Boutique Law Firms, Small Law Firms, Technology

Law Firm Managers Should Use Technology But Remember Its Limits

Technology is great, but law firms are made of people -- and technology does not relieve managers of the obligation to tend to their staff’s needs.

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Technology allows firms to do things they could not before, and allows managers to organize and execute more efficiently than ever (as is likely ethically required). But law firms are made of people — technology does not relieve managers of the obligation to tend to their staff’s needs.

A few years ago I was in Rome, six hours ahead of our office in New York, when in the morning there I received an email from a U.S. client. At the time, the client was in London, five hours ahead of New York. The client wanted to know if I could provide a copy of a document we created months before. I could have waited until staff was available in New York a few hours later. Instead, I was able—while walking along the street half a world away—to use my phone to remote in to the firm’s server, get the document, and promptly email it to the client.

Such client service would obviously have been impossible even just a few years earlier. It is even easier now with high-speed Internet, cloud-based backup, and faster processors on our phones to remain connected and available for our clients. As I’ve written before, boutique litigation shops can do the work of bigger firms through smart use of technology, and particularly in light of these advancements in technology.

And individual lawyers can use technology to be flexible and get more work done in more places. Lawyers at my firm frequently use the notes features of their phones to write thoughts on matters, or even to draft simple outlines of briefs or longer emails while out of the office. I even make basic edits to documents using programs like Goodreader while I ride the 4 train to Midtown for meetings.

Indeed, there is a good argument that lawyers are ethically obligated to use the best technology available. Smart technology use provides efficiencies that allow lawyers to do the best job possible in a short time. That means more timely service for clients at generally lower fees.

Any law office, and lawyer, today has technology offerings that allow attorneys to provide high-quality service fast. Any law office manager must incorporate this into his or her planning.

But technology does not relieve managers from tending to their staff’s human needs. I am not suggesting that managers sit around and ask each staff member her favorite color, or even “How are you feeling?” You’re a manager, not a therapist.

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Managers must, however, realize their staff consists of people who, however disciplined they may be in completing their work, are still people. Managers should lead their people to serve clients while staff feel respected, part of a community, and able to grow in their work. A new iPad or Galaxy phone will not do that. This requires actual in-person contact.

Everyone wants to feel valued. Almost everyone wants to feel part of a team (and litigators that don’t work well in teams likely won’t succeed at the best shops where everyone constantly relies on their colleagues). Everyone wants to know their work actually matters to the work of that team. Every good lawyer demands that she keeps getting better at her work. The list goes on, the point being professionals have a lot of human needs that will not be fulfilled by technology.

Managers need to know what technology works for their law offices and to implement that technology; partners of firms are probably ethically required to ensure proper use of technology, as noted above. But they still need to tend to the human needs of their staff.

John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at [email protected].

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