad hoc marketing projects.

Abbie has her bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Utah Valley University. She is a blogger and published author and enjoys spending time with her family in both Utah and California.