Author: legalboardsdev

A healthy work/life balance has seemingly never been more difficult to obtain. Working professionals are prioritizing their work life over their own health and relationships even as their mental health deteriorates.

The World Health Organization recognized this burnout culture in 2019 and described it as “chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” The American Bar Association found that 28% of American lawyers suffered from depression and 19% had symptoms of severe anxiety. Yet with more technology and productivity tools available today than ever before, why is this still the case? 

One of the reasons behind the increased amount of burnout is ignoring the signs. We’ll go over the associated costs of not maintaining a work/life balance and how to achieve it.

The Cost of Not Maintaining a Work/Life Balance

• Stress & health
• Lost time
• Fatigue

The toll your body takes from overworking yourself can be detrimental to your health as well as the relationships in your life. Stress and fatigue can worsen and even create negative effects on your overall health and wellbeing.

By ignoring these factors and continuing to exceed your body’s natural limits, we risk losing the family and friendships which make our personal lives special.

Set Limitations

• Time management
• Learning when to say no
• Detach from work

Not prioritizing the important tasks in work, and personal life, can lead to a decrease in your productivity and general job satisfaction.

This also spills into our personal lives when deadlines take precedence over personal time with family or friends. Understanding yourself and setting healthy limitations in both professional and personal lives will lead to an overall increase in satisfaction and output.

Discuss alternative solutions with your manager, alternate schedules and work hours if possible. “People who are most successful at finding solutions are willing to experiment until they discover ones that work.”

Also, detachment from work is a crucial aspect to a healthy work/life balance, as technology has made sure we are always accessible no matter where or when. Learn to set healthy limits, utilize tech tools such as email notification ‘snoozers’ and other features which ensure your personal time remains entirely yours.

Taking Care of Yourself

• Relax & rejuvenate 
• Volunteering and hobbies
• Build a support system

Taking time away for yourself is crucial, that means from both work responsibilities as well as personal ones. Don’t sacrifice the activities and experiences that you enjoy, these are what will help you recharge your system.

Volunteering or joining external communities will also help to reinvigorate your wellbeing, while forging new relationships and decreasing mental distress. Also don’t forget that your peers and friends are probably going through similar difficulties in their work life balances.

Seek out others for support and develop systems in your life to be able to adapt to new problems as they arise.

Through technology we can separate the thin line between our work life and personal lives more efficiently than ever. Utilizing different tools and software applications the legal industry has become more streamlined than ever before. Studies found that flexible work arrangements didn’t damage business productivity, but actually increased it by 5% when workers adopted new technology and reduced time wasting activities such as commuting to and from work.

The work/life balance importance has never been more critical in creating an efficient workplace for your employees. By adapting to new tools and routines we can increase satisfaction in both our work and personal lives.

Paralegals have an essential role in the legal system by providing services directly to the public or assisting lawyers in a law firm setting, or even independently through a contract. 

One of the main roles of the paralegal’s profession is to plan, act on, and manage matters. Because of this, these professionals are expected to have excellent organization and time management skills. 

However, it’s not unusual for paralegals to be overloaded with tasks like contacting and conferencing with clients. Therefore, it can be difficult to be organized and manage time effectively without assistance. 

So, Why Are Paralegals Important?

According to the American Bar Association (ABA), the top 5 indispensable skills for a paralegal are:

• Ability to multitask;
• Strong attention to detail;
• Willingness to learn;
• Expertise in organization; and
• Psychic abilities.

A paralegal will assist lawyers in delivering a variety of legal services. Since paralegals have the critical job to support all areas and tasks of a law firm or legal department, their role isn’t focused on specific matters. As reported by the U.S Bureau of Labour Statistics, paralegals help:

1. Lawyers prepare for hearings, trials, and meetings;
2. Make use of software to manage and organize documents related to cases;
3. Investigate cases, conduct research, gather evidence, summarize reports, collect and file documents/affidavits; and
4. Draft correspondence and communicate with those involved with the case.

