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Scott Benton: Hey everyone, Scott Benton here. How are you? I am the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast where we help you easily transition from a law school student into your professional career as an attorney and where we happen to make the practice of law fun. Now today we’re going to take a look at implementing a team approach in the practice of law.
Implementing a team approach.
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Scott Benton: Today we’re discussing the benefits of implementing a team based approach in handling caseloads. Now specifically, we’re going to explore how dividing up the work based on an individual’s strength is going to reduce stress, it’s going to increase efficiency, it’s going to have all kinds of benefits. Now when you start your career at a law firm, you quickly realize that the workload can become pretty overwhelming.
But the good news is that you don’t have to tackle it all alone, because a team based approach can be utilized, which is incredibly beneficial, and not just for the firm, but for you as an individual attorney. Now, it can also reduce stress. I don’t think it’s any secret that legal work is pretