Maine Law Practice Management

Good help is hard to find -- and keep .  It’s that latter part that you tend to hear less about , and often that latter part that managing attorneys tend to focus on less .  In many ways, lawyers treat their employees the same way that they treat their clients .  They work very hard to acquire them,  and then roundly ignore them, as communication slows to a drip .  Neither situation is good, as both clients and staff become disgruntled over time.   And, this isn’t any way to get buy-in from your staff .       So, i f you want hard-working, modern employees to join, and choose to stay with, your team, you’ll likely need to modernize your staff management tactics.     Here are some ways to do that:     - Focus on professional development .   Law firm employees, like most other employees, are heavily interested in developing professional skills .  Yet, most law firm business owners tend to focus their ...

It’s difficult for new attorneys , or attorneys starting a new law firm, to find consistent mentorship .  The fact of the matter is that the best mentors are the best mentors because they’re busy and successful .  So, seeking out only on e mentor, is not necessarily a great strategy, when the rubber comes to meet the road.     But, there is a better way to find mentors, and it comes with diversification.   Instead of trying to find one mentor, that you can access consistently, instead focus on finding a ‘circle of mentors’ = a group of experience d professionals who can assist you .  That way, you won’t have to lean heavily on just one person, and potentially place them under undue pressure to answer for all your needs .     The other, significant advantage that creating a circle of mentors allows , is for a new attorney to focus on mentors with certain skill sets .  So, for example: Perhaps one of your mento r s is a small firm ...