When most people picture a lawyer, they envision a tired, overworked associate at a Biglaw firm, putting in long hours and late nights just to potentially secure a future as a partner (though data shows this now takes an average of 8+ years, an increase of 136% over the past decade). And while this isn’t the only way to practice law, it’s long been the most common.
Your career at a traditional law firm
Of course, working at a traditional law firm has merit. First of all, at many big firms, you’re often working alongside some of the world’s most accomplished and respected lawyers at respected institutions. This can mean there are more opportunities for mentorship. Additionally, while it can take quite a while to grow at big law firms, there is room to do so.
The challenges of a traditional law firm
There are, however, quite a few challenges that also come with practicing law at a traditional firm.
Many lawyers at traditional law firms share a common complaint: burnout.
In October 2021, a survey of over 3,000 lawyers conducted by the New York State Bar Association cited “the feeling of being on call” as one of the biggest stressors attorneys face today. At many traditional law firms, this is considered par for the course. But what if we told you there was a less stressful way to practice law?
Because most traditional law firms run on a billable model, there’s the added pressure of being able to bill as much as possible–which leads to late nights, long hours, and limited work-life balance.
Working at a traditional firm might afford you valuable career benefits down the road, but it’s often a long road paved with lots of demanding work.
Introducing the alternative: co-counseling
Defined by FindLaw as “an attorney who assists in the shares and responsibilities of representing a client,” co-counseling is a method of practicing law that has gained popularity in recent years for the significant benefits it offers lawyers. Simply put, co-counsels share responsibilities on a case with other lawyers or law firms.
What’s in it for you: how co-counseling can help your practice
Co-counseling has a number of benefits. First and foremost, it can save you time. When you’re effectively collaborating with a firm or another attorney on your case, you’ll likely complete tasks more efficiently and get things done faster.
Process efficiency isn’t the only benefit of practicing law as a co-counsel: There’s an opportunity to unlock financial efficiencies as well. As a co-counsel, you typically won’t be shouldering the burden of case costs, from travel to printing expenses and beyond, on your own—you’ll be saving money by splitting that often hefty overhead with the attorney or firm you’re co-counseling with.
When you co-counsel with another attorney or with a law firm, you also have ready access to a much larger client base than you might on your own. The more clients you have access to, the easier it can be for you to increase revenues, which means you might make more as a co-counsel than you would as a solo practitioner or at a firm.
Co-counseling also has protective and strategic benefits. The more eyes you have on documents, data, and case strategy, the better-positioned you are to avoid mistakes and achieve the best possible case outcome.
For example, if you’re an Employment lawyer working on a wrongful termination claim, co-counseling with a Civil Rights lawyer means you’ll both be bringing relevant, but differentiated skill sets to the table that could mean a more successful defense.
While the above benefits apply to all types of co-counseling scenarios, co-counseling with a law firm as a solo practitioner—as opposed to co-counseling with one another attorney—offers additional perks.
When you co-counsel with a law firm like Marble, we’ll handle the sourcing and vetting of clients, saving you the time of having to do due diligence on all of your leads. You can also always choose whether or not you want to represent a client. Having the freedom to choose your clients can often lead to better attorney-client relationships, and this increased trust can lead to higher retention, new client referrals and more revenue.
How delegating can save you time and boost your legal career
Life as a lawyer comes with a lot of work. But before you bemoan how busy you are and how impossible it is to get everything done, it’s important to consider whether you’re doing enough delegating. Read on for a few tips that will make checking items off your to-do list a breeze.
Decide what you don’t want to delegate
While delegating is a great way to get things done faster, there may be certain aspects of your job that other people really can’t do. Before you start delegating left and right, consider the projects you’ll need to take care of no matter what. Those could be tasks involving attorney-client privilege or simply projects you’re too passionate about and can’t imagine letting go of. It’s just as important to know what must stay on your plate as it is what must come off.
Block off time to complete those tasks
Once you’ve decided what you don’t want to delegate, set time daily for getting it done. Create a recurring appointment on your calendar at a set time each day and dedicate it to taking care of those tasks. Put your phone on “do not disturb” and, if needed, set a temporary automatic email reply letting clients and colleagues know you’ll get back to them after the block.
Sure, random requests may come up during this time, but do your best to keep it sacred–you might be surprised by how much you can get done.
Pro tip:
If you’re not sure how long something will take, try tracking your time to set some parameters. There are countless time tracking resources out there, from free websites like Toggl to gamified productivity apps such as Flipd–which doesn’t let you check your phone until your timer is up–to built-in features in platforms you may already use, like Lawmatics.
Outsource your admin
Now that you’ve decided what tasks you do want to take care of, it’s important to make sure you have the proper systems in place for delegating the rest.
If you have the means to hire a team (or even just one person, whether that’s an accountant, legal assistant, or paralegal) to take care of your more tedious tasks, like marketing, intake, billing, collections, and more–we recommend it. But we also know it’s out of reach for many attorneys, which is one of the reasons Marble takes most of your admin tasks off your plate–so you don’t have to worry about delegating at all.
Communicate with your team
If you were able to hire a team to take care of time-consuming tasks, or if you work at a firm that offers you one, keep in regular touch with them so everyone’s aligned on what’s happening with your cases.
For example, if you work with a Paralegal, update them whenever you connect with a client so you can make sure they’re not working on tasks you’ve already completed. One of the best ways to do this is a via case delivery system, like Lawmatics, where you can create tasks for your team to review and complete. There are also excellent project management tools such as Asana, which allows you to assign tasks to team members and track the progress of projects in real-time.
Being clear and communicative will lead to a better experience for you and your team and for your clients–and higher client satisfaction can mean more revenue down the road.
Use mistakes as teaching opportunities
Legal cases are high-stakes, so when someone on your team makes a mistake, it can feel especially stressful. Instead of using a team member’s mistake as an opportunity to justify not delegating in the future, use it as an opportunity to sit with them and teach them how to do things better next time. Being compassionate and patient will likely lead to fewer mistakes down the road and a smoother process overall.
While the idea of delegating can often feel like more trouble than it’s worth, we hope putting these tips into practice can help demonstrate the ways in which spending time training (and trusting!) your team will help maximize your efficiency and reduce your stress in the long run.
How attorneys can co-counsel with Marble
Co-counseling with a firm like Marble also means you’ll free up time you previously spent on marketing, advertising, and admin–because our teams will take care of it for you. That leaves you time to focus on strategy, increase your caseload, or simply spend more time with your family. It’s up to you, because when you co-counsel with a firm, you don’t have a “boss.” You’re the boss.
If you’re ready to say goodbye to the often high-stress, low-reward lifestyle of traditional law and see for yourself what life is like as a co-counsel, apply to Marble today.
