Seek the answers within...

by David J Bilinsky

i went to the doctor, i went to the mountains
i looked to the children, i drank from the fountains
there’s more than one answer to these questions pointing me in a crooked line
the less i seek my source for some definitive…the closer i am to fine

Words and Music by Emily Saliers
Recorded by Indigo Girls

You look around the office. Everything seems OK. You talk to accounting--things there seem to be running satisfactorily except for the usual concerns over receivables. You duck into your partners’ offices–they appear generally satisfied if you ignore their piles of unreturned pink phone call slips and their tales of being harassed by unreasonable clients. Your associates are rushing around preparing to file documents for court. Yet you have a tingling sensation deep inside yourself that, in the words of Miss Clavel, “Something is not right.”

How do you drill deeper and find the answers? You could seek sage advice. You could resort to searching out the Delphi oracle or the modern equivalent by calling in a consultant. You could resort to finding the latest management gurus and reading their books. However, I will postulate that for most of us, the answers are easily found if one goes looking for them. For it is a paradox that more often than not, it is not the answers to questions that are most useful, it is asking the right questions. For the answers lie buried underneath layers of daily “stuff”–the daily grind and the (sometimes overlooked) signs and symptoms of problems that have been developing over a long period of time. The right questions strip away the chaff, grind up excuses and expose the inner “germ”. In other words, the Socratic method applied to practice management.

How can we start formulating the right questions? Nancy Byerly Jones has just written perhaps the most useful of practice management advice books–one which combines danger signals, tips, resources and loads and loads of questions. The title? Easy Self-Audits for the Busy Law Office. Is it enough to ask the right questions? If in the asking, you determine that there is action that needs to be taken and if you resolve to take that action, then you have embarked on the most important of steps–and that is to move away from a steady state to one that embraces change.

What topics does Nancy delve into? Client Interactions, Individual Assessment and Planning, Support Staff Management, Office Management Systems and Procedures, Time and Stress Management and other self-audits (such as launching your own practice). She includes monthly progress checkups and some useful articles and checklists. What sort of questions does she raise? Here is a sampling:

• Are you afraid of what clients’ may say or of opening a “can of worms” if you ask for their feedback?
• Do you have sufficient time to add this matter to your caseload?
• Why did I choose my current work (e.g., money potential, service to others, travel opportunities)?
• In what direction is my firm heading or does it just seem to go in circles?
• If I could leave this job without suffering a financial loss, would I?
• Are you happy to go into the office most mornings?
• Are staff members encouraged to maintain a reasonable and healthy balance between their professional and personal lives, or are they made to feel guilty over taking earned vacation days or staying home with a sick child, for example?
• When I answer the telephone, do callers get the impression that I am glad they called or that I am frustrated they have interrupted me?
• Do you ever lose sleep worrying about missed deadlines?
• By quickly reviewing the checklists within your files, are you able to get a quick and accurate update regarding the current activities and status of cases?
• In making decisions and plans regarding your hardware and software purchases, do you get employee input before actually purchasing?
• When nonfirm persons are in the reception area, does your receptionist protect the confidentiality of client names and matters and other client information when talking with others in person or on the telephone?
• Do you check for any potential conflicts before receiving confidential disclosures from new clients?
• Do you send nonengagement letters to all persons with whom you have met or consulted but have formed no lawyer-client relationship?
• Do you keep irreplaceable documents and other valuable materials in fireproof cabinets or a safe?
• How are files calendared or docketed for review?
• What adjectives would you want others to use when describing you, your office and the quality of your work?
• Do you explain to your clients that no partnership exists between you and the lawyers with whom you share office space and do you reconfirm this in your engagement letter to them?
• Do the partners come across as united and loyal to each other in the eyes of staff members and others?
• Do you have a written guide that clearly states the firm’s policies and procedures?
• Have you thought about the type of impression that callers get when they call the office?
• Do you realize that failure to record time can result in huge financial losses for a firm (eg, losing one billable hour per day at $100 per hour for 50 weeks represents an annual $25,000 loss to your firm)?

This is a small sampling of the 331 pages in the book. Moreover, you can see that there is more than one answer to most of the questions posed by Nancy Byerly Jones. To obtain a copy of this book, contact the ABA Publication Orders department, 1.800.285.2221 or email abasvcctr@abanet.org or visit their website at www.abanet.org/lpm/catalog. Then you can be pointed on your crooked line and find yourself closer to fine.

David J Bilinsky is the practice management advisor at the Law Society of British Columbia. He can be reached at dbilinsky@lsbc.org.

This article originally appeared in the August 1999 issue of BarTalk and is reproduced here with permission of both the author and the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia Branch.