Getting the most out of your legal secretary
As law firms downsized, not only were the attorneys fired, but their walking papers were also handed over to support staff. The elimination of support staff meant that many legal secretaries were out of work.
Legal secretaries remain a valuable resource, but as more and more technically skilled attorneys enter the workforce, are legal secretaries becoming obsolete? The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010-2011 edition indicates that the projection for clerks and clerks is expected to increase by 11% between 2008 and 2018, and “moderate growth is projected in legal services leads to average growth in the employment of legal secretaries. ” The BLS estimates a projected 18% increase in legal secretaries (311,000 employment data) for the year 2018 from 2008 (262,600 employment data for legal secretaries). Legal secretaries are very beneficial and they are not becoming obsolete; however, they may be underused.
Take advantage of the skills of your legal secretary
To get the most out of your legal secretary, you must use the secretary to his full potential and challenge him. Various legal secretaries have a wide spectrum of experience, education, and skills that the employer never really takes advantage of. Most legal secretaries have much more than just the required job skills. Probably more legal secretaries than not want the opportunity to show that they can do more than what the attorney assigns them.
Once the attorney realizes or knows the additional skills and / or capabilities that the legal secretary can provide, they should challenge the legal secretary by assigning him more meaningful (and challenging) responsibilities. (Be sure to contact your legal secretary, as this presumably means more work, probably at the same level of pay, until the time of the increase, of course.) Communicate, communicate and communicate some more. Meet your legal secretary and realize her full potential. Doing so will not only make the attorney more productive, but it will keep the secretary busy and challenged. Ultimately, this will lead to a rewarding and satisfying relationship for both the attorney and the secretary.
It is important for law firms to train clerks in other functions (eg, paralegal work, IT support, word processing support, project coordinator, content management, litigation support). Having other avenues in which to use the secretary effectively helps increase productivity and allows the company to get the most out of the secretary. Several firms have moved to an attorney-to-secretary ratio of 2: 1, 3: 1, or even 4: 1; however, this may not be enough or even be productive.
Increasing the attorney-to-clerk ratio can backfire
In cases where a legal secretary can support one or two partners and one or two associates, the associate may feel that the secretary does not have time to handle their work. As a result, the associate will likely end up doing the work that the secretary should be doing. Assigning multiple attorneys to a secretary can give the impression (in the minds of other attorneys) that the secretary would not be able to get to the attorney’s job (at least in the amount of time the attorney needs it). Having 3: 1, 4: 1, or even 5: 1 attorney-to-secretary ratios can backfire. Secretaries can be too busy to handle the workload of all assigned attorneys or sit idly by waiting for something to be done (in this case, it is probably because each attorney assumes the secretary is busy and won’t give you much job). When you have a lawyer with a billable fee of hundreds of dollars, and you have to constantly make copies, obtain the files or perform other related secretarial tasks that are counterproductive. When the secretary feels inactive because the associate does not give the secretary enough work, it is counterproductive.
A legal secretary can provide support in a number of ways. It is up to the law firm (and the attorney) to make the most of its resources.
The perspective of BLS secretarial and administrative assistants can be found here.