Method to My Madness: Getting More Done

Running my own business requires a different mindset about time management than that which served me as a law firm employee. I have many more tasks requiring my attention, and a different set of priorities. This has necessitated a "re-think" about the organization of my time.

As a paralegal in a law firm, my to-do list flowed from my case deadlines, and assignments from attorneys. After all, most case deadlines are pretty non-negotiable! That motion must get filed by this time on this date, and I must move heaven and earth to make that happen. And when a partner calls wanting something done, the only appropriate response is, “On it!”

Now as a virtual and freelance paralegal, I still have deadlines for case work assigned by my attorney clients. But on top of that, I also have a host of business related tasks I must perform. No matter how much client work I have in the pipeline (and I want to have a lot!), I ignore these other tasks at my peril, because my flow of future client work depends on them.

When I first started this business, I naturally used my old method of a long, daily list of to-dos, largely driven by external deadlines. But when I began adding those business and marketing related projects into this list, two things happened.

First, the list got overwhelmingly long!

But second and perhaps more problematic, because the business related tasks didn’t usually have the hard deadlines that the client projects did, they got shoved to the side. Or they led to a lot of disorganized and confusing “project jumping.” My sense of the priority of these business tasks was so subjective and fear driven, that I found myself switching from one thing to another to the point that little got done.

I needed a better way.

I've posted before about my realization that I need a strategy for prioritizing my to-dos. As my thinking has evolved – or perhaps as my frustration level has become unbearable – I’ve also realized I need a structure. Something to keep the daily list below 25 items. Or even if I'm using the post-it method (which is that your daily list has to fit on a post-it - see here), I need something to prevent those items that never make it onto the post-it from completely falling through the cracks.

So now I’m trying the “days of the week” method. In other words, categories of projects are assigned to different days of the week.

Now, some tasks need to be done every day. Like client work – I do whatever it takes to get it done, get it done well, and get it done on time. Also exercise – I really try to do this every day. Also Twitter, reading and commenting on blogs, and other social media activities – I spend time on them most days, although not the same amount of time each day. (Why waste time on this? See here and here.)

Another item I can’t assign a day to is in-person networking events. I see big benefits from these for my business, so I attend them whenever they occur and schedule everything else around them.

But the bigger biz-related projects? I’ve assigned them days. For example, I reserve the same day each week for working on my Newsletter. (Not a subscriber? See the sidebar!) I reserve a different day each week for article writing. And yet another day for my website. Etc.

What’s helpful about this is it thwarts my temptation to switch projects every time I get an idea. Say I get an incredibly great idea about organizing an article I’m writing. Typically I would start worrying about the article, and maybe I would even stop what I’m doing to work on it. But this way, I jot the idea down, tell myself I’ll flesh it out on my article writing day, and then continue what I was doing. Or suppose I get a sudden surge of panic that my newsletter isn't ready and it has to go out next week - OMG! I tell myself to relax, that I’ll finish it on my upcoming newsletter day. And I go on with what I’m doing.

Another benefit is that I can actually assure I will get to my accounting, and other administrative stuff! After all, I’ve reserved Mondays for that! It makes it much harder to come up with a convenient excuse to avoid working on that stuff I don't enjoy but need to to!

This method is working for me at the moment, and I find I’m managing to move more projects forward. How about you – what do you do about managing your to-do list?

The Law School Controversy Be Damned, Congratulations to New Lawyers!

Some readers might be aware that there have been a lot of blog posts and tweets flying about the blawosphere and twitterverse recently about the wisdom of pursuing a law degree. The argument goes that law school is expensive, the resultant school loan debt is enormous, and there are no jobs! This topic has been batted about for some time now, but the most recent furor was instigated by last weekend’s New York Times piece called Is Law School a Losing Game?

Now, I’m not about to weigh in here on the relative pros and cons of a law school degree. I never wanted to go to law school myself, but I’m certainly glad that many did, or I would never have had a career in the field, and I wouldn't have such great attorney clients now.

No, I’m writing to celebrate those recent grads I know who did decide law school was for them, who passed the bar, and who now are eager to do something worthwhile with their careers.

