UNIT 5

MANAGING THE LAWYER-

PARALEGAL-CLIENT
RELATIONSHIP #2

MGT 209
LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT

Department of Law
School of Humanities and Law
UNIVERSITY OF THE COMMONWEALTH
CARIBBEAN

Clover Edwards
Lecturer
 OVERVIEW -
SUCCEEDING AS A PARALEGAL/LEGAL
ASSISTANT
• Accuracy, Thoroughness, and • Keep Accurate, Contemporaneous
Quality Time Sheets
• The Assignment • Work Hard and Efficiently
• Preparation and Organization • Maintain a Positive Attitude and
• Manage your time Team Spirit
• Be a self Starter
• Effective Communications with
Attorneys • Stress Management
• Clients comes first

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 SUCCEEDING AS A
PARALEGAL/LEGAL ASSISTANT
• As Paralegals, you must develop good management skills in order to
succeed.
• You need to be accurate and thorough in everything you do.
• You must be routinely organized, prompt, and prepared. Must be team
players and communicate effectively.
Please note that these things do not come naturally; most are learned the
hard, old fashioned way by trial and error over years.

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 ACCURACY, THOROUGHNESS, AND
QUALITY

• “Accuracy” and “thoroughness” 

• These are easy to say but hard to accomplish. However, high-quality
work is vital to the performance of a professional.
• A law office is a team, and everyone must be able to rely on everyone
else; each client is paying for and deserves the absolute best work
product the team can provide.

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 ACCURACY, THOROUGHNESS,
AND QUALITY
• One element of quality work is careful documentation.
• It is important that, when you talk to witnesses, clients, opposing
counsel, or others, you should keep written notes of your conversation
and send a confirming letter that documents your conversation.
• Some cases can drag on for years; if proper notes are not kept in the
file, vital information can be lost.
• Keeping proper documentation about the work you have done on a case
is very important.

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 ACCURACY, THOROUGHNESS,
AND QUALITY
• Mistakes happen. If something does slip by, do not try to cover it up.
Admit and/or report the mistake, correct the mistake to the best of your
ability as quickly as possible, take precautions to make sure it does not
happen again, apologize, and go on.
• Because mistakes are natural and almost inevitable, being accurate and
putting out quality work is a daily battle.

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 ACCURACY, THOROUGHNESS,
AND QUALITY
• Create forms and systems - If you do a job more than once, create a system using forms
and instructions for yourself. This will evoke memories from the last time you performed
the job and speed up the work.
• Create checklists - Make a checklist for the jobs you regularly perform.
• Be careful and complete - Be prudent and careful in your work. Do not hurry your work
to the degree that accuracy and thoroughness are compromised. Your work should always
be neat and complete.
• Keep written documentation and notes - Keeping proper documentation about work
you have done on a case is very important.
• Take pride in your work - Do not let work that you are not proud to call your own go
out with your name on it.

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 ACCURACY, THOROUGHNESS,
AND QUALITY
• Work hard - Accuracy and thoroughness are seldom reached by slothfulness. Work hard at what you
do, and the quality of the work will always be better for it.
• Ask for peer review - If you have a particularly important project due and you have a question about
the accuracy of your work, have another legal assistant or staff member look it over before it is turned
in. While you do not want to become dependent on others or disrupt their productivity, sometimes a
second opinion can really help, especially if you are new to the organization.
• Never assume - Do not assume anything. If you have the slightest doubt about something, check it
out, conduct research, make sure that you pay attention to details, and double-check the accuracy of
your work.
• Use firm resources - Use firm resources, like intranets, brief banks, and tools, to the fullest extent.
You will learn from others and your work will be of higher quality if you use the collective
knowledge of other experienced staff.

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 THE ASSIGNMENT

A senior partner thinks he has told a legal assistant to take care of an

important filing. In actuality, all he told the legal assistant to do was to
draft the necessary documents to make the filing. The legal assistant
drafts the documents and puts them in the senior partner’s box for review.
The filing deadline is missed. The senior partner blames the legal
assistant for the job not being done properly.

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 THE ASSIGNMENT

• When a task is being assigned to you, make sure you understand exactly what the assignment is and
what the supervising attorney wants.
• Write it down, always ask for a due date and check in with your supervisor periodically during the
assignment.
• Be absolutely certain that you understand the whole assignment; do not guess or extrapolate. One of
the most common mistakes a new legal assistant makes is to not ask questions. It takes a certain
amount of maturity to say, “I do not understand,” but it is absolutely critical.
• Your supervising attorney will not think any worse of you for it, and your chance of success on the
task will be greatly enhanced. It is also a good idea to repeat the assignment back to the supervisor to
make sure you understand all of the details.
• If a task is extremely complicated, ask the supervisor to help you break it down into smaller parts.

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 PREPARATION AND
ORGANIZATION
• Have an appointment calendar
• Make a “things-to-do” list
• Prioritize tasks
• Be on time
• Set daily objectives
• Do not waste your time on irrelevant tasks

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 PREPARATION AND
ORGANIZATION
• Avoid procrastination
• Avoid socializing in hallways
• Make a timeline of Gantt Chart
• Have reference material close by

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 EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
WITH ATTORNEYS
• One of your most important tasks will be to establish mutual
confidence between yourself and your supervisor.
• Because legal assistants and attorneys must work together very closely,
good communication is an absolute necessity.
• Always ask questions; listen and be confident
• Check in; Don not make important decisions unilaterally
• Establish mutual confidence; and establish your limit of authority

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 THE CLIENT COMES FIRST

• When you are with a client, he or she should be given your undivided
attention.
• Do not take phone calls, allow interruptions, play with your nails, or do
anything else that would take your attention away from the client.
• Treat each client courteously and respectfully, and as if he or she is the
only client you have.

