Best practices for working with administrative staff at law firms Forum

[Anonymous User]

Like thousands of recent law grads, I'm starting my biglaw job next week. And like many other grads, it'll be the first time I have the opportunity to work with paralegals, legal secretaries, and other administrative professionals. Frankly, I don't know what is/is not appropriate to delegate to a staff member, or how to get help freeing up my time without being disrespectful or seeming bossy. Any advice?

[Sackboy]

Try to see them as team members instead of subordinates. Ask them what they typically help attorneys with and how you can best utilize their skills.

[Lawschool123456]

Be kind

[Quichelorraine]

Sackboy's completely correct. Questions about delegation, etc., will answer themselves over time: you'll learn about, and/or be straight-up told, what the expectations are. If you're assigned to a particular administrative assistant or paralegal, you can always ask what's appropriate.

But the attitude issue is a huge one. Be nice, be kind, be grateful. Law is full of tyrannical personalities and jerks of all stripes, and it's a great thing to be on the opposite end of the scale.

Aside from the obvious reasons, there's a self-preservation aspect, too. You may technically "outrank" some of the support staff, but dollars to donuts they've been around longer than you have, and they absolutely wield disproportionate power if you end up getting a reputation as an unreasonable person. So being a non-screaming reasonable person has rewards beyond the obvious karmic ones. (This goes beyond law firms, of course.)

[wanderinglawyer]

Whenever possible, give them a heads up on bigger/time-sensitive needs. Staff are responsible to a lot of different people whose schedules and needs may or may not align (and whose deadlines they may or may not be tracking). Giving them notice helps them manage their time and set expectations with the other people they work for, and if there is an issue with capacity you can resolve it in advance.

Also be clear about expectations. If you want something done in a particular way or with a particular timeframe, communicate that, don't assume they know what you want (at least until you've worked with the same person for a while).

And as others have mentioned, be polite and respectful. While you may have the ability to direct work as the attorney, staff is part of the legal team. In crunch time, a good staff member can save you and a bad staff member can break you.

[TexasBigLaw]

Agreed with all of the above. Workwise, just ask them what they normally help with. I didn't use mine hardly at all as a junior because I wanted to learn how to do things myself (plus I wanted the hours) but I have learned to delegate more as I've gotten more senior and need to focus on more substantive tasks.

Honestly it's more the personal stuff I would focus on. Just simple things like always asking them about their weekends, learning what's going on in their lives and remembering it, making small talk with them, etc - you'd be amazed how few do that. If you're going out for coffee or lunch ask if you can bring anything back for the. Find out if they have kids or grandkids and ask about them frequently. When I travel I always buy some small trinkets or sweets for them and their grandbabies and they love it. Ours all lunch together in our break room so sometimes I'll go sit with them and chat. It's great, they know ALL of the office gossip. Two benefits in one if they like/trust you - they tell you everything but keep your stuff quiet.

[fujo]

(1) Bring them cookies/chocolates/flowers
(2) ask them for help
(3) refer to step 1

[snehpets]

As others have suggested, "don't be a dick" is definitely the main point. Other things that are helpful:

• Don't ask them to do things just because you can. You will probably see partners asking their assistants/paralegals to do things like print a one-page document (or whatever the remote work equivalent of that is). Absent special circumstances, this is absurd, and it's particularly absurd coming from a new associate who presumably has some understanding of how printers and the internet work.

• If a senior associate says to you, "work with [paralegal] to make a depo prep binder," and you've never done this before, first ask the senior associate more questions about what it should include, how they want it organized, and when they need it by and then talk to the paralegal about what these words mean. People constantly ask paralegals to meet impossible deadlines or to create something that is totally different than what they actually want because they have no idea what seemingly simple administrative tasks entail. Obviously don't be unprofessional with the paralegal, but there's no need to talk a big game about how you're a real lawyer who definitely knows stuff. Just explain to them what you've been asked to do and ask whether they might have a few minutes to walk through what this usually entails on their end, what types of information they need from you to create the binder, whether there's anything you can do to avoid creating a ton of extra work for them (i.e., making them re-order the tabs in your binder over and over), etc.

• Related to the above, proactively ask the staff that you work with about how long different types of tasks take to do, whether they have other tasks for your matter that may need to be re-prioritized in order to complete your urgent project (and then talk to the person who assigned them those other tasks yourself - don't make the paralegal do it), and how much notice they (ideally) need if you're going to need help with something after normal business hours, etc. Most staff members are paid by the hour, which means that in many cases they are affirmatively told not to check their emails after business hours (and, in non-remote life, many don't have their work emails on their phones at all).

• Inevitably, the staff that you work with will screw something up and you will get blamed for it. When this happens, and especially when someone is repeatedly sloppy, it is extremely tempting to be nasty about it, but it is virtually never a good idea. As others have said, most staff have been and will be around a lot longer than you, and they will definitely talk amongst themselves about how much it sucks to work with you. You will regret this when the paralegals staffed to your matter are all suddenly "tied up" whenever you want something. Also, go back to the original instructions that you gave the person, because you may find that it was your own sloppy instructions that caused the issue.

