ABS diary | Treading a fine line

Can being overly busy be risky? I am the practice manager, but since January I have been doing some fee earning in the probate department, supporting a new member of staff. I have worked in the background dealing with complicated tax matters and estate accounts for a long time, but I am now dealing with clients first hand, taking will and Lasting Powers of Attorney instructions, dealing with trusts and administering estates from start to finish. I love meeting with the clients and they seem to like me. They come in to do one thing and end up doing another and another. They always ask if I will deal with their matters personally, then they tell their friends about us.

I get comments from the clients like, “you talk in plain English”, “you explain things so clearly”, “you make it all seem so easy”, “before I met you I felt so nervous”, “is it as straightforward as that”. Just walking into a solicitor’s office is daunting for most clients. They have preconceived ideas about what it’s going to be like, so that first appointment is the most important. During my short period of time being a fee earner I have realised that if you understand your client and your client understands you, you instantly put them at ease and as far as client care is concerned you are halfway there. If your clients like and respect you from the start matters seem to proceed more smoothly and if any problems do rear their ugly head along the way it will inevitably be easier to sort matters out.

From a practice management point of view, the time I have spent fee earning has been invaluable. I have had the opportunity to experience first-hand what our clients need, deserve and expect from the service we provide for them.

However, being busy is risky if it compromises the way you work. As much as I love fee earning and having my own client base, my practice management is starting to suffer and I have come to realise that I cannot do both. If I did I would not be giving each role as much time as I should.

The only way to manage risk is to run a tight ship. If you keep on top and in control of practices and procedures you are more than halfway. No one can be immune to control procedures, not even the senior partner, regardless of how old they are or how long they have been with the firm. Gone are the days of milling along just how you like. Everyone needs to be playing to the same tune otherwise matters become overly complicated.

Communication is another huge factor for risk management. I am not suggesting endless meetings, only that the practice manager or compliance officer has time to be there for staff questions and support. Not only does this save huge amounts of time, it also means that errors can be prevented from the start.

Being a woman, of course I can multitask. But being the practice manager of a firm our size is enough of a challenge. To compete efficiently in today’s ever changing legal market there are so many things I need and want to do; improve and expand our client base, fine tune our client care, maintain our risk management procedures and improve the working environment for our fee earners and support staff.

I have done a risk assessment on myself and I cannot fee earn to the extent to which I have been and manage our firm as efficiently as I have done before. As good management is the core of any successful business we are going to take on someone else in the probate department and I am going to hang up my fee earning hat, for the time being anyway.