As you can see, the role of a paralegal is integral to success because of the amount of support they provide.

Paralegals and legal assistants are increasingly performing their traditional duties as well as some of the tasks previously assigned to legal secretaries. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of paralegals and legal assistants is projected to grow 10 percent from 2019 to 2029, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

How to Help Paralegals

Like many professionals, paralegals benefit from having efficient and reliable management systems in order to streamline their work. This is especially true for managing administrative work. A key aspect about paralegal’s work is the ability to work independently and efficiently.

Automation and workflow software can aid paralegals with their work. By using technology to pre-establish procedures for onboarding, billing, a practice area, or even a matter, can improve paralegals’ work and productivity.

To learn more about automation and how it can help with productivity, check out our article “Automating Practice Management“.

A key part of being competitive in any industry is the ability to attract and retain clients. Consumers tend to gravitate towards businesses that care about them, align with their values, and they trust to do a good job. Relationships are a key factor in the decision-making process, and building solid relationships is also important for lawyers. Personal branding for lawyers is a great way to start thinking about marketing in a fairly approachable way.

Personal branding is the idea of positioning yourself in a certain way and is best done organically- don’t force what isn’t there. You can learn more about personal branding in general with this article from Forbes on the “Golden Rules of Personal Branding” published in 2018.

Developing Your Personal Brand

Let’s start by building your personal brand. In marketing theory, there is the Keller’s Brand Equity Model to measure and start understanding your brand. A key takeaway from this theory is the concept of branding building blocks (identity, values, tone, and relationships).

Building a Brand Identity

Thinking of yourself as a brand can be difficult since traditionally, we think of branding as related to companies. Here are some tips to build your personal brand in a communicable way:

• Think of your personality. What adjectives would you use to describe yourself in a professional setting? What makes you unique (in both a personal and professional way)?
• How can you translate some of your qualities into tangible benefits for clients that are unique? Start with your area of expertise and build that out; sharing knowledge and expertise helps build trust.
• What values are important to you? For example, if access to justice or being client-centric is an important aspect of your work, your brand should communicate that.

Also remember- brand imagery doesn’t just include headshots or logos. Brand imagery also includes what comes to mind when thinking about a brand. For example, if we think of Tiffany’s we may think of their very specific blue or Apple’s minimalist packaging for their products.

Translating that into personal branding can be challenging, but developing a clear visual brand identity can include aspects like social media (and what kinds of content being shared there) or business cards and other print collateral.

Going Further

Above all, being consistent about your brand is important- both online and in-person. If you can maintain a specific tone, imagery, etc., you can convey to clients that you are trustworthy, dependable, and (if done correctly) authentic.

However, when appropriate, that doesn’t mean that you have to stay away from anything personal. If you are comfortable and want to showcase an interest or hobby- do that! For example, a keen interest in art, history, music, or other hobbies can showcase what you do to relax or with personal time. Sometimes it’s easier to develop a relationship by connecting with someone on a specific interest.

It’s important to remember that personal branding can be difficult- especially for lawyers. For further reading about personal branding check out these resources from Entrepreneur and Digital Marketing.org.

A key part of being productive, in any industry or position, comes down to how you manage your time. In the legal industry, this is especially important in regard to billable hours. While everyone wants to be able to get more done in a shorter amount of time, not everyone utilizes time management strategies. While you may think your current work structure is optimal, taking a step back to review and adjust can save you hours in the long run.

Time Management Strategies

Try to implement these time management strategies and tips into your daily schedule:

1. Actively review and plan ahead for upcoming tasks.

Review both work and personal calendars, major milestones, and tasks related to projects and access priorities related to the tasks.

2. Identify peak productivity hours.

Some people work better at specific times throughout the day which differ from others. Creative fatigue may set in for some in the afternoon, whereas night owls may just be reaching their highest productivity hours later in the day. 

