You’ve heard the old saying, “if you want something done right, do it yourself.” Many solo attorneys start out with this ethos when they start their law firms, but at some point, effective delegation is 100% essential for growing your small law firm. As financial strategists for law firms, we think a lot about how new lawyers should delegate in order to get the best return on their investment and at the lowest possible risk for their firm.
Today, we’re sharing some successful delegation tips for law firms who want to drive up efficiency and finally scale without sacrificing quality and the exceptional level of service that they provide for their clients.
Our best delegation tip: Prioritize delegating things you aren’t the best at
One of the law firm KPIs we encourage our clients to look at closely is utilization rate. This KPI measures how much time is spent working vs. how much time is billed. It’s one of the most influential metrics when it comes to the profitability of your firm. The reason this matters when it comes to delegation is that too often, small firms think about hiring new attorneys or paralegals when they should actually be outsourcing things that could never be considered billable time.
Tips for delegating tasks that are not included in billable hours
When we say to delegate things that could never be considered billable time, we’re talking about things like accounting, marketing, and secretarial work because these are the things that have the biggest impact on your small law firm’s utilization rate. When you, a qualified and professional attorney and law firm owner, waste time on writing social media posts, pouring over trust accounts, and writing emails to clients, you’re cutting into your billable time dramatically. This is one of the most common ways that small law firms struggle to finally scale.
Here’s how to determine which non-billable tasks to delegate for your law firm:
- Start by delegating your biggest time wasters. Do you spend hours a day on email correspondence with clients? Up late at night trying to manage your books? Start with the things you know would make the biggest difference to eliminate in terms of your time.
- Avoid delegating marketing until you’re ready to scale. Let’s be real. If you’re struggling with your utilization rate, you need to establish ways of getting more billable time before you invest in a lot of inbound marketing. We like to say work smarter, not harder. Prioritizing your time before you scale is the best way to do that.
- Prioritize outsourcing the things that matter most. We can’t tell you how many midnight panic emails we’ve received from clients when they realize their office assistant has messed up their books. For attorneys, good bookkeeping is about more than tax compliance and great data – it’s a matter that could get you disbarred if done incorrectly. Delegate this to a professional to avoid any issues and get advice about outsourcing other tasks you’re dealing with as a bonus!
Know what to outsource? Here are some delegation tips and tricks that will help small law firms succeed.
Now that you know what to delegate, let’s talk about how to delegate. The very first thing you should do is to map out exactly what you need this new person to do. If you’re just starting out, we recommend outsourcing primarily to people who will not need much guidance from you. For example, delegating your bookkeeping to a professional who is experienced in legal accounting will yield better results than having to explain specific rules about accounting for law firms to a generalized bookkeeper.
This same sentiment applies to marketers and assistants. It’s best to find people who require less training and come with their own systems for doing things. This also generally saves attorneys money since these positions are often for contractors whose fees are 100% tax deductible for law firms. You’ll also want to consider how much you want to delegate right now. For example, do you want to delegate only your bookkeeping or do you want to outsource accounts receivable also? Think through all of your options and what will give you the best chance of boosting your utilization rate when making this decision.
