A Tulsa administrator had serious secretarial problems. Work flow was stymied, productivity was down, client service was suffering, and morale was low.
The cure, however, was simple. It was nothing more than a secretary reassignment strategy. Now the secretaries still work for specific attorneys but at the same time, each secretary is assigned to handle all the work in a specific area of law.
The outcome is that every matter has one full-time secretarial overseer who has charge of the work from beginning to end.
A little work here, a little there
The problem was in the litigation area, said the administrator of the seven-attorney, 12 staff firm.
That area consists of one partner and two associates, with one secretary assigned to each attorney.
The partner passes down a wide range of legal work to the two associates, sometimes giving both of them work on the same matter but at different stages of the representation.
It was the split-up of the work that causes the secretaries trouble.
All three secretaries could wind up working on the same matter, each doing different things. While that was no problem for the attorneys, for the secretaries it created confusion over who was doing what on a matter.
One secretary might do one thing on a file. Then the partner might pass related work to another associate, and the second secretary would have to take over where the first left off without really knowing where the work did leave off.
Or if an associate made a court appearance for the partner, that attorney’s secretary had the job of gathering up unfamiliar documents for the appearance.
All that frustrated the secretaries to the point that they were requesting changes.
A new sort of secretarial pool
So the administrator met with the litigation department and let them air all their frustrations. Then she and the partner started brainstorming.
Their solution was to keep the secretary-attorney assignments but to create a secretarial pool with each secretary assigned to specific types of cases. That way, no matter which attorney was working on, say, a domestic matter, the work for that matter would go to only one secretary.
With the new system, each secretary still handles her attorney’s non-client work such as entering time into the billing system and so on. But the case work is divided up so that one secretary handles the domestic matters, another the business litigation, and a third handles probate, guardianship, adoption, bankruptcy, trademark and copyright.
To keep the assignments straight, the administrator gave each attorney three out-trays, one for each secretary.
Work in a specific area goes into the tray for the secretary who handles that area. And at least twice day, the secretary goes to the attorney’s desk to pick up the assignments.
Splitting up the work took some getting used to for the attorneys, says the administrator. They had to learn to organize their assignments, including the dictation part.
Faster work plus accountability
The effort paid off, however. For the secretaries, reassignments have made it easier to complete work on time.
Before, it could take two days to get the work done. But now with each secretary focusing on only one area of law, the work gets finished more efficiently.
The filing is also easier to complete, because each secretary has charge of her files from beginning to end. And the files stay managed and in order. For the filing clerk, the turnaround time is almost nothing. The clerk is now able to stay caught up with the work.
Along with that, the quality of secretarial work is at its highest level because the secretaries are accountable for what they produce.
They feel an ownership of the file and that client. They know that when a file hits their desk, it’s theirs from beginning to end.
Nothing can be passed down to anyone else. If an attorney goes to court with a pleading that is not up to date, the fault falls on only one person. As a consequence the secretaries are constantly in the files and making sure each case is being taken care of.
No fumbles, no lost clients
Benefits have also extended to the attorneys and clients.
For the attorneys, the advantage was an unexpected one. They now have a personal assistant assigned to every matter. If a document is missing or if there’s a question about a court date, they have someone backing them up who is familiar with the file.
In the past, clients talked with a different secretary each time they called. Not only did the secretary have to stop what she was doing and take over an unfamiliar task. Overall, no one secretary had a clear picture of any one case.
Beyond being a service flaw to the client, those types of work interruptions eat away at a secretary’s time.
A good thing to offer
The reassignment has also had the advantage of allowing the secretaries to specialize in specific areas of law. And that alone has improved morale, because knowing one area thoroughly is more interesting than being a jack of all trades but a master of none.
And as turnover occurs, the administrator will be able to offer the opportunity to specialize as a drawing card to job candidates.
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