Working Effectively with Support Staff: Tenets of a Successful Lawyer-Staff Relationship

The responsibilities of legal support staff are as diverse as the lawyers they work with. From legal assistants to paralegals and law clerks, each role contributes uniquely to the success of the firm or legal department. While specific titles and duties may differ, one constant remains: support staff play an essential part in any legal practice. Each lawyer and practice area will have distinct expectations for workflow, organization, and communication. This article outlines the fundamental principles that foster effective lawyer–staff relationships across all practice areas.

Respect

Respect is foundational to any working relationship. When we feel respected, we feel empowered to do a good job and are more motivated to work together toward a common goal. If there is mutual respect, you are more likely to turn to each other in difficult or uncertain situations than to shy away.

Trust

As foundational as respect is trust. You cannot adequately delegate work to someone you do not trust, nor will your staff feel empowered to do the best work for you if they do not feel trusted. If trust is not there, the lawyer may keep work instead of delegating, which may be inefficient and result in poor work for the client or unnecessary delays. A lack of trust could also result in micromanagement, which may create anxiety in the working relationship.

Trust is built over time, so actively seek out opportunities to gain mutual trust. If trust is not being established, explore solutions early on.

Understanding of Unique Knowledge and Skills

All support staff bring with them unique knowledge and skills. This may come from education or experience. Take time to understand your staff’s unique skillset so you can capitalize on those skills and maximize your potential as a team.

With that, it may be best at the outset to explore what staff have the most experience in, what their interests are, and whether there are tasks they could be helping you with that aren’t immediately apparent, or whether there are things you could be doing to make their job easier. As the relationship evolves, keep coming back to these considerations and continuously evaluate work processes through this lens.

Clear Division of Responsibility

We work best when we have clear instructions and parameters for our work. Do not leave your staff wondering what they should be doing, whether they should or shouldn’t be doing certain tasks, etc. Have established processes to foster predictability. You may also be working on a team with multiple lawyers and multiple support staff. Ensure each person on the team has a role and understands what is expected of them. This has the added benefit of ensuring efficiencies, by reducing redundancies and confusion.

Communication

To clearly define responsibilities and processes requires clear and frequent mutual communication. The amount of communication required may vary depending on practice area and experience of the lawyer and staff. At minimum, regular, predictable check ins, like a standing weekly meeting, is recommended to address issues outside of the day-to-day things that come up and further ensures people do not start to feel isolated.

Communication style can have an impact on others’ feelings of respect and trust. Continuously reflect on your own communication style and whether it is working to your benefit or detriment.

Continuing Education

Invest time and resources into continuing education for your support staff. This could be access to conferences, webinars, luncheons, but could also include teaching opportunities from yourself or others at the firm. Ask your staff if there is anything they want to learn from you.  Perhaps they have an interest in transitioning from purely administrative work to legal drafting. Perhaps they want to understand your rationale for settlement so they can better identify pertinent documents. These are just a couple examples.

Acknowledgement

When a deal is finally completed, or you’ve been successful on an application in court or at trial, recognize that it was most certainly a team effort and that both the lawyers and staff contributed to the success. Provide acknowledgement to your staff personally, but also when announcing successes to larger groups within the firm or beyond.

Fun

Find moments for genuine connection and fun. Get to know each other personally.