If you’ve been in our community for a while, you know I was a paralegal manager before I started my company, Paralegal Boot Camp. I learned some things as a manager that I wish I knew when I was a paralegal, and I want to share some of those things with you in this article.
You’ve also probably heard me talk about how much I loved being a litigation paralegal. I had a very successful career as a litigation paralegal. I was working at the top of my game. I was second chair at trial. My attorneys would frequently, not once, but many times, tell me that I was indispensable. I also was rewarded financially with really big raises and bonuses.
The reason I bring it up in this article is because as much success as I saw, if I’d known some of the things I learned as a manager, I could have seen even more success.
That’s my goal for you: to be wildly successful as early in your career as possible! The following 5 lessons learned as a manager will help you get there.
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Alright, let’s jump in. These are not in any particular order of importance. I’m just going to run through the top five. And if I think of more later, I’ll do a part 2 of this article to make sure you have all of the information I wish I had known when I was a paralegal.
Lesson 1: It’s the Practice of Law, But It’s Still a Business
During my paralegal years, I was mainly focused on the legal side of operations. However, moving into a management role, I gained a new perspective: the business aspect of a law firm.
Understanding the economics, marketing strategies, and client relationships is vital in ensuring the firm’s growth and survival. Had I realized this earlier, I could have contributed more to the firm beyond my paralegal responsibilities and developed a more well-rounded approach to my work.
Just like every other business, if a law firm doesn’t make money, they have to close their doors. Okay, so we kind of know this, but if you are like I was, you might have thought
Why would that have mattered back then?
What can you learn or take away from that?
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Lesson 2: It’s Not Your Business
Now that being said, it’s not your business. What that means is that you have to find a balance between work and your personal life. Maybe you’ve heard the recent take on what used to be called work-life balance is that there is no such thing as finding balance. It’s called work-life integration.
Work-life balance and work-life integration are two distinct concepts. Work-life balance refers to the concept of dividing your time and energy between work and your personal life. The aim is to establish a clear distinction and balance between work and personal commitments, preventing one from excessively overshadowing the other.
It requires creating boundaries and ensuring that neither work nor personal life is neglected. But we all know what happens with that. Our work life takes over and we have no personal time.
On the other hand, work-life integration is a more fluid approach, emphasizing the blending of professional and personal life, rather than separating them into distinct compartments. It is a concept that has emerged as technology has advanced, enabling people to work anytime, anywhere.
Work-life integration accepts that work and life often intersect, and that this intersection can be beneficial if managed well. Rather than seeking to segregate work and personal life, it focuses on finding synergies between them.
What does that mean? Well, having a hybrid remote position or a remote position is a good example. It’s only really a good example though, if you have the freedom to work when and where you want.
For example, you might have a sick kid home from school. While they nap, and when they go to bed early, you’re putting the work in. You’re still working 8 hours; or whatever hours it takes to get the work done. But you might be doing it from 11 am to 2 pm and again from 6 pm to 11 pm.
Here are 6 Paralegal Tips to Reduce Stress.
Lesson 3: Master the Art of Delegation Earlier
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned as a manager is the art of delegation. When I was a paralegal, I felt the need to take on every task myself to ensure it was done to my standard. You know the saying…if you want it done right, do it yourself.
It’s not that I never delegated while I was a paralegal. In fact, in my later years, I had a project assistant assigned to me. She was great. But all I really did was give her the stuff I didn’t want to do or that I knew the work product wasn’t going directly to an attorney.
I learned as a manager, that I could have done a better job delegating if I understood back then what it really means to delegate effectively.
There are all kinds of articles out there on how to delegate effectively.
Identify the task to delegate.
Choose who is the right person for the task.
Clearly define the task and the deadline.
We all know those. But I’d add that the most important part of delegating is to set a specific time or stage of the project for them to check in with you. For example, if you’re getting a project assistant to put together a set of deposition prep notebooks for 10 upcoming depositions, you don’t want them to do all 10 notebooks and bring them to you next week only to find out that they’re not correct. They’re not what you were expecting. Instead, have them put together one, bring it to you, give them feedback, and then they can move on to the next one.
On the flip side of that, let’s say you’re the person who is receiving the project. Your attorney asks you to do those notebooks. They’re probably not going to ask you to check in and let them see the first notebook. Then take it upon yourself to bring that first notebook to them and ask if that’s what they had in mind, instead of pushing through the whole project without knowing if that’s what they really wanted.
Dive into this paralegal project management tip.
