A Quick Guide To Running A Law Practice: Staff Orientation
A law office, more specifically, a law practice greatly relies on people, which are one of its greatest assets. A priority of any business enterprise is the assimilation of new employees to their working environment, quickly and efficiently, so they may become fully engaged, devoted, productive, and invaluable employees. Formulating a new-employee orientation plan to be regularly used with each new hire, whether an attorney or staff member, will prove useful and provide a foundation upon which to build and perfect the process. It’s important to modify and refine this process until a firm’s goals for employee productivity and success are clearly maximized.
This employee-orientation process must be designed so that new hires receive a minimum level of orientation, regardless of their position in the firm. The larger the law firm, the more crucial it is to refine this process so that each employee’s purpose in the context of departmental and company goals is clearly communicated on their first day of work.
A key point to remember is that any time spent having to train employees beyond orientation and their expected acclimation period is time lost from work for the individual who trains the new employee. A law office where employees are forced to perform the job duties of their fellow employees on a regular basis is an inefficient office.
And while an employee’s first few days on the job are crucial and making a good first impression is a paramount concern of the employee; the attorney must similarly make a positive impression on the employee. Thus, the orientation process of a new employee is an important step for both employer and employee. An essential skill for attorneys is the ability to train new employees and engender a feeling that they work with you rather than working for you.
Lawyers who choose to engage as a solo practitioner must understand that this requires them to wear a second hat as the manager of a business. Poorly operating a law office may cause professional, personnel, and financial problems, such as professional malpractice, lost profits, low revenues, uncontrolled spending, high rate of employee turnover, low employee morale, and poor productivity.
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