Last night I attended the Sonoma County Bar Association’s New Admittees’ Reception. Present to be honored were about ten recent admittees to the California Bar. I managed to meet most of them. They attended a variety of (mostly) California law schools, and their ages varied, (in fact, one graduated from Stanford 34 years ago, and practiced for many years in other states), and some have landed jobs and others have not.

But as I mingled around and spoke with them, I was impressed and heartened by two things: First, each of the new lawyers I spoke with is proud of his or her achievement and excited about the law. And second, although there are regions of the state with bigger law firms, presumably higher salaries, and possibly greater job prospects, these folks choose to live and practice here, in slower-paced, somewhat rural Sonoma County.

As blogger and JD candidate Jack Wittington has pointed out, not every law school student is just in it for money, fame and fortune. Many choose this career because they believe they can help others doing it. The brand new lawyers I met last evening all certainly fit into that category, and my figurative hat is off to them!

So congratulations, I say, to new lawyers here in Sonoma County, in California, and everywhere!

Virtual Paralegals in Litigation Part 5: Delegating Appropriate Tasks

A virtual paralegal can offer huge benefits to a litigation practice, providing savings in both time and money. The purpose of this series has been to discuss those benefits, and answer some of the questions litigators have about working with a virtual or remote working paralegal.

In recent posts I discussed a way to think about the title "virtual paralegal," the readily available technologies virtual paralegals use, issues related to document security and confidentiality, and developing trust in a virtual paralegal.

Today we discuss a final area to consider when contemplating working with a virtual paralegal:

Delegating Suitable Tasks. Some lawyers believe that all the work they require simply has to be done on-site. Or said differently, they believe they need the immediacy of a paralegal close at hand for urgent projects.

Let us concede that there are a small number of tasks which cannot readily be performed from a remote location: making copies, for example, or meeting with clients, experts or witnesses.

However there are a host of tasks that are perfectly suited for a remote working paralegal. These include drafting correspondence, discovery, discovery responses and simple pleadings. They include performing suitable legal or procedural research. They include reviewing documents, preparing document productions, and summarizing depositions. They include cite checking briefs, downloading case law, and e-filing documents.

For example in my own business, I have performed on line and law library research on procedural issues and drafted memos outlining my findings for attorney clients. I have uploaded all relevant statutes and case law to an on-line shared document folder for my clients' review. I have drafted and served notices to all parties in my clients’ cases. I have reviewed and organized client documents, both in paper  and electronic formats. I have bates numbered documents for production. I have reviewed document productions to compile data needed for motions. I have drafted declarations and assembled their exhibits.

These are just a few examples of the many services a virtual paralegal is able to provide to litigation attorney clients, working remotely from his or her own well-equipped office.

A competent virtual paralegal can help an attorney evaluate which projects are best suited for his or her assistance, and can help break the project down into tasks which the attorney can delegate to both in-house and remote working staff. A virtual paralegal can help streamline the case load of any litigation practice. Litigators can not only reap the benefits of a contractor working only when needed, but can also save the costs of providing space, equipment and supplies.

It’s a win/win for us all!

Virtual Paralegals in Litigation Part 4: Trust!

Can a virtual paralegal benefit a solo or small office litigation practice? Absolutely! The purpose of this series is to discuss those benefits, and answer some of the questions litigators have about working with a virtual or remote working paralegal.

In recent posts I discussed a way to think about the title "virtual paralegal," the readily available technologies virtual paralegals use, and issues related to security and confidentiality.

Today we discuss another area to investigate when contemplating working with a virtual paralegal:

Trust. In all work relationships, trust takes time to build and develop. When attorneys hire permanent staff, they do their best to assure the new employee will be an asset to the team, and then take the time to get to know the employee's work first hand.

Of course, when a full time or contract paralegal works in house, the attorney can obverve his or her work ethic and output. But how does an attorney monitor a remote working paralegal?

First of all, every attorney contemplating hiring a paralegal, whether full time, contractor or remote working, inquires into the paralegal’s training, background, work history and references. In my home state of California, an attorney will also want to verify that the paralegal has met the training and continuing education standards required by Bus. & Prof. Code §6450.

