Staffing Your Law Firm For Success - Free eGuide Legal Subscription Staffing CONNECT WITH ME:  Website:  www.jf-paralegalservices.com  Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jfparalegalg... LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaclyn-fo... Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jaclynfoste... Email: [email protected] In today's episode, we discuss what it means to staff your law firm for sustainable growth.  So often, small and solo law firms are working with marketing agencies that are successful at bringing in new business through the doors.  However, when the firm doesn't focus on the hiring actions they are going to take to be sure they are supported to handle the work coming through, the marketing efforts are forced to slow down or shut down completely.   Here, we look at the strategic and innovative way a law firm can staff their law firm for the specific need at the given moment, staff for the talent needed to resolve bottlenecks, staff in a way that is adjustable, and make sound hiring decisions when it is time to bring on a full or part time employee.   ____________________________  Welcome to the Solo to Supported Podcast. I’m your host, Jaclyn Foster – owner, founder, and business consultant at Jaclyn Foster Paralegal Group, LLC. With hundreds of podcasts that teach law firms and solo attorneys how to drive revenue through your doors, this podcast is dedicated to teaching you how to sustain that growth as well as maximize your profitability, without sacrificing your entire sense of balance in life. As a paralegal by trade and the leader of a successful independent contractor staffing agency, I have personally worked with dozens of law firms and solo attorneys on their staffing and law firm management approaches, saving firms over 20k per year and radically improving their profit margins. We focus on hiring and managing people in a law firm, eliminating bottlenecks, mastering delegation and workflows, customer service centered client satisfaction, and creating unanimous visions and values across your team. Ultimately, we are here to teach the solo lawyer how to not FEEL “solo” anymore I am so glad you’re here.

Mentioned in episode:  jf-paralegalservices.com Case management softwares are not going to make processes for you. The law firm needs to establish processes and then leverage a tool to really bring those processes to life with ease. That is why so many law firms, especially solo law firms and small law firms, are in and out of case management softwares for a reason. Even if you found the best software that does it all, project management requires a human element of internal process establishment that needs to be defined and consistent before any case or project management system can actually be beneficial. Law firm management depends on project management.  This episode is dedicated to simplifying the traditional principles of project management and translating them for use in the solo law firm and small law firm.

First order of business: Does your paralegal or anyone that supports your law firm have a solid understanding of what you are facing on a daily basis? Do they really understand the top challenges of you as the solo attorney in charge? When you expand your abilities beyond a technical focus and start "acting like a CEO," you'll become more valuable, but you need someone in your office that understands what it takes for you to "act like a CEO" or you will never be able to. Someone needs to know every step you and the firm need to take in the business on a day to day basis that will keep cases moving forward and allow you to focus on getting new leads through the door. So I want to talk about a few things a lawyer and their support can look at doing to really enhance this role in a law firm management sense, and the role I am talking about is where the paralegal meets the CIO of a law firm. I like to refer to them as the lead paralegal. To me, this is different than the office manager/legal assistant, whom I envision handles book keeping, scheduling, ordering, day to day administrative tasks, etc. This is lead paralegal. The CIO to the CEO.. The executive assistant meets the senior level legal experience. It is a hybrid and, truthfully, the most vital team member a solo law firm can hire, even if they only have the budget for one hire…. THIS is the hire you want to make. It is quite frankly the most critical role you can hire for to ensure you can sustain business growth, attract new client leads from your law firm marketing efforts, and deliver on your promises to your clients. Once you get this person in your firm, the lead paralegal and the managing attorney should meet each week and really delve into the business operations of things. The lead paralegal should gain valuable insight as to the profitability maintenance and progression of each case. The more they understand this, the more they can implement strategies to adjust processes for maximum case profits.

I think lawyers and business owners alike feel that “no pain no gain” method a little too strongly. As a business owner myself, I catch myself fearing ease because the lack of resistance gives me a false sense that all I have worked for is going to slip away the moment I stop feeling like I’m “working hard.” Working towards success isn’t synonymous with fear based “grit.” Give yourself a moment to breathe, invite ease into your business, and watch as you start to recognize feel-good solution NOTED IN THE EPISODE- Here’s the support we provide to help solo attorneys get out of the 80 hour “fear based grit” work week cycle -  https://www.jf-paralegalservices.com/staffingforsuccess Welcome to the Solo to Supported Podcast. I’m your host, Jaclyn Foster – owner, founder, and business consultant at Jaclyn Foster Paralegal Group, LLC. With hundreds of podcasts that teach law firms and solo attorneys how to drive revenue through your doors, this podcast is dedicated to teaching you how to sustain that growth as well as maximize your profitability, without sacrificing your entire sense of balance in life. As a paralegal by trade and the leader of a successful independent contractor staffing agency, I have personally worked with dozens of law firms and solo attorneys on their staffing and law firm management approaches, saving firms over 20k per year and radically improving their profit margins. We focus on hiring and managing people in a law firm, eliminating bottlenecks, mastering delegation and workflows, customer service centered client satisfaction, and creating unanimous visions and values across your team. Ultimately, we are here to teach the solo lawyer how to not FEEL “solo” anymore I am so glad you’re here.

FREE RESOURCE - Staffing for Success, a step-by-step guid to help you make sound hiring decisions with a team role analysis, time tracking tool, employee cost calculator and guidance through the entire process - jf-paralegalservices.com/staffingforsuccess Welcome to the Solo to Supported Podcast. I’m your host, Jaclyn Foster – owner, founder, and business consultant at Jaclyn Foster Paralegal Group, LLC. With hundreds of podcasts that teach you how to drive revenue through your doors, this podcast is dedicated to teaching you how to sustain that growth as well as maximize your profitability, without sacrificing your entire sense of balance in life. As a paralegal by trade and the leader of a successful independent contractor staffing agency, I have personally worked with dozens of law firms on their staffing and law firm management approaches, saving firms over 20k per year and radically improving their profit margins. We focus on hiring and managing people, eliminating bottlenecks, mastering delegation and workflows, customer service centered client satisfaction, and creating unanimous visions and values across your team. Ultimately, we are here to teach the solo lawyer how to not FEEL “solo” anymore I am so glad you’re here.