Should you do your own clerical work?

by PAUL MCLAUGHLIN
Practice Management Advisor
The Law Society of Alberta

It is fairly common for lawyers who are starting solo practices to type letters and docu ments and post accounting information themselves. Is this a sound business decision?

As with most business problems, the answer is, firmly, "It depends."

In my experience, two types of lawyers do their own clerical work: cyberspace lawyers and undercapitalized lawyers.

Cyberspace lawyers pursue the vision of a high-tech law office. They demand the latest, fastest, most powerful hardware and software, push their systems to the limit, and use technology to continuously improve their practices. They automate clerical work so it is done with a minimum of time and effort. Technology replaces support staff.

These lawyers market themselves as cutting edge. They attract clients who are excited about the march of technology. They set their prices according to the value they add to their clients' affairs, not the time it takes to do the work.

Is the cyberspace law office a good business concept? For a few lawyers, the answer is an unequivocal "Yes!" For the rest, however, it is an equally unequivocal "No!" Most lawyers are, and should remain, solidly mid-tech, with clerical functions delegated to support staff.

The other group consists of lawyers who start their practices on a shoestring. Since they have no cash reserves, they cannot hire support staff, so they do their own clerical work with the intention of hiring someone when they can generate enough cash flow. They usually have older, slower hardware and outdated software. They do not put much time and effort into developing computer tools to make themselves more efficient because their hands-on involvement with clerical work is, they hope, short-term.

Although undercapitalized lawyers may have low overhead, their operations actually have high costs. This apparent paradox results from the fact that what they in effect do is assign a high-cost staff member--a lawyer--to low-level clerical work. They get away with this because their vastly overqualified clerk works for less than minimum wage, with no benefits and payment delayed indefinitely.

These lawyers often say that they don't have enough legal work to keep them occupied, so they may as well fill their time with typing, posting, filing, etc. They don't seem to realize that they have lots to do, in the form of all the important entrepreneurial, organizational and marketing work needed to build a practice into a viable business. But instead of functioning as the proprietor of a business, they bury themselves in mindless clerical drudgery.

Undercapitalized lawyers usually fail to consider how potential clients see them. A few clients might like, or at least not mind, a lawyer who can't afford support staff, but most will not feel comfortable entrusting their important legal matters to such a lawyer.

To attract work, these lawyers often reduce their fees to ridiculously low levels. When they start to generate legal work, they think they are busy because they work so many hours, but in fact they are just inefficient. They soon find that they don't make enough money to properly compensate them for the hours they put in, and they don't understand why they work so hard but take so little home. The proprietorial work never gets done, and many never arrive at that elusive day when they can hire someone to take over the clerical work.

Over time, doing clerical work damages their practices, sometimes irreparably.

But what about the young lawyer with the large student loan who can't get a job and just wants to practice law? Have we reached the point only people who have money behind them can start a practice?

With the increased level of competition in the legal sector, a call to the bar is no longer a ticket to certain financial security. Solo law practices face the same business realities as other small businesses. An undercapitalized law practice is weak and vulnerable, and seldom provides adequate rewards to the practitioner.

Should you buy a computer and do your own clerical work? It depends, doesn't it.

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