Tips for Law Firm Efficiency

Would you say your law firm is efficient, or do you feel disorganized, spending too much time trying to get things done? Being efficient means achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense. It may be hard to measure efficiency accurately, but you can definitely improve it. We have some tips for developing greater efficiency to benefit your firm and the clients you serve.

Track All Your Time

To figure out where you are losing time, track your time spent on work activities, not just billable hours, each day for at least a week. Make a note of how often you stop working on a task and then come back to it later. Make an honest assessment of how you use your time and what causes interruptions in your workflow.

Compare Use of Time with a Colleague

Ask a colleague to track their daily use of time, if they haven’t already, and compare how you each work on similar tasks. Doing this can reveal different ways of tackling responsibilities and how to deal with them more efficiently.

Prioritize Each Day

At the start of each day, make a list of your priorities so you can keep them in front of you and at the top of your mind. Cross items off the list as you accomplish them, transferring those you didn’t get to for the next day. If you’re not getting the entire list done, figure out why. Is it due to inefficiency or unrealistic goals?

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Try Monotasking Instead of Multitasking

Even though multitasking has become so ingrained in our culture that it seems like the only way to work these days, try focusing on one task until you are finished before moving on to the next. Though this may not always be possible in a busy office, the time you spend focused on one task will be especially productive. Interruptions in our workflow can be more disruptive than we realize. The goal is to get a task completed. The sense of accomplishment fuels you to take on more tasks.

Peak, Trough, & Recovery Periods

Each of us cycles through peaks, troughs, and recovery periods throughout our day. There are times when we are at our peak, feel energetic, and can focus more clearly. Other times we are in a trough, a low-energy period, followed by a period of recovery. Figure out when you experience each of these periods and plan to do your most focus-intensive work when you are at your peak energy level. Save the less intense work for trough and recovery periods.

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Streamline Processes

The steps in your daily processes that you and your staff members perform each week may seem necessary, but maybe some steps could be eliminated, automated, or outsourced. Make a list of all the steps in each process you and your staff use. Eliminate any unnecessary steps. Then see if some steps or tasks can be automated, such as document creation or client intake portals. Maybe some processes can be outsourced.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is an excellent way to remove repetitive processes from your plate, allowing you and your staff to focus on client-specific needs and improve law firm efficiency. Processes that are great for outsourcing are accounting, billing, and marketing. By outsourcing, you avoid having to set up internal software systems yourself or teach a staff member how to use them.

Streamlining Your Marketing Strategy

The areas of marketing and communications are often the first to be overlooked by busy law firms. If you need help with your law firm’s marketing and communications, contact Law As a Business (LAB). We help legal firms run efficient, profitable practices through creative solutions.

Download this free marketing guide and learn how to leverage relevant communication channels and tools, connect with assisted living facilities and nursing homes, and how to nurture your professional network.