Highlight when you are most productive and schedule the most important tasks, meetings, etc. for those hours. Making changes even as small as moving your most difficult tasks to the time when you are most productive will result in an increase in efficiency.

3. Prioritize personal/mental health

It’s unrealistic to assume you can work at a high level without any drop off in productivity. With more people dealing with ‘burnout,’ it’s important to also take time for yourself, especially with demanding tasks/projects. Taking small, planned breaks can allow your mental dexterity to be replenished, allowing us to continue working at high levels without sacrificing your mental health.

4. Set Urgent & Non-Urgent Priorities for work/tasks.

Prioritize by urgency and level of importance. Break down your important tasks into urgent and non-urgent, then do the same with the non-important tasks. Doing so organizes your day and highlights the most important work you need to get done.

Next Steps

Utilizing even only a few of these time management strategies and tips will result in an increase in productivity and will help you focus on what matters most to you. By recognizing when you work best and prioritizing the correct tasks, you can avoid wasting time by overloading your schedule.

Remember: multi-tasking can be great but isn’t always appropriate. Try setting time aside either weekly or monthly to review your own schedule and identify where time has been lost and the related activities.

If you’re looking for more general productivity tips check out some of our other resources about productivity, how to organize your workflows, and more in our resources.

Combining software tools has never been easier than it is today, especially when they can be integrated into a consolidated platform for ease of use. When your tools have the ability to “communicate” with one another your workflow becomes synergized, streamlining your activities and tasks.

However, with the sheer amount of software tools and productivity tips available today, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. So, how can you ensure that you aren’t overcomplicating your work by combining software integrations?

How to Combine Software Integrations Effectively

Finding tools that work well in combination with others that you may utilize will allow streamlining of tasks within your organization, ensuring maximum efficiency. When we do this, the overall effectiveness of each tool increases as well. But, what are some strategies for this?

• Reduce the amount of similar software that overlaps one another as much as possible. For example, if you’re video conferencing internally with Microsoft Teams and externally with Zoom, don’t incorporate a third platform.
• Integration of other tools into your most commonly used tech so what you use the most is as optimized as possible.
• Understanding each platform’s functionality and its hierarchy within your toolkit. For example, if you’re using one CRM platform for most of your daily work, then that should be your focus for finding more tools.

This can seem daunting, but it’s as simple as integrating your Slack (or other communications platforms) with your Google Calendar to make sure you don’t miss important meetings. Or it can be as complicated as integrating automation software such as Zapier across web applications.

As you begin utilizing more and more software, it can quickly require further resources due to the increase of technology being used. Tools are not always free and some can be more difficult than others to understand.

Determine the main issues you face currently, and then choose which software integrations will provide you with optimal results.

What To Do If You’re Using Too Many Tools

Your company may be utilizing more software tools than necessary. This can result in a slower turnaround time on projects and tasks. There is a unique threshold where the number of software applications actually slows down workers instead of streamlining operations. You can learn more about using too many technology tools here.

When you use too many tools, you can have negative results such as:

• Confusing your team, therefore slowing them down;
• High costs from using multiple tools; and
• Risk to the company security.

How to Mitigate These Risks

Luckily there’s a few things you can to do determine if your organization is suffering from this:

• IT Audit, ensures there is no waste of resources or overlapping tools.
• Consolidate tech into fewer applications where necessary (post audit).
• Manage your tools, ensure employees understand the tech and the benefits they bring to the work.

Want to learn more about what technology may be right for you? Check out our resources on our tech favorites or on how to make your matter management software better.

Managing our work and personal lives can be challenging. We want to be more efficient while still having a life outside of work. But, this is often a lot easier said than done.

With constant innovation and the use of new technology in our daily lives, there are always new productivity tips or tools. This helps to streamline your day and get more out of every minute. So, how can we become more efficient in our work?

How to Be More Productive

No matter where you work- in the office or remotely, you face distractions. Utilizing these productivity tips and tech tools can help ensure you can overcome them.