As we discussed last time, all paralegals are bound by the same rules of professional conduct regarding client confidentiality that attorneys are. A qualified virtual paralegal selling services to attorneys knows this, and wants to protect the confidentiality of an attorney’s clients. Moreover, the virtual paralegal’s Contractor Agreement will no doubt address this issue.

In addition, a competent virtual paralegal will have enough work experience to provide a reasonably accurate estimate of the amount of time a given project will take. She or he will provide regular progress updates, and immediately advise an attorney client of the reasons for any delays or revisions to that estimate. A remote working paralegal’s business will suffer if she proves herself unable to perform the requested work in the allotted time frame.

Attorneys and firms will want to vet any virtual paralegal they are considering hiring. Perhaps they will even want to spend time developing a professional relationship prior to hire, or assign small jobs to see how the paralegal performs before entrusting her with major projects.

As with all other aspects of the working relationship, clear and frequent communication is the key to developing trust when working with a virtual paralegal. When each party communicates clearly about his or her expectations, the project instructions, and the progress being made, everyone wins.

And finally we come to the last question to consider in hiring remote working paralegals: Delegating suitable tasks. Tune back in next time in for Part 5.

Virtual Paralegals in Litigation Part 3: Confidentially Speaking

Can a virtual paralegal benefit a solo or small office litigation practice? Absolutely! The purpose of this series is to discuss those benefits, and answer some of the questions litigators have about working with a virtual or remote working paralegal.

In recent posts I discussed a way to think about the title "virtual paralegal," and the common, readily available technologies used in working with a virtual paralegal.

Today we discuss another area to investigate when contemplating working with a virtual paralegal:

Security and confidentiality. All attorneys have a legal and ethical responsibility to ensure the security of all their clients’ confidential documents, as well as their own work product. They have a duty to strictly maintain the privileged nature of all their communications with their clients. Naturally, they are reasonably concerned that their staff – whether employees or contractors – treat all documents and communications with the same diligent care.

These concerns lead attorneys to be careful about how and with whom files and documents are shared. While attorneys, and perhaps even staff, work from home, they do so with these security and confidentiality needs in mind. Although documents are routinely exchanged with clients, experts, witnesses and co-counsel via hard copy, email, fax and other means, lawyers assure themselves that this information will be handled with appropriate confidentiality. These same concerns apply to exchange of documents and information with a virtual paralegal too.

It is incumbent upon the virtual paralegal to provide reliable evidence that she or he can maintain strict security of all paper and digital files. Any lawyer contemplating hiring a remote working paralegal will want to inquire into her business practices.

• How does the paralegal secure and store paper and electronic files? 
• How long are paper or digital copies retained, if at all? 
• What computer back-up systems are used to ensure that files are not deleted or otherwise lost? 
• What security measures are taken with computer files, on-line storage, and back-up files to prevent disclosure? 
• Does the paralegal's system have a firewall and secured WiFi? 
• Are the cloud or internet based software the paralegal uses encrypted?

Paralegals, whether employee or contractor, share with attorneys an ethical duty of confidentiality. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, state rules modeled thereon, and guidelines for paralegals adopted by state bar associations, state courts and paralegal professional organizations, all require paralegals to guard the confidentiality of all client information. This duty of confidentiality applies as firmly to paralegals working remotely as it does to a law firm's own staff.

Moreover, these issues should be addressed in the contractor agreement executed between the attorney and paralegal before any work is performed. The agreement should at a minimum state that the paralegal will not disclose, by any means, information regarding the attorney’s business processes, clients, or client information.  The agreement should also discuss the virtual paralegal’s business practices regarding document retention and security.

So you see, with a firm understanding of a virtual paralegal's business practices, and a contract in place, a litigator can have confidence in using the services of a virtual paralegal.

However, this leads to the another question to consider in hiring a remote working paralegal: Trust. Tune in next time for Part 4.

Virtual Paralegals in Litigation Part 2: You Do Have the Technology!

As noted in Part 1, many virtual paralegals encounter resistance among litigation attorneys to utilizing our services. Even though their offices might be perfectly suited to using a virtual paralegal, many litigators are most comfortable with a contractor whom they can see and hear, no matter how small their office might be.

