Happy Holidays

 

 

Well, you’re not alone in that worry.  Surveys have shown that two of the most stressful times for lawyers are just before they go on holiday, and just after they get back.

 

 

Oh yes, there is.  Furthermore, you owe it to your clients, not just to yourself, to do something about it.  You may have seen that one of the new rules which the Law Society has passed, even though it’s not in force yet, says that firms have to have supervision and management arrangements to ensure the practice continues in temporary absences, so as to cause minimum disturbance to clients’ business.  So at this time of the year, when lots of people are going on holiday, you have to pay very close attention to the issues of supervision and delegation.

 

 

Of course it will.  The reason you get so stressed out before you go is that you are desperately trying to cram three weeks’ work into one.  Of course, you can’t do it, so when you get back, and none of your work has been done for you, you struggle to cope with what should have been done in your absence as well as new stuff that’s coming in.

 

 

Yes, I’ve seen you doing it.  You unusually dictate them on the last evening you go, and by the time your poor secretary gets through all the rest of the work you’ve left for her, and types them up, it’s halfway through the first week.  Then all that happens is that your colleagues hope that none of your problems come their way, because they’re so busy with their own work.  They might do a bit for the tail end of the first week, but by the second week they reckon they can get away with just stalling, so that they can leave things for you when you get back.  That’s why nothing seems to have been done when you turn up again.

 

 

The first thing is to get yourself organised properly.  That means making sure your diary is as clear as it can be in the few days before you go.  Don’t accept any appointments that aren’t absolutely vital.  Make a list of those matters which you have to deal with yourself before you go; those which will need to be dealt with in your absence and upon which you therefore have to brief someone; and those which will not need attention until after you come back.  Work out an order of priority for them, and do your best to approach them in that order.

 

To some extent, it’s a matter of teamwork.  Your secretary can help a great deal.  If calls are going to her first, and you have spoken to her to let her know what your priority issues are, then she can probably divert a lot of the flak from you without any problems arising.  She can do what the medics call a triage, that is she can serve as a first line check on what is something that can wait; something that may need to be dealt with but can be looked at by someone else; and something that genuinely needs your attention.  But for her to be able to do that you have to have spent the time necessary with her in the first place, and you have to keep her up to date with what’s happening as the run-up to departure progresses.  It would help also if you think about how the firm’s technology might help you.  This might be a time for overriding the direct line number, and diverting all calls to her in the first place; or arranging the e-mail wizards so a copy of all incoming mail goes to her.  Don’t forget you can’t expect her to be an intuitive genius, and know everything that’s happening, unless you tell her or arrange for her to be aware of all communications.

 

 

Fair enough.  All you have to do is identify who they are, make a list, and ensure that your secretary knows who they are.  Then all she has to do is pass them straight through to you with no questions asked.  But it’s really a question of managing expectations.  If you have ensured that all your major clients, and all those others who, because of the stage their work has got to, can reasonably be expected to want to contact you before or during the period you’re going to be away, are aware well in advance of the dates you are going, and that in the immediate run-up you will be especially busy, then you’ll be surprised how co-operative most of them will be.  They’ll appreciate that you have taken the time to let them know.  After all, they probably have exactly the same problem in their own working lives.  It won’t mollify everyone, but it’ll certainly cut down on the problem, and make it worth while spending the time to communicate in the first place.

 

Try to identify as far in advance as you can what that’s going to be.  Be realistic.  It’s much better to admit at the start of the run-up week that you’re never going to have the time to do a piece of drafting that you know is going to take two days to do, than to fool yourself that you’ll get it done, and suddenly panic on the last afternoon when you finally have to admit what you’ve really known all along, and dump it on some poor colleague.  Chances are they’ll be out for the day and you won’t even get the chance to talk to them.  So, as soon as you identify what’s not going to get done, speak to whoever is appropriate and who can either undertake the task for you whilst you are away, or deal best with the client if it can’t be done and queries arise.  Give then the time they’ll need to help you, and agree an action plan.

 

 

You’re quite right, there always will be some.  So plan for them.  Arrange a time, right at the end, when you can sit down with the people who are going to be dealing whilst you are away.  Don’t forget to take their own diaries and commitments into account when you are planning that meeting – it may not be possible for it to be at what would be the absolute optimum time for you, but remember you’ll be depending on them, and so take care of their requirements as well.

 

 

That’s your fault!  Firstly, the firm should have a quite strict holiday booking procedure when it comes to avoiding clashes between dates for people in the same department – and that has to apply to partners as well as staff.  Secondly, it’s your responsibility as the Head of Department to speak to your people and make sure you know what they’re up to.  Communication applies both ways, you know.

 

 

Good.  I’d include your secretary in that as well, as there may be some matters where, when you look at it, the best bet is for Roger not to take them initially, but for your secretary to be made alert to the warning signs that may trigger the need to pass them to him later if things develop that way.

 

 

Not merely that.  He can make whatever notes he wants to, as may your secretary.  That should relieve you of the job of dictating the holiday notes, and mean that they have whatever they need right at the start of the next week.  What you can do is decide which files he will need to deal with.  He may or may not want to take them physically at that time.  If he does, or if he takes something later on, he should leave a note in the place where the file normally is, and / or make a note on the firm’s case management system, to the effect that he has temporary custody of the file.

 

 

You should remember what happened in the second week of your holiday last year.  After he came back, Roger was desperately hunting for the Constable & Turner file, and it turned out in the end that George had it in the next door department.  It wasn’t really George’s fault, as he was just trying to help by fielding a call from an anxious client, but he neither left a note nor put the file back afterwards, so Roger wasted the best part of half a day looking for the file.  All for the want of a note that would have taken 30 seconds to scribble out.

 

 

The main thing is what the areas of his responsibility are to be.  Which tasks do you definitely want him to undertake; which do you want him to pick up if required by external events; and which don’t you want him to touch at all.  Agree timings with him – are all the tasks ones which can be completed whilst you are away, or are some going to involve a longer period of delegation?  Where possible, let the clients know that the matter is to be temporarily under his control.  If he will need any particular help or resources from elsewhere in the firm, then organise those for him, rather than leaving him to try to get them, without being able directly to call upon your authority.  Do what you can to help him to help you.

 

 

Of course you can’t.  Like all forms of risk management, what you are trying to do is to minimise the risk, by cutting down as far as you can the number of instances in which unplanned and unforeseen problems may arise, and cutting down the seriousness of the consequences of any problems.

 

 

Arrange before you go to have full debriefing time with both Roger and your secretary after your return, preferably before the clients even know you’re back!  That way, you can be brought up to date as to what’s happened, and you can identify what tasks Roger can carry on with until the stage where the file comes back to you, and which files you can immediately resume possession of.  There should have been the minimum number of problem issues whilst you were away, and you can agree an order of priority as to the tasks which you need to tackle first, whether it’s just ringing a client as a matter of courtesy to let them know you’re back in harness; checking through what Roger has prepared in your absence; or undertaking the next step in the chain of events that you initiated and Roger has continued.  As we said, nothing’s ever perfect, but it should be sufficiently smooth to ensure that you don’t start regretting having gone away in the first place.

 

Possibly.  But I wanted to talk to you about this little device.  It’s called a Blackberry….