You can create a more efficient workflow and increase your output in both work and personal life by:

• Identify time-wasting actions in your day-to-day and then create a detailed plan to avoid time-wasting activities.
• Act upon emails with the intent to complete any task that comes from them. Don’t open emails until you are prepared to act on them immediately.
• Focus on one task at a time, and compile similar tasks together to streamline your work.
• Break large tasks into small steps. Large projects can be overwhelming, whereas smaller tasks are more manageable to complete.

Note: To learn more about how to breakup tasks into actionable steps check out “Checklists vs. Tasks“.

• Set a work plan for the day and determine potential roadblocks that may hinder your ability to complete tasks.
• Utilize industry-specific apps and technology to increase efficiency. Check out our free and on-demand webinar with Liz McCausland about this here.

Utilize Technology to Optimize Efficiency

Don’t limit yourself to these productivity tips. Take advantage of technology-based tools/applications- and don’t limit yourself to using only one! These can increase productivity by streamlining your workflow, helping you achieve tasks on a timely basis. These tools can help you in areas such as:

• Task Management;
• Scheduling meetings, appointments, and deadlines; and
• Note-taking and recording.

How Legalboards Can Help

Through Legalboards, you can improve your productivity by simplifying your daily tasks, creating automations, and more. Specifically, our checklist creation tool is a great way to spend more time on what’s really important.

You can learn more about the tool and how it can save you time every day here, or contact us to schedule a demo and try it out for free.

As a company that works entirely remotely, we understand the importance of productivity software. While technology can be a great way to increase your productivity, it’s also easy to waste time with ineffective tools. 

We utilize a wide range of project management, communication, and file management tools (among others) to ensure our organization is operating effectively and efficiently. We also made sure to incorporate tools that benefit both individuals and the wider team as a whole, therefore maximizing productivity.

Thinking about implementing a new tool? Check out our guide to make sure it’s the right fit for your team.

Tools We Use and How They Help

Slack is a communication software tool that allows you to instantly communicate within your organization on a team-wide basis in channels and threads or direct messages for individual chats.

Monday.com is a project management software that allows you to increase workflow by utilizing a wide range of task management and tracking functions.

Google Workspace is filled with productivity software applications to make your work that much easier to organize.

In our webinar with Adriana Linares, we covered how to increase efficiency while reducing stress through technology. Here are some tips to making sure your technology tools actually help;

• Synchronized dates, reminders, and deadlines with calendar and contacts;
• All-in-one matter management- everything related to the project is organized in one place;
• Automated time and billing features;
• Ability to collaborate with others working on projects with ease;
• Dashboards and using reports to measure and monitor project progression; and
• Keep a consistent tone across the project- including document creation, forms, and use of templates.

Also, check out our webinar with Liz McCausland for more information about productivity software. There are also some great productivity software applications that you can use to increase efficiency in your email, such as Boomerang for Gmail and Outlook.

Other Tools To Check Out

Boomerang allows you to pause all notifications and new emails for a specific amount of time while you work on a task. Its features include:

• Removing (when possible) interruptions to focus on important projects and tasks;
• Block off specific times throughout the day for deep focus work; and
• Reclaim hours of productivity from lost time checking your inbox throughout the day

Taking advantage of multiple productivity tips and software tools can exponentially increase your daily efficiency, but may seem daunting to some. Start small, and incorporate new productivity software into your work as you grow comfortable with using the last.

Want to learn more about we can help lawyers get organized? Check out our other resources and follow us on social media to learn about how we help our clients become more productive.

Lawyers face many challenges- long hours, high-stress cases, and practice-focused challenges (learn more here). They can also face the threat of malpractice suits.

One of the main reasons behind malpractice suits is missed deadlines. More specifically, this may be a result of failing to file documents on time. Of course, most attorneys in North America have insurance to protect them against malpractice; however, it’s also important to actively prevent claims from happening in the first place. 