Also, specific to your secretary/assistant, don't try to give them flowers or something else that isn't money for the holidays. Yes, it does feel weird to give someone twice your age an envelope full of cash. Yes, it is annoying when you don't use your assistant for anything but have to do this anyway. Yes, law firms should just pay them more. BUT, it's a thing and you should just accept it and move on.

[Anonymous User]

Also, specific to your secretary/assistant, don't try to give them flowers or something else that isn't money for the holidays. Yes, it does feel weird to give someone twice your age an envelope full of cash. Yes, it is annoying when you don't use your assistant for anything but have to do this anyway. Yes, law firms should just pay them more. BUT, it's a thing and you should just accept it and move on.

Can you (or someone else) expand on this more? How much is an appropriate amount? And how is this going to work with everyone being remote? My firm is starting all associates remotely so I'm not in the same city as my firm.

[strawberrieee]

Also, specific to your secretary/assistant, don't try to give them flowers or something else that isn't money for the holidays. Yes, it does feel weird to give someone twice your age an envelope full of cash. Yes, it is annoying when you don't use your assistant for anything but have to do this anyway. Yes, law firms should just pay them more. BUT, it's a thing and you should just accept it and move on.

Can you (or someone else) expand on this more? How much is an appropriate amount? And how is this going to work with everyone being remote? My firm is starting all associates remotely so I'm not in the same city as my firm.

Ask other associates, especially those that share the same assistant. At my firm it's $100 per class year. Not sure how it's going to work with everyone being remote. Maybe Venmo? Holidays haven't come so I haven't thought about this yet. I'll just talk to other attorneys to see what they will do.

[Whatislaw]

Agree with everything people have said. Viewing everyone as a team member will allow everything else you do to fall into place. Also have conversations with them on how workflow is going and whether there are better ways to do things for everyone's benefit. For example, I periodically check-in with my legal secretary and we have a discussion on what has been working well or what could be improved ranging from how I delegate to what will be an "automatic" task going forward for both of us, etc.

As to holidays, $100 per class year is common, but get a sense from your practice group to see what they do as that can vary sometimes. I generally make Visa/AMEX gift card (cash still feels slightly odd for me personally) for my legal secretary's birthday, Christmas, and end of Q2 just as a middle of the year situation. Smaller on Q2, but bigger on Christmas and birthday.

[YourCaptain]

Also, specific to your secretary/assistant, don't try to give them flowers or something else that isn't money for the holidays. Yes, it does feel weird to give someone twice your age an envelope full of cash. Yes, it is annoying when you don't use your assistant for anything but have to do this anyway. Yes, law firms should just pay them more. BUT, it's a thing and you should just accept it and move on.

Can you (or someone else) expand on this more? How much is an appropriate amount? And how is this going to work with everyone being remote? My firm is starting all associates remotely so I'm not in the same city as my firm.

If you're making market or anything close to it, $100/class year. Last year there were some people AGHAST at the notion that they'd have to hand out a small portion of their income to people who make 1/4 of a 1st year's salary (posting screeds justifying how they shouldn't have to hand over $300 of their $220k due to the difference in work schedules). Don't be that person - draw some cash from an ATM, put it in a card with a brief message, and if you're working remotely send your secretary/assistant an email and ask them where you can send them a gift. Trust me, they 100% appreciate it.

[lotemporah]

As to holidays, $100 per class year is common, but get a sense from your practice group to see what they do as that can vary sometimes. I generally make Visa/AMEX gift card (cash still feels slightly odd for me personally) for my legal secretary's birthday, Christmas, and end of Q2 just as a middle of the year situation. Smaller on Q2, but bigger on Christmas and birthday.

I used to be a legal assistant at a V20 firm - we did $100/class year, and I preferred cash or a check for my own lazy convenience, as did the older assistants I sat near. I've also kept all the holiday cards I got from the attorneys I worked with! They were super helpful when I was applying to schools and have remained a resource.

Also, if you're doing a card, check to make sure your secretary/assistant celebrates Christmas before buying a Christmas card, or stick with generic holidays or winter card.

[papermateflair]

If your assistant has been at the firm for more than a couple of months, then they have more experience at the firm than you. Acknowledge that, and ask them for advice on things - if you don't know where to start with something (say, getting something fixed on the IT end, or who to ask about billing) just ask them for what you need. I always ask mine if she knows who I should go to with a particular problem when I'm not sure if it's something she does or not - and then she can tell me that it's something that fits in her role, or who I should contact if not. Some/many assistants can give you a ton of guidance on how to handle interpersonal issues, or what certain partners like. If you work for a specific partner, try to get to know their assistant too if you think they could give you some insight into the partner's working style. And like everyone has said, treat them as valued co-workers, and not like whatever you saw on Mad Men.

I do gifts (money) for the holidays, professional assistant's day or whatever it's called, and her birthday. My firm doesn't have a $100/class year guideline for the holidays and so what folks do is all over the map, so I just kind of wing it every year (making sure I increase the amounts every year). If you aren't sure what your firm does, ask around and see if there are any guidelines.

[M458]

Not as relevant in the WFH environment, but if I ever had an issue reading a partner's hand-written mark-up, I'd go to their assistant and they'd usually be able to decipher it for me.