Lesson 4: Know Your Numbers. They’re More Important Than You Think
That’s especially true if you are a paralegal who works in a law firm with a billable hour requirement, which I was.
This holds true even if you don’t have a billable hour number. If you’re a personal injury paralegal who doesn’t have to enter billable hours, then know how many active claim files you’re managing every month, how many settled this month and for how much, how many trials you had, and what the results of those trials were.
If you’re a real estate paralegal, how many closings did you complete last month, last year, and what was the dollar amount of those closings in total?
I learned as a manager that numbers are more important than you’d think. For a couple of reasons:
- Your current employer is looking at those numbers. It’s the KPIs in the business. KPIs are Key Performance Indicators. It’s how all businesses measure and evaluate the strength of the business. So if you work in a law firm that has a billable hour requirement of 1,600 hours for paralegals and 2,000 for associates, but most of you are usually only hitting 75 – 80% of those numbers, it tells a firm that there’s not enough work.
In other words, we’ve got too many people and if it continues we might have to consider some layoffs. If you’re at a firm that doesn’t have billable hours, let’s say you’re at a plaintiff’s personal injury firm. They might look at how many total active files they have, what percentage of those are on your plate, and what percentage of yours reach a settlement in 9 months versus 18 months. Why might they do that? Because that’s 9 months of delayed cash flow. The longer that personal injury file sits dormant, the longer it takes for the cash to come in the doors to pay the bills.
Learn why Billable Hours Matter More Than You Think They Do. - Because your potential future employer is probably going to ask about your numbers. I learned as a manager at a large firm that I needed to know what the typical billable hour year was for a potential hire because I’d want to know if this person could handle the pace of a particular team.
If you know your numbers you’ll also know if that potential employer might be a good fit. Here’s a perfect example. There was a particular law firm in Atlanta that I knew had a billable hour minimum of 1,800 hours for their paralegals.
That wasn’t a “you get a bonus if you hit that number.” It was a “if you don’t hit that number, your job could be at risk.” I knew of other firms that had 1,500 hour requirements and that meant you were eligible for a bonus.
If you’re working at that firm, and you know your numbers most years were somewhere between 1400-1500 hours, why in the world would you want to go to the 1,800 firm? You could be sitting in the interview and the recruiter told you they’re going to pay you $10k more than what you’re making at your current firm.
Learn more about paralegal billable hours and the important numbers.
Lesson 5: Management knows who the bad apples and under performers are
I remember as a paralegal being so frustrated that I’d be busting my butt, and see other paralegals who would come in late, leave early, spending a lot of time chit chatting with co-workers, take extra long lunches, etc. You know what I mean. There’s at least one in every office.
If you’re dealing with that, I empathize with you. I was there. It can feel deflating. I remember thinking, you know why do I bother to work so hard while others are getting away with that kind of stuff. Ultimately though, I didn’t do anything because that’s just not who I am. And it’s not who you are.
Here’s what I learned as a manager that might help if you’re dealing with that at your job. In most situations, those people are not getting the raises and bonuses that you are.
If you can see it, others in your office can see it too. The attorneys see it. That’s probably why they prefer to work with you. The managers see it. Other paralegals see it.
Get tips on how to combat negativity in the workplace.
If you’re like most people, you might be thinking “well, wait a minute Ann! If they all see it, why aren’t they doing anything about it.”
Here’s the thing. It takes a while, especially in a bigger firm, to get rid of someone – even someone who deserves to be fired. In a small firm (in some states that are at-will employment), that office manager might be able to walk into that paralegal’s office and just say “things aren’t working out, we’re letting you go.”
Get tips on what to do if you just got fired or laid off.
That doesn’t happen at a big firm. And this next statement, you’re probably not going to like if you’re the hard worker, it takes even longer if that person works for a rainmaker partner. I hate to say that, but it’s true.
I hope these lessons learned as a manager will help you to advance your paralegal career!
Master the 7 Habits of the Indispensable Paralegal with our comprehensive guide.
Meet the Author
Ann Pearson is the Founder of the Paralegal Boot Camp, and host of the Paralegals on Fire! Podcast Show, and passionate about promoting the paralegal profession.
Ann spent 20 years working as a paralegal manager and a litigation paralegal before opening the Paralegal Boot Camp in 2010. Her training programs focus on adding immediate value to a paralegal’s career and bridging the gap between what a paralegal learns in school and what they actually do on the job.
When Ann is not working, you can usually find her somewhere near the ocean – either boating, scuba diving, or rescuing sea turtles.
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