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 THE CLIENT COMES FIRST

• Give clients your undivided attention

• Give clients fast, courteous, respectful treatment
• Treat each client as if he or she were your only client
• Serve clients, but do not overstep your bounds
• Maintain client confidence

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 KEEP ACCURATE,
CONTEMPORANEOUS TIME SHEETS
• Attorneys and legal assistants keep records of the amount of time spent on
each case so that management will know how much to bill the client.
• When you start with a firm always be sure to ask how many hours of
billable time you are expected to have per month and annually.
• Also ask when time sheets are due and when they are monitored for
compliance (i.e., weekly, monthly, quarterly).
• Budget your time so that you know how many billable hours each month,
week, or even day you will need to meet your goal, and then monitor
yourself on your progress.

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 KEEP ACCURATE,
CONTEMPORANEOUS TIME SHEETS

• Keep track of budgeted and actual billable hours

• Keep a time sheet near your phone and computer
• Fill out the time sheet throughout the day
• Record the actual time you spent on a case
• Be absolutely honest and ethical

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 WORK HARD AND EFFICIENTLY

• If you work hard, people will respect you and recognize you for it; if you
do not, people will recognize this also and typically will resent you for it.
• Do not be surprised if you must work overtime.
• Pull your weight - Do what is asked of you and produce quality work.
• Put in overtime when required - Be ready to put in overtime when it is
required. Try to be pleasant and professional about it.
• Work efficiently - Work as efficiently as possible. If you have access to a
computer, it makes sense to use it instead of doing something by hand.

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 MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
AND TEAM SPIRIT

• The greatest key to success is something no one can give you—a good
attitude!
• Enthusiasm has nothing to do with noise; it has more to do with
motivation. It deals with our attitude.
• An attitude is something you can do something about. You can choose
to be enthusiastic or you can choose not to be.
• Excitement is infectious; You can’t infect someone unless you have the
real thing 

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 MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
AND TEAM SPIRIT
• Put the team first - always put the needs of the team before your own personal
interests. In the long run, what is good for the team is good for you.
• Delegate tasks to other team members when possible - use the team.
• Know the employees of your firm - Get to know the employees of your firm and
treat all employees as you would like to be treated.
• Help other team members - always remember to take time to help other team
members. Otherwise, they will not be willing to help you when you need it.
• Share information. Never hoard information - Pass information along to other staff
members, remembering to put the team first.

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 MAINTAIN A POSITIVE ATTITUDE
AND TEAM SPIRIT
• Constructively and professionally criticize other team members - Just because you
are a team player does not mean you cannot constructively criticize others.
• Try to be respectful, professional, and nonemotionally - Explain the criticism, then
suggest ways to fix the problem. Treat others as equals.
• Take criticism professionally - Try to avoid becoming defensive and listen to what
is being said. Try to implement the suggestions of the other party as soon as
possible.
• Get along with those you do not like - You will probably not like everyone you
work with. But, for the good of the team, work at relationships and treat all
coworkers with courtesy and respect.

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 BE A SELF-STARTER

• In order to advance as a paralegal, you must prove that you are capable of
taking on greater responsibility by performing your present duties
exceptionally well. Show your initiative by anticipating the next stage of
any assignment and completing it before you are asked to do it.
• Self-starters are valuable employees. Self-starters are people who do not
need to be told what to do; they see a job that should be done or a need that
should be fulfilled and they do the job or meet the need without having to
be told.
• They seek out and volunteer for new work, assume responsibility willingly,
and anticipate future needs.

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 BE A SELF-STARTER

• Anticipate what jobs need to be done or what need is unfilled, and then do the job or
fulfill the need without being asked to do it.
• If a new assignment comes up (especially one with a lot of responsibility), volunteer for
it.
• Always be flexible and open-minded; have a positive attitude. All businesses must change
with the times. Be adaptable.
• Be aware of risk. Before taking on a new assignment, research, organize, and plan. Assess
your chances of success.
• Get others involved. Always include others in your development of new ideas. Get their
thoughts and feedback. Not only is the information helpful, but people are far more
willing to implement an idea to which they have contributed.

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 STRESS MANAGEMENT

• A law office is a very stressful place with a great deal of activities, deadlines,
appointments, and problems. You must learn to manage your own stress, or it will
manage you. Do not be so consumed with your work that you put it above your
family or your own happiness.
• Learn to relax and participate in activities that allow you to do so.
• A healthy lifestyle and exercise can reduce your stress.
• You should also consider what causes your stress and how you can change your
work environment to reduce it. Being a workaholic will only lead to burnout and
frustration.
• Taking a vacation is also important; everyone needs an extended rest at least once a
year.

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 ACTIVITY

You are a legal assistant in a legal aid office. The executive director calls
you into his office to let you know that he has received complaints from
clients regarding legal assistants being less than courteous on the phone
and in person. The executive director gives you one week to begin turning
this situation around.
He mentions on his way out the door that, in addition to a short-term
solution, he wants a long-term solution to the problem.
How would you proceed?

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 REFERENCES & FURTHER
READING
• Roper, B. (2007). Practical Law Office Management, (3rd Ed.)
https://www.pdfdrive.com/practical-law-office-management-third-edition
-west-legal-studies-e176322833.html

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 THANK
YOU!

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