The Best Advice I Ever Got For a Happy, Thriving Law Practice The Story of Jim’s Battle Again
Hire slow, fire fast, and only work with superstars, no matter how rare they may be.
(we use LeadDocket and FileVine at the advice of law firm owners with much larger practices), and electronic calendaring. We hammered out our case management processes, and Sara grabbed the bull by the horns and customized LeadDocket and FileVine to work just the way we wanted. It’s been a life‑changing experience. As we evolved, so did Sara’s role and our relationship. She became, and remains, an essential strategic co-collaborator in every respect for improving our processes and our ability to help anxious clients feel confident and well-cared for as we navigate the weird, federally regulated ERISA appeal and litigation processes. I’ve learned that Sara has talents and skills and insights that I’ve never had, didn’t know she had, and would be lost without. She’s brilliant and irreplaceable in countless ways. In short, a superstar. Soon, we needed to hire more paralegal help. I had been reading books and going to seminars around the country about running a happy, thriving law practice, and every source agreed: Hire slow, fire fast, and only work with superstars, no matter how rare they may be. I figured it would be easy, as Sara was my only experience. NOT! We placed ads on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Craigslist. About 1 in 20 applicants had a resume without either typos or a long list of jobs they had held for less than one or two years. For many of the few who looked promising, a quick look on social media told us our values weren’t aligned. Then we hired and quickly fired quite a few others. One lasted less than two days. One came in a few minutes late each day, then spread her breakfast out on her desk and played on her phone while she ate for another 15 minutes. For others, it was shopping online or constantly texting or Facebooking. Maybe if you work for the government but not here.
We kept hiring and firing until we landed Erika in the midst of our transition. Erika has blown Sara and me away with her drive, her grit, her love for our mission and our clients, her judgment, her confident problem-solving skills, and her ability to organize any form of chaos into a well-run system. Always laughing throughout any challenge. And her understanding of computer tech and ability to implement it in our practice is nothing short of amazing. It took lots of hiring and quick firing to find Erika — another superstar. We hired and fired several more, and just a year ago were blessed to find Erin. With a teaching background and no law office experience, Erin was so fast to learn and is so conscientious and professional in her work. One of her superpowers is her natural, genuine sweetness and empathy with new clients who call. She doesn’t have to try. It’s in her DNA. They all rave about her and say we’re lucky to have her, which comes as no surprise. We are. We’re really sad but happy for her that she’s leaving us in January to have another baby — her third child — and to be a full-time mother (for a while; we’ll coax her back one day). Another superstar, always welcome back. We interviewed a bunch to find Erin’s replacement and were blessed again with another standout. Dana has been with us only a week as I write this, and she fits right in. She’s a veteran paralegal who’s been at it for years and is figuring out how we do things so fast it’s scary. We’re excited to have Dana on board. I know she’s another superstar who will continue to improve our processes and our clients’ experience. I hated firing people. Studies show that having to fire someone doubles the chances of having a heart attack the following week. Look it up. But if you want a happy, thriving law practice, you must hire slow, fire fast, and only work with superstars, no matter how rare they may be.
I’ll be honest. While I do have a happy thriving law practice now, it’s a recent phenomenon. For many years, my practice often felt like a beast I had to fight as its slave for the reward of independence. Although I’ve never wished I’d gone into any other line of work, I’ve found the practice of law often stressful, grueling, tedious, exhausting, sometimes chaotic, and occasionally thrilling. And I had no idea that good team members are hard to find. I just got lucky with my first hire. I didn’t hire a second to join us until just a few years ago. It’s been a long journey. I started with a mostly maritime and auto insurance defense firm for four years, then got restless and went to the Jefferson Parish DA’s office and tried felonies for three years. That job let me start a side-gig personal injury practice. I was renting a closet-size office from a well-established estate planning attorney who didn’t like handling the personal injury cases that came his way. He was happy to finance them, I was happy to work them up and try them if needed, and we shared fees 50-50. When I left the DA’s office and opened my own shop 30 years (WOW!) ago right after getting married and starting a family, financially scary became part of practicing law. Scary but worth it. Sara was my first secretary, paralegal, office manager, bookkeeper, calendar tracker, therapist, and lifesaver. She’s still with me, thank God. When we decided four years ago to refer out all personal injury cases and handle only ERISA cases, mostly for denied disability insurance claimants, it was still just Sara and me. Lots of changes came with the transition. We went paperless, started using cloud-based client intake CRM and case management programs
2
WinMyBenefits.com
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator