Practice Management

“ Contents ”

“ Costs 101 Trusted and useful sites by area of law ”

“ The fifth habit of a highly successful small law firms is the dedication of time to building the firm as a business. ”

“ Principals of small law firms wear many hats. They may be a sole practitioner, in which case the hats are all piled on top of each other, or they may be partners in a partnership or co-directors in an incorporated legal practice, in which case the hats can be shared around a bit. But there are ... ”

“ Policies and procedures The foundation for management of the business of a legal practice is to have policies and procedures which record and effectively automate the firm’s operations. ”

“ The importance of managerial controls cannot be overstated. They provide the basis of profitable and low stress practice. Profit is not necessarily related to size or location or how busy a firm may be. Research shows that busy firms are often poor profit performers due to poor managerial ... ”

“ Privacy Act requirements The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) provides for mandatory reporting of eligible data breaches. These requirements apply to data held by ‘an Australian privacy principles entity’, or a credit reporting body, or a tax file number recipient. ”

“ File notes File notes are a critical item in terms of risk management. Without effective file notes the file is incomplete and the practice is exposed. File notes must record what happens on a matter, what instructions are received, what advice is given, what actions are taken. They represent ... ”

“ Firm documents Documents including letters, precedents and pleadings need to be standardised for consistency and to save the effort involved in constant re-invention. ”

“ The third habit of highly successful small law firms is that they employ smart people and treat them really well. Research by the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia has concluded that the cost of being a bad place to work outweighs the cost of paying above average wages ... ”

“ Staff costs are the biggest overhead for any law firm, so recruitment must be given due priority and adequate resources. It is false economy to save money on recruitment if that means costing the business time and money later by reason of internal disharmony, poorly performing team members, poor ... ”

“ The firm should have an induction policy and a procedure for applying it. When a new employee commences at the firm it is an opportunity to cement the relationship from the start and show them that they are joining a well-run organisation within which they, like all other team members, are valued ... ”

“ Employees need a clear career path. This may be towards partnership or towards undertaking work that is more responsible. It may be to learn new skills by attending training courses. Not everyone needs to be aiming for something completely life-changing all the time, as long as there is a path to ... ”

“ Employers have a duty of care at common law and also statutory obligations to their employees. Legal practitioners have additional professional obligations to behave appropriately towards employees. Government authorities in each state provide substantial assistance, including template documents, ... ”

“ An internet usage policy assists all members of a legal practice to understand and be clear about the firm’s rules and guidelines in relation to the use of equipment, the office network and the internet itself. Such a policy protects the firm as well as the employee. As a starting point employees ... ”

“ Bullying Bullying is a workplace health and safety issue. ”

“ Review of staff performance is a matter requiring careful attention by the principal or by any appointed manager. Reviews should be regular and scheduled. They should be conducted with discretion. Employee reviews should be a private discussion between the principal and each team member to hear ... ”

“ It must realistically be accepted that, for some people – especially young lawyers, their career path will probably take them out of the firm. Sometimes no matter how well employees are treated, no matter how highly they are valued, they need or want to move on. Although it can be frustrating as a ... ”

“ The relationship between solicitor and client is multi-layered. The fundamental basis of the relationship is the retainer; this is essentially a contractual relationship that may be evidenced by a written document, oral agreements or implied conditions. In addition, the proximity of the parties to ... ”

“ to the solicitor/client relationship The Australian Consumer Law, found in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, is generic consumer protection legislation. The Legal Profession Uniform Law and the rules made pursuant thereto are specialised consumer protection legislation aimed ... ”

“ Solicitors receive many enquiries from potential clients, some that result in opening a file and a matter proceeding and others that do not. Just as a record of any initial conversations with clients who proceed to instruct the firm are then kept on the client’s file, it is also important to keep a ... ”

“ An actual conflict of interest between solicitor and client is in breach of the solicitor’s duty to the client. Such a conflict may arise directly, where the personal interests of the solicitor conflict with the interests of the client, or indirectly, where the interests of another of the ... ”

“ to third parties A solicitor may be liable to a third party in negligence if a duty of care can be established. This will be so even if no retainer can be established: Vagg v McPhee [2013] NSWCA 29. A third party who relied on a representation by the solicitor that the solicitor was acting on ... ”

“ Solicitor's lien A solicitor has a common law possessory lien over a client’s documents until the solicitor’s costs have been paid. This includes documents held on behalf of the client in relation to matters other than the matter in relation to which the costs are owed. ”

“ Cash Solicitors must make any payments from their trust account by cheque or electronic funds transfer: s 144 Legal Profession Uniform Law. ”

“ The fundamental rules relating to costs are set out in Part 4.3 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law and Part 6 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014. The seventh habit of highly successful small law firms is they confront the challenges of getting paid and solve them. ”

“ Communications between solicitor and client are privileged if the communication was confidential and made for the dominant purpose of giving legal advice, or use in existing or anticipated legal proceedings. Privilege may exist under either common law or the uniform evidence law where applicable. ... ”

“ The ethical obligations of lawyers are based on the obligations assumed by all members of a civilised society and extended because of the special relationship that the lawyer has with society as a member of the profession which establishes and administers society’s laws. An obligation to practice ... ”

“ The lawyer’s ethical duties can be divided into three categories: Duty to the court; ”

“ The existence of an ethical issue will often be self-evident. The vast majority of lawyers will feel a sense of unease when an ethical issue arises, even if in the early stages of development of that problem they cannot identify the exact nature of the problem. Experience tells that the best way to ... ”

“ Practitioners need to step back from the daily demands of legal practice periodically to assess how the practice is performing, health-wise. Is the practice performing to expected performance levels? What can be improved on? Where are potential risks and oversights occurring? The benefits of ... ”

“ Leadership is the key. If the strategic framework is developed only as a hypothetical standard or a management tool and is not driven by the principal and the leadership team, the result is more likely to be cynicism, poor morale and a negativity that will be detrimental to the firm’s performance ... ”

“ It is essential to have a plan. Failing to plan is in fact planning to fail. After using the Legal Practice Health Check Self-Diagnostic Tool found in the A. The business plan folder in the matter plan, the next step is to incorporate the data it provides into a business plan for the practice. ”

“ Everything the firm does Branding and marketing is a part of everything a firm does. It is not a separate function or someone else’s responsibility. A firm has thousands of client touch points each year: in the office, on the phone, emails, mail, advertising and in the community. Every touch point ... ”

“ Within the legal practice the fee earners must be assessed for their contribution to profitability. Key performance indicators can be used as benchmarks. These might include file volume, file velocity, the quality of the work, contribution to client relationship management and development or ... ”

“ Currently there are compulsory contributions to be made for employees and these are presently payable at a percentage of the gross wage. See the Australian Tax Office Super guarantee percentage page for the latest rate. An employee is eligible if they: ”

“ An asset register for the firm allows for the tracking of fixed assets and provides an estimate of their worth. It assists with taxation, insurance and potential sale-of-business compliance and provides an appropriate place to record detailed information such as serial numbers. An asset register is ... ”

“ Warning If you are horrified at the thought that your credit balance at the bank is in fact a debit balance in your accounting ledger, then skip this bit and invest in a computerised accounting system, hire a bookkeeper and regularly visit your accountant. ”

“ It is important that good accounting computer software is purchased and the records maintained by a competent bookkeeper or accountant. The most popular computer software programs in use by small business today are Xero, Quicken and MYOB. Prior to selection it might be wise to consult with your ... ”