Ways to Reduce Risks

1. Retainers 

It may seem quite obvious to sign a retainer, but it is not uncommon to hear situations where lawyers “forget” to get in writing what was agreed upon in the initial discussions with their clients.

This can happen when former clients have a new matter because there is an established relationship between the attorney and the client. Forming good relationships and trust with clients is important, but sometimes results in undocumented discussions.

Falling to document what was agreed on at the beginning of a representation can create misunderstandings that affect the case. It can create major delays in the matter’s progression and even can lead to a claim against the attorney. 

2. Reducing Time Constraints

First and foremost, lawyers are entrepreneurs the face the challenge of maintaining a business. As a result, it can be tempting to take on matters that would bring significant revenue to the firm. But sometimes these profitable matters may not be your area of expertise.

This isn’t to say that lawyers can’t learn and excel in new practice areas, but there can be a learning curve. Becoming an expert takes time and when you’re under pressure, it may not be a good business decision to bite off more than you can chew. 

Just like avoiding matters that are not in your area of expertise, it’s important to avoid taking on more work than you can handle. Attorneys have to learn how to say no to new matters that will overload their team.

3. Creating A Solid and Reliable Management System 

Creating processes and procedures by identifying workflows is important. Knowing how you and your team’s activities progress is a key way to become more efficient. Workflows are a great way to make activities more visual and reduce the associated errors.

By being able to visualize workflows, it’s easy to identify where in the process has the greatest amount of deadlines. Visualizing workflows can be made easier through the use of technology. Software programs can help you boost your practice’s productivity while avoiding costly mistakes.

When you can visualize where in the process you’re struggling and in which moment of the workflow you have more deadlines, it’s helpful to use software to help you boost your practice and avoid mistakes.

Legalboards has excellent features that can help you increase your productivity, manage your practice and make your workflow more efficient. 

With Legalboards, you can also set up automations where your team receives emails with their overdue tasks and upcoming deadlines. You can also set up labels to mark delayed matters, automations to follow up with responsible attorneys on matter progressions, and notifications regarding specific tasks and matters. All of these features can help with the challenges that lawyers face on a daily basis.

The last year was a unique year for the legal technology industry. 2021 saw the continued increase of law firms looking for technological solutions to address challenges stemming from the pandemic.

While 2021 definitely wasn’t the start of this increased rate of technology, it would be impossible to deny the industry has had more exposure than ever. With the rapid adoption of legal technology within the last few years, the industry has quickly matured.

The Maturity of The Industry

Last year we had five new unicorns in the legal tech industry:

• Ironclad, Silicon Valley-based contract management software;
• Clio, Canadian cloud-based practice management software;
• Verbit, Israel-based transcription software;
• NetDocuments Utah-based document management system; and
• Relativity Chicago-based legal and compliance software.

Interestingly, according to data from Raymond James, more money was invested within the first half of 2021 than all of 2020.

Legal departments and law firms are under pressure to innovate, especially with the pandemic as a factor. The events of the last few years have accelerated the implementation of technology.

Innovation has now become mandatory for in-house lawyers and law firms to continue business operations. Legal technology has become an integral part of operations in order to adapt and overcome challenges while being innovative.

Changes Within Firms

Gartner is predicting legal department technology budgets will increase threefold by 2025. This affects legal departments of any size. We will also see the additions of Chief Innovation Officers and project managers to the legal department staff.

Historically, it has been possible to have an idea of the scope and capacity within the legal industry. Specifically in the last year, “legal operations” has been shown to be one of the most critical strategic initiatives for those in the legal industry.

Consequently, as investors became more confident about the legal industry, and with more money being allocated, companies with legal technology products could recruit the best team to develop their technological solutions.

With more capital- financial or human, leads to better products and more receptive buyers. While it may be unfair to say that legal tech arrived at the main stage in 2021, the industry saw a remarkable year full of growth, popularity, and adoption.

For more, check out “What Can Lawyers Expect to See in 2022?” and follow us on social media.