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Time Management in Legal Practice

Time Management in Legal Practice. Giles Watson Manager, Practice Support QLS. Wellbeing Claims and complaints Time and Money Time pressures are ‘normal’. Time Management in legal Practice. Use IT creatively. Be Decisive. Manage expectations. Get organised. Work to deadlines.

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Time Management in Legal Practice

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  1. Time Management in Legal Practice Giles Watson Manager, Practice Support QLS

  2. Wellbeing Claims and complaints Time and Money Time pressures are ‘normal’ Time Management in legal Practice

  3. Use IT creatively Be Decisive Manage expectations Get organised Work to deadlines Stop Procrastinating Focus on what counts Control Interruptions Email management Efficient time recording Just say no Phone management Motivation Deadlines & key dates Diary management Eliminate time stealers Manage the supervision burden Control Perfectionism Delegate

  4. Less time at work? Achieve more at work? Achieve something specific? Less stress? Less work at work? Less of some work / more of another kind What do you want? What’s stopping you? • Do you really want this? / Reluctance to take action • Lack of specific goals (long term, medium, short) • Don’t believe things can change • Lack of skills • Don’t want to invest time

  5. Reduce ‘in’ Take control Define & police your boundaries & priorities Proactive advice / knowledge management Client engagement & managing expectations Time stealers Interruptions / Supervision / admin / meetings Say no? Say not yet? Increase ‘out’ Delegate downwards, upwards and sideways Invest in efficiencies & IT Ditch – not a priority, not my job Just do it: close files, get the little things out the way. Managing your workload

  6. Technical errors No planning / No, wrong time allocation / too much planning Multi-tasking Wrong person Too large / complex Lack of prompts / reminders Disorganised External Realities Health You are in transition Interruptions / other people’s chaos Psychological obstacles Perfectionism The need to work / be seen to work / be involved Procrastination Time Management barriers

  7. Write it down (if not already written) Assess Estimate how long each task will take Break large projects down Do you need help / assistance / info from others? Decide – now! Act now (3 min rule) / Act later / delete / delegate / diminish Enter it into your diary Fill up your days with tasks / each with time allocation Best time = biggest, hardest job. Execute your plan Diarise your day: reactive / small tasks / big tasks Put your plan into action without being hindered by procrastination or perfectionism Managing the daily onslaught

  8. Prioritisation – what should we tackle when? Urgency 1 3 4 2 Importance

  9. Prioritisation – what should we tackle when? Urgency Do it now Delegate it Dump it / delegate it / low priority schedule. Break tasks up / allocate time Importance

  10. Too busy Poor client management Poor delegation, supervision or workload management Stress / Anxiety possibly as a result of time pressures Poor key date management no adequate reminder or diary system. poor definition of the retainer / investigations of the facts Tackling areas outside of expertise? Delay: why?

  11. Define or identify all typical key dates Note all key dates on file Fee-earner’s diary (manual or IT) Back-up or duplicate diaries (manual or IT) Bring-up systems: Single/double/triple? / How much notice? Record actions and follow-ups: on file/diary/IT/back up Diaries not foolproof: Possible human error on date entry or diary checking Reminder systems need to be backed up by relevant procedures for use & checks Reminder systems

  12. assuming your deadline is recorded, how, and when are you reminded of deadlines? does your system involve automatic checking that the follow-up reminder has in fact been acted upon? do you always use your follow-up system? What if? Client engagement: How long will the work take? When will you have to do the work Will this work make you ‘too busy?’ Timetabled plans for all new instructions? File inactivity checks? File audits? Key dates & delay: best practice

  13. More work doesn’t equal more money Should you change your role? Proactively manage the supervision burden Invest in efficiency gains Manage team workload Reflect on the effect of time costing and billable hour targets Time Management – tips for principals

  14. Record a higher proportion of your time in the office as chargeable Get clarity on what can and cannot be recorded as chargeable Delegate Manage expectations and deadlines / say no? Proactive communication Change Close files Time Management – fee-earners

  15. Questions and Comments Giles Watson, QLS Manager, Practice Support 07 3842 5853 / g.watson@qls.com.au

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