In my last post, I discussed ways in which confusion about the title Virtual Paralegal can give rise to resistance about hiring us. Today I discuss the next roadblock:

Technology. Some attorneys believe they do not have the requisite technology for utilizing a paralegal working from a remote location. However, this is not the case. Tools employed by every office – telephone, mail, email, fax, scanning and internet access – can be used to share documents, information and projects back and forth with a remote working paralegal. In fact, these are the tools routinely used for sharing documents and data within the office, and outside it to clients, experts and the courts.

In addition, virtual paralegals are already set up to work remotely. They typically have additional tools at their disposal to work effectively and efficiently with a law firm client in any location.

There are a number of software programs available for securely sharing files back and forth between remote locations. The oldest tool is an FTP client (File Transfer Protocol), which enables both lawyer and paralegal to upload and download large files over the internet.

Other software programs provide secure on-line repositories for documents. While designed for safe on-line computer back-up, they also provide a secure means of file sharing. Using one of these programs, a remote working paralegal can create a series of folders and sub-folders for storing case documents. These files are accessible via link or password to both the lawyer and the paralegal from any computer or location. In this way, both lawyer and paralegal can store, access or revise any case related materials whenever they need to. Dropbox and SugarSync are two examples. (Note: Dropbox gets a lot of great reviews in the legal community, and for good reason - it's an excellent product. I prefer SugarSync myself. I’ll tell you why in a future post.)

Finally, there are software programs that actually create a secure collaborative project management system of sorts on line. They enable the lawyer and paralegal not only store case files and edit documents, but also to design a project, assign tasks to different team members, and track everyone's progress. Box.net and Basecamp are a couple of examples.

So you see, every lawyer has all the technology he or she really needs to work effectively with a remote working paralegal. It's much easier than you think!

However, this leads us to another roadblock to hiring virtual or remote working paralegals: Security and Confidentiality! Tune in next time for Part 3.

Virtual Paralegals in Litigation Part 1: Think of us as Telecommuters!

In the legal industry, virtual paralegals are gaining ground in a number of practice areas, such as bankruptcy, corporate matters, and estate planning. However the reality encountered by many of us working virtually is that in the area of litigation many attorneys and law firms are reluctant to contemplate hiring virtual paralegals. To be sure, there are bold exceptions. For example, I work with some solo practitioners who are delighted to get help without relinquishing precious office space.

But many attorneys in litigation cite roadblocks to working with virtual paralegals. Their practice may be perfect for it. They may be superb candidates because they have frequent work overloads which tax their existing staff, they have no budget for adding to their payroll, and their physical space and equipment resources are limited.

Yet many resist.

Thus begins my five part series looking at the reasons behind this resistance, and what we as virtual paralegals can do to allay these fears and convince litigators of the benefits of hiring us.

So what is the first roadblock?

Misunderstanding the term. First and foremost is a misunderstanding of what the term “virtual paralegal” means. True, lawyers active in social media or keeping abreast of technological trends may understand it well enough. But I have encountered many a blank stare when I’ve used the term in gatherings of legal professionals as I seek to explain to them what I do. If an attorney doesn’t understand what a virtual paralegal is, he or she won’t understand the benefits of hiring one. In fact, some in the field are abandoning the term altogether for this very reason.

In the case of a virtual paralegal, “virtual” does not mean “almost,” as in “virtually unknown.” Nor does it mean “simulated,” as in the “virtual reality” of a video game.

It simply means working remotely - virtual as in “occurring mostly online.” Think of it as telecommuting!

Telecommuting is certainly not a new concept in law practice. Both lawyers and staff work from home at many law firms. Technology permitting, they even log into a work server remotely to exchange emails and edit documents from home. Heaven knows when I worked in BigLaw, I spent many happy hours searching databases, drafting privilege logs, and all manner of other fun tasks from my own home computer.

Virtual paralegals are telecommuters! It's just that we are not full time employees, and we use our own equipment instead of the law firm’s resources - two factors which can and should be viewed as cost saving benefits!

However this leads us to the next roadblock: Technology! Tune in for Part 2 of this series coming soon!

And please share your thoughts in the comments!