Practice Pointers
Too Much to Do, Too Little Time? Techniques to Tackle Your Top 10 Tasks
January 21, 2022
Margaret Spencer Dixon, president of Spencer Consulting, has surveyed lawyers from a wide range of practices, including private firms from solo to Big Law, in-house counsel, government agencies, and more to distill the top 10 practice issues that attorneys face. She recently led the D.C. Bar CLE course “Time Management for Lawyers: How to Master Your Workflow, Keep Up With Email, and Work Productively.” Below, Dixon offers the following proven techniques to manage tasks efficiently.
1. Juggling Multiple Cases and Projects
Break down large projects into smaller chunks. Lawyers should invest the time to figure out the individual tasks that must be done to complete a project, and then work on them 30 minutes here and a few minutes there.
On a daily basis, create and maintain a to-do plan that includes all tasks and projects, both short and long term. Be sure to figure out a reasonable number of tasks to be accomplished in light of the appointments and commitments for that day and then prioritize them.
2. Dealing With Client Emergencies
Distinguish between true client crises and those generated by lack of planning. Always look ahead to see if there are any potential conflicts among multiple client deadlines and if legal projects are progressing sufficiently to meet court, filing, or other official deadlines. However, it’s important to expect the unexpected.
3. Managing Client Communications
Differentiate processing from triaging. If you’re like most lawyers, you keep a somewhat constant eye on your email inbox throughout each working day. Consider these quick glances as triage, during which you look for important or urgent items that must be dealt with right away.
Processing is focusing your full attention on your email, replying to all client communications and other incoming messages.
- Create a processed mail folder. This is a simple and efficient alternative to creating a different folder for each client, case, matter, project, etc. Move to the processed mail folder all of the emails that you want to save and that you’ve at least glanced at during your triage.
- Send your clients clear, concise emails that invite clear, concise responses. Subject lines should be short and simple, alerting your client to the action you’re requesting and clarifying that action in the first (short) paragraph of the email. If you have multiple requests or issues, consider sending multiple emails so the client can deal with each element individually.
- Use technology to reduce your burden. Create rules or filters to send into their own folders non-crucial, non-client emails such as personal items, newsletters from professional associations, and administrative updates from your employer.
4. Keeping Up With Changes in the Law
Whenever you receive an advance sheet, legal magazine, or other item of professional reading, skim it quickly to determine whether it’s worth diving into. If it is, move it to a separate “legal updates to review” file. Get into the habit of grabbing this file whenever you might have a few minutes to spare. If you find you “never” have time to keep up with your professional reading, start by setting aside a few minutes a day to the task, setting a timer for 10 or 15 minutes if you must.
5. Dealing With Client Demands
First, it’s important to monitor your workload and anticipate how long it will take you to get everything done. Learning how to estimate completion time is a function of legal experience, so just get started with a “best guess” of how long each legal project should take and refine your estimates when done.
Armed with a strong sense of your commitments, feel confident in declining client requests. After all, a client would probably prefer a prompt, diplomatic “no” to an impulsive “yes.” While it’s rarely easy to decline work, would you rather have your client remember you for declining work or for ending up providing an untimely and/or poor product? Be sure to say no diplomatically: “I’d love to work with you on this, but at the moment my plate is so full that I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to give this important matter the attention it deserves.” Then offer alternatives to the client. Perhaps a partner or colleague at your firm or organization has the time to take on the matter.
6. Striving for Perfectionism and High-Quality Work
- Commit to giving each legal project only the time it deserves and focus whole-heartedly on it during that time.
- Aim to do only B+ quality work for your initial draft of a brief, pleading, or other legal document, then use the time saved to revise, edit, polish, and otherwise improve that initial version.
- Expect that you will make some mistakes during the progress of any legal project and strive to catch them early enough and correct them yourself.
- Realize that there is no perfect lawyer, no perfect work product, no perfect analysis, no perfect strategy. Accept that there will always be room for improvement.
7. Maintaining Concentration
- Minimize physical and mental clutter to reduce temptations for distraction. Reserve your desk for only the essential tools of your trade: computer, phone, pen, notepad.
- Allow time to relax mentally at some point during the day, taking breaks on either an as-needed basis or at a specific, prescheduled time.
- Approach worries with a problem-solving mindset. Write down what you’d advise a friend who came to you with the same problem. Can you remember what you were worrying about at this time last year? How much of that came to pass?
- Maintain your motivation for practicing law by (1) taking time to review and revise your professional goals, (2) keeping a notebook or file of quotations and anecdotes you find inspiring or motivating, and (3) realizing that there is no “someday.” For any professional endeavor that you want to accomplish at some point, make plans to begin working toward it.
8. Tracking Billable Time
- Record work as you go, which is the only way to keep accurate time records.
- Time records should be precise.
- Record a brief description of the planned task when starting work on it, rather than rushing to jot it down when you are interrupted.
9. Dealing With Client Interruptions
Some client interruptions simply go with the practice of law. Lawyers should plan each day’s schedule in light of expected interruptions. If possible, close your office door for an hour or so to get the most important work done.
When client interruptions occur, triage them quickly. Decide whether changed circumstances warrant revising your daily plan.
10. Managing Stress
- Alternate between work and rest. The latter can be passive (sleeping and relaxing) or active (exercising, eating nutritious food, drinking water).
- Realize that some stress is actually good. Regular exposure to stress, coupled with adequate recovery, actually improves a lawyer’s ability to handle the pressure.
- Create and maintain a list of goals for life outside of work. “Sharpen the saw” by making a conscious choice to counter-balance work with regular recreation.
A final word from Dixon: “Put everything through your own professional common-sense filter.” All of this cannot be done overnight and is not a one-size-fits-all approach to time management, she reminded attendees. Attorneys should aim to implement these techniques little by little and watch them turn into habits.
Want more tips? “Time Management for Lawyers: How to Master Your Workflow, Keep Up With Email, and Work Productively” is available on-demand here.
Akeem Earle, a 4L at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, is the 2022 D.C. Bar Writer in Residence. Earle currently works as a paralegal specialist at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.
