Team leaders and operations directors can be invaluable to law firms, and they can take your practice from zero to hero. With the proper tools and training, they can reduce the tasks on an attorney’s plate and keep the office running smoothly. When a lawyer develops a good working relationship with their team lead, they can trust that the work is still getting done while they’re occupied with other tasks in the firm or out of the office.

Becoming a team leader or director of operations for a law firm isn’t always a linear path. Instead, a current employee often steps up and shows passion for the work that leads an attorney to recognize their potential. Discovering who it is in your practice could completely transform how you do business.

In this episode of Great Practice, Great Life®, Steve interviews Marie Tricarico, Director of Operations for Safe Harbor Wills and Trusts in New York. After suffering a personal tragedy and a death in her family, Marie discovered a longing to help others work through the grieving and bereavement process. After working for a funeral home for a while, she was offered an opportunity to work for a law firm, where she remains today and oversees several team members in the practice.

Marie loves her job, and her passion is evident. She shares her challenges as a team leader, how she chooses new hires for the firm, and why you need an authentic team lead in your practice.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Marie’s background as a software engineer and how a brush with death along with a death in her family inspired her to help families prepare for death and bereavement
• The story behind why her law firm hired her and how that eventually evolved into a Director of Operations role
• Why it’s so challenging to be the team leader in a law firm, and the reason she won’t hire someone who isn’t willing to maintain the firm’s reputation and keep it on an upward trajectory
• The hardest part of finding and managing people
• Why a team leader should come along with you on the firm’s growth journey
• The three criteria to look for in an up-and-coming team leader
• What Marie would tell her younger self and her advice for someone who wants to become a Director of Operations in a law firm
• Her excitement for the future and what that may look like

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Supporting Resources:

Marie Tricarico: Adjunct Practice Advisor

Law Firm Team Leader Certification – Level 1

Law Firm Team Leader Certification – Level 2

Safe Harbor Wills & Trusts

• Author Details

Steve Riley

Steve Riley

Certified Practice Advisor & Attorney

Steve Riley has coached attorneys for more than 20 years. His one-on-one coaching focuses on a limited number of top producing attorneys committed to taking their practices to new levels of excellence, profit, and personal success. He also presents at group coaching workshops around the country for individual law firms, state bar associations, and other legal organizations.

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