Summer The Changing Workflow Habits of Paralegals UT $4.50 ET $

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1 Summer 2013 The Changing Workflow Habits of Paralegals UT $4.50 ET $

2 Contents 4 Letter from the Editor 6 How to Efficiently Delegate to Your Assistant 7 When Persuading, Body Language Beats Words 10 The Tale of Two Paralegals: Shake off complaceny and change your life 16 Can Law Firms Function More Like Businesses? 22 Paralegal in the Spotlight: Ellen Sheffer, Pioneer for Education 28 Social Media: Discovery Requests #Are you ready? 35 Business Dining Etiquette 36 Cover Story: The Changing Workflow Habits of Paralegals 43 When Attorneys Fee Petitions Include Charges for Paralegal Services 46 My Story: Ivan Zogivic How one paralegal escaped his war ravaged country to come to the US. 2

3 Cover Story S S 36

4 The Changing Workflow Habits of Paralegals Survey Results Reveal Paralegals Worry About Missing Important Steps and Spending Time on Administrative Activities Rather Than High-Level Work A s paralegals and legal assistants are given more responsibility, many now worry about missing important steps and spending time on administrative activities rather than high-level work, according to a recent survey of paralegals by CT Lien Solutions (CTLS) and NALA. Many organizations are tackling this issue by utilizing technology solutions to streamline the workflow and allow paralegals to better manage more of the transactional, clerical work. Between one-quarter and threequarters of respondents days are spent performing routine project management and clerical tasks. 37

5 Key Findings -- 50% of respondents said they are being asked to do more work than ever before % said they are being asked to do some of the work associates typically do % of respondents worry about missing important steps due to their increased workload % reported wasting valuable time on activities that can be spent on other, high-level work. (As one respondent noted: "I currently outsource document review, but do the project management, which I enjoy -- but would prefer it if I did not have to do the clerical tasks and matter management functions. )

6 --39.3% said they are doing more project manage- ment work % said they are doing work that associates typically do. --50% said they are being asked to do more work than ever before. Respondent s ages % % % % Location of respondents Northwest West Plains States Central Midwest Southeast Mid-Atlantic Southeast Mid-Atlantic NE/New England 16.6% 7.2% 16.6% 35.4% 35.4%

7 In response to the survey, KNOW went to Bill Moore of CT Lien Solutions to find out the back story. KNOW: What is the survey all about? Moore: CT Lien Solutions and NALA (the National Association of Legal Assistants and Paralegals) conducted this industry survey to understand the changing workflow habits of paralegals, particularly changes brought on by increased use of technology solutions in the legal field. The survey sought to gather insight from real paralegals and law assistants in the field to understand the way their jobs and responsibilities are evolving and to understand the way technology has increased work efficiency and accuracy. With that information, we can begin to gauge the impact of technology on the changing nature of a paralegal job, and the organization of the legal industry as a whole. KNOW: What drove the need for the survey? In the constantly evolving, shifting legal industry, the pressure to do more with less is impacting the workflow habits of paralegals and law assistants. The added pressure on these crucial individuals have led to concerns about errors in data entry and balancing time between administrative tasks and high level work. For example, the survey found that between one-quarter and three-quarters of paralegal respondents said their days are spent performing routine project management and clerical tasks, and a similar amount reported that it was very important or somewhat important that these tasks be removed from their daily duties to make room for more important responsibilities. Outsourcing certain administrative responsibilities to a third-party partner can help legal support staff thrive in these challenging times. Technology allows paralegals to automate and better manage more of the transactional, clerical work, ultimately allowing them to take on the additional responsibilities they have been tasked with. In response, many legal organizations are now utilizing technology solutions to streamline workflow and allow paralegals to manage transactional and clerical work more constructively, with less room for error. Since CT Lien Solutions provides lien lifecycle management services for law firms, lenders and leasing companies, it was important for us to understand the way these technologies are changing the legal landscape and shifting professional roles within it. Paralegals want products and services that will make them not only more productive, but more valuable to their firms, as well. KNOW: What surprised you, if anything? I was somewhat surprised when I reviewed the responses related to what work (if any) would you prefer to outsource? There was a two-fold trend. The first set of replies led me to believe that paralegals are still concerned about job security. Many of the paralegals feel that they need to hold on to all work sent their way, even if they believe they are spread too thin at times. This is probably left over from the years of economic issues we faced (and still face) as a nation. Over time I suspect we ll see paralegals loosen their grip on certain duties, but it will take more of an economic recovery before they are comfortable giving away their work. The other trend that surprised me was the feeling that confidentially would be breached if work was outsourced to a third party. This might be true in some legal areas, such as family law, or certain types of litigation, but for the most part, I feel that strong partners can arrange to have NDAs signed, or the work being handed off is related to due diligence on the public record, thus there is little reason to be alarmed about violating a client/attorney privilege. As firms lost resources following the downtur 40

8 KNOW: What were your expectations? loaded on a smart phone the issue of privacy and security will need to be reviewed closely and addressed. The replies were pretty much what I expectalso, many paralegals are non-exempt employees, yet ed. I understand the down economy has created because of technology and the ability to work off of taba new paradigm within the legal profession. lets, smart phones, or essentially from any virtual office, the need to compensate accuracy will be of concern for As firms lost paralegals and other legal resources following the economic downturn, they some firms that try to control overtime and accurate billtasked the survivors with more work. With the ing rates. shifting workload, paralegals have had to wear While technology can assist with training and vendor many new hats and work tireless hours. management, resulting in a lessened workload, issues like having paralegals use smart phones that contain KNOW: How should paralegals and attorproprietary information from the firm is a great security neys interpret this in regard to the future of concern. paralegals? Paralegal managers and managing partners should continue to recognize the value paralegals bring to their practice and look to understand the added pressures that come with large workloads. About Bill Moore: By having too much work on their plates, the probability of mistakes and errors will rise. Thus it s imperative that the appropriate review and resources are put into place to balance work with accuracy. Over his career, Bill has been involved in all aspects of lien and court services, and his specialty has been assisting clients with complex multi-jurisdictional UCC search and filing projects, including statutory and consensual lien searches, litigation and bankruptcy research. He has been with CT Corporation for more than 15 years and holds a Juris Doctor degree from San Francisco Law School. Moreover, these managers should leverage third-party vendors to assist with their work. The expertise that a vendor can bring to the table, in addition to subject matter experts that can assist with up-to-the minute training, is a fantastic and cost-effective resource. Currently, Bill is Manager, Business Consultants at CTLS. He manages a group of legal consultants that advise CTLS s legal and corporate clients nationwide. KNOW: What other changes do you anticipate? I anticipate we will see new concerns about security in the law firm space, combined with how to best compensate paralegals that now work with 24/7 availability. In this global market, paralegals are being called on during all hours and often work from areas outside their main office. From conversations on smart phones within public areas, to certain personal applications that might be rn, they tasked the survivors with more work. 41