Top Five Ways to Effectively Manage Associate Attorneys in a Challenging Economy

The nation’s legal community, like all business sectors, faces significant challenges during the economic downturn. News headlines of the downsizing of associate attorneys and legal support staff and the reduction or cancelling of year-end bonuses for associates have become, regretfully, standard fare. Business experts and economists routinely appear on television with proposals on how Wall Street, the nation’s financial institutions, and the Big Three automobile companies can and must reconfigure themselves if they wish to survive. As an attorney who previously practiced for nearly 20 years as a civil litigator, I can’t help but wonder: what can law firms do to ensure their long-term viability during this challenging time? The five steps below can help one re-focus on the management of associate attorneys by developing and implementing processes to guarantee that associates are being effectively managed, fully utilized, and groomed for long-term success within the firm.

1. Establish and Communicate Clear Expectations – While hard work, the quality of one’s written work product, and technical expertise remain essential to career advancement within a law firm, long gone are the days when they were sufficient. In addition to working hard and well, associates must understand that these baseline expectations grow and evolve with time to include business development, both within the firm and externally, community networking, and participation in the firm’s administrative matters, marketing, and recruiting initiatives. It is incumbent upon law firms to repeatedly articulate the criteria used to measure associate performance so that associates clearly understand the firm’s expectations of them and can develop individualized strategic plans to achieve these goals.
2. Train Associates How to Achieve the Firm’s Business Development Expectations – It is not enough for law firms to merely communicate their expectations of associates in terms of the acquisition of legal skills and the ability to generate business. Firms must give associates the necessary tools, perhaps different ones for different associates, to achieve those expectations. While law schools can teach the fundamentals of legal analysis, they do not teach the actual practice of law, nor do they teach the basic elements of business development. While most associates have at least a general notion of how to advance their legal technical skills, the specifics of how to systematically build a client base are far less understood. How does an attorney create marketing opportunities? What community networks should one develop in order to generate business? How does one go about asking for work from a prospective client? From whom should one ask for work? And a question that is routinely raised by woman attorneys is “how do I develop a client base when I can’t play golf?” In her book Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women’s Success in the Law (2006, Thomson/Legalworks), Lauren Stiller Rikleen argues that the reason underlying the discomfort many women attorneys have with the role of developing business, is “deeply rooted in law firm culture and the traditional ways in which client generation activities have been conducted, ways which often exclude women overtly, and offer few opportunities to learn the ‘business’ of business generation.” Id., p. 76. Ms. Rikleen quotes a female senior partner at a Northwest law firm who commented: “I continue to think that business development for women lawyers is harder than it is for men, because you don’t have that same gender camaraderie, when you are trying to bring in business from men who are strangers... I am not interested in sports. And they are not interested in Clinique gifts.” Id., p. 77. Therefore, if associates are expected to generate revenue, they must be taught how to do so. In-house seminars led by the firm’s business development manager or partners who excel at business generation are an excellent first step, and should address gender issues that impact business development by women attorneys. While such processes require time and attention, the dividends will be an associate staff that is empowered to contribute more significantly to the firm’s bottom line both now and in the future.
3. Proactively Manage Associates’ Work Assignments – For associates, quality work assignments are the coin of the realm. In the professional development of associate attorneys, nothing is more important to them than being consistently utilized on assignments that increase their visibility within the firm, expand their skill sets, and provide an opportunity for client interaction. Within an economic climate where attorney and support staff layoffs are becoming the norm, associate attorneys will be seeking opportunities to “show their stuff” within billable and non-billable contexts. Law firms must therefore proactively manage their associates’ work assignments – both qualitatively and quantitatively – to be sure that quality projects and billable hours are being distributed as widely (and fairly) as possible.
4. Provide Regular, Real-Time, Transparent Feedback – Upon leaving the stage after yet another outstanding performance, Lord Laurence Olivier was once told by a fellow cast member: “Lord Olivier, that was incredible!” Lord Oliver replied in anguish: “I know, I just don’t know why!” I once simultaneously presented a partner with nine motions and briefs in support on a given matter, and when I later asked for feedback as to the quality of the written work product, he simply replied: “It goes without saying that I was pleased.”  Well, actually, it should never go without saying. Constructive criticism and detailed feedback are essential components of associate training. Moreover, timely, direct and specific feedback once again conveys the important message that the firm is actively engaged in, and committed to, the associate’s professional development. Anonymous evaluations are not an effective means of communicating whether an associate is performing to expectation, because they are delivered out of context, often months after the completion of a project, and preclude any opportunity for constructive dialogue between the associate and the partner performing the evaluation. Transparent evaluation processes can be challenging, and occasionally awkward for the participants, yet in order to develop as a legal practitioner, it is essential that associates repeatedly hear what their firm expects of them, and the specific ways in which the associate is meeting, or not meeting, those expectations.
5. Train Associates to Become Good Corporate Citizens – As a consequence of the depressed capital market situation, there are fewer corporate and real estate transactions being conducted nationally, which of course results in fewer billable hours within certain practice group settings in law firms. While this is an unfortunate by-product of the current recession, it does present law firms with an opportunity to encourage associates to be creative in finding other “non-billable” ways to demonstrate their value to the firm as strong “corporate citizens.” Whether through participation in client training seminars, associate or staff recruitment committees, internal or community- based mentoring initiatives, or the firm’s marketing efforts, associates can and should contribute. I routinely counsel junior level attorneys to volunteer to support internal administrative initiatives at their firm, and to reach out to more senior practitioners and introduce themselves, tell the partner of their desire to support them in future projects, and to ask for the opportunity to take them to lunch. Conversely, partners should reach out to associates, invite them to lunch, or otherwise provide opportunities for associates to increase their visibility within the firm. In short, encourage your associates to get out of their offices and into opportunities for greater interaction within the firm, with clients, and with the larger legal community.

Communication, training, feedback and hands-on management of your associates will empower them to develop into productive and contented members of the firm. A foundation comprised of such attorneys will carry a firm solidly through the near and long-term future.