Attorneys: It’s Not Your Fault You Can’t Delegate

According to a Gallup study, CEOs who excel in delegating generate 33 percent higher revenue.

But according to that same survey, only one in four (1/4) entrepreneurs – business leaders who are founders of a company with at least one employee – have high levels of Delegator talents.

Add in the number of entrepreneurs with a law license, and that number will certainly plummet. 

The professionals and virtual paralegals at Opulent Landholdings’ Attorney Services have a great deal of experience “managing up”, and we are happy to help you with the delegation process!

Here are some tips to help you delegate:

1. You can’t accomplish everything yourself. You need to be able to relinquish control and hand tasks to others. Start with something small and go from there. Remind yourself that your team wants to do good work and be successful just like you do. If your employees succeed, you succeed.
2. Use a strengths-based approach. Take time to understand what you and your staff do best and then position your staff to take on tasks where they will excel.
3. Ensure your employees have what they need to do their job. Provide tools, resources, training and learning opportunities for your employees. If you don’t know what they need, ask.
4. Focus on outcomes, not processes. Set clear expectations about deadlines, budget, and deliverables and expect those expectations to be met. Don’t micromanage.
5. Communicate frequently with employees. Scheduling meetings on a regular basis is always a good idea.

The first step is to make a list of your responsibilities and the things you do on a regular basis. If you have a practice management software, here is a great way to do this:

1. Run a case list report
2. Close cases that should be closed  
3. Add any cases that are not on the list but should be
4. Run a new, updated list
5. For each open case, note:
   1. Current Status
   2. Next Steps
   3. All due dates/ important dates  

Then evaluate them to see if they fall in one of the following categories:

Delegate IMMEDIATELY

These tasks should be delegated first. They are below your paygrade. Get them off your plate!

These tasks include administrative tasks (organizing files, getting docket updates, calendaring), routine project management tasks, and routine tasks (eFiling, etc.)

Delegate with some guidance

After you’ve delegated the “A” tasks, that should free up some of your time to delegate work that will require some guidance from you.

These tasks include drafting standard complaints and answers, discovery requests and responses, document review, performing more important project management tasks such as creating and maintaining various tracking charts, client status update matrices, etc.; and proofreading motions prior to filing.

Delegate with oversight

These are the types of tasks that you will probably want to wait to delegate until you get to know your virtual paralegal, such as drafting statements of facts and procedural history sections of the Memorandum of Points and Authorities.

Don’t Delegate

This is the work you keep for yourself and should be your priority. Examples include developing a litigation strategy or appearing in court.

Now What?

Once you have determined what to delegate, you will need to determine who to delegate it to and how to delegate it. As a general rule, you should delegate the work to the team member with the most appropriate billing rate who is available and competent to do the work. 

Delegating work to one of the team members at Opulent Landholdings’ Attorney Services is an easy way to find someone competent to do the work at the appropriate billing rate.

Final Thoughts

It’s easy to fall into the “it’ll be much quicker if I just do it myself” attitude, but though delegating may be tough in the short term, it is a high-impact strategic activity that can save you time in the long run.

Contact Attorney Services today online or by email to learn more about how we can help!