Beyond Biglaw: 3 Calendar Management Tips

For lawyers working in small firms, it all centers on a single point: awareness.

Blank Lawyer Type Sign or Shingle.By now, we have all started to get used to the idea that we are in 2017. A new year brings a new calendar, and new challenges for busy lawyers hoping to live full professional and personal lives. Because a little planning can sometimes help us avoid serious annoyance later on, it is a good time to consider the importance of calendar management in helping us reach our goal of a productive and fulfilling 2017. There is no way, of course, to plot and plan out every detail of the year to come. But keeping in mind some simple tips, and focusing on the big calendar items early on, could help us make sure we at least feel we are in some control over how the year unfolds.

For lawyers working in small firms, the three most salient tips for effective calendar management all center on a single point: awareness. The best planning takes into account the three types of awareness that are essential for any small-firm lawyer. We will discuss each in turn, with examples from common personal and professional occurrences to help guide us into a more proactive, rather than reactive, way of managing our busy calendars.

First, it is critical to have an awareness of key personal dates for the upcoming year. For lawyers with kids in school, that means knowing key school dates such as plays, finals, sporting events, and breaks when family vacations may be possible. Same goes for summer, with respect to key dates for summer camp or family events. Likewise, if you practice a religion with a variable set of dates for holidays, take a look at the upcoming schedule now. Again, the key is not to plan each day in advance, but to the extent certain key dates or periods of personal commitment can be identified early, they should be.

Most of us like some form of continuity, and are used to taking vacations at the same time each year, for example. That is fine, but it is important to also keep in mind that certain years may present extra demands, such as your spouse’s favorite second cousin’s third wedding on some random September weekend. The earlier you can block out the usual, and also the one-off, personal events of importance for a given year, the better.

I do not need to tell anyone that because law is a service business, there will be times when our professional obligations make attending every personal event of interest impossible. The best we can hope for is that, while we may need to miss one yearly night out with college buddies because we are traveling for work in a given year, interruptions to our personal schedules will be minimized.

calendar schedule scheduling time managementSecond, lawyers practicing in a small firm need to have some awareness of their partners’ schedules. With a limited amount of lawyers in a given firm, and the need for coverage of emergent firm business whenever it arises, some give-and-take on scheduling is an important conversation for law partners to have with each other. The earlier in the year, the better, so that everyone can have some time to adjust their personal schedules as necessary.

You should assume that each partner will be willing to compromise some personal convenience to accommodate another partner’s schedule, but that does not absolve each partner from seeing if the need for such accommodations can be avoided altogether. For example, if you know that one of your partners tries to squeeze in their yearly vacation right before the start of the school year, maybe consider pushing off the surprise cruise you are springing on your significant other for after school starts — even if you have no children in school yourself.

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Third, it is always important to have some awareness of the yearly schedules of your key clients. For example, if you know that your client attends a yearly trade show, and frequently returns from that show with a host of questions or concerns, try and make sure that you are around for that post-show contact. Maybe your client has some patents on a key product, and needs immediate action to analyze and potentially shut down infringing products they encountered at the show. You can assume they will want immediate action, so best not schedule your annual fraternity ski week for that time where you know your client will want you accessible.

Similarly, if you are working on a litigation that will require some client input, whether as a witness for discovery purposes, or to attend a mediation, better to know in advance when your client will be available. For example, if you know your client is perennially unavailable during spring break because that is when they take their family vacation, be as proactive as possible to insure that nothing major in the litigation is scheduled for that period. Are there uncertainties in litigation that preclude perfect planning? Of course, but being proactive can sometimes help reduce those friction points, or make them easier to deal with if they arise.

Ultimately, rare is the lawyer who has perfect control over their calendar. That said, there is a lot of benefit to taking a proactive approach to calendar management. The starting point is an awareness of one’s personal schedule, followed by an awareness of the schedules of one’s partners and key clients. Sure, there will be emergencies and unexpected opportunities that call for immediate attention as the year goes by — so some flexibility is always important, especially for a busy lawyer. At the same time, adopting a thoughtful and proactive approach to handling the big calendar items, such as religious observances and vacations, can only help us make 2017 as great as it can be.

Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.


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Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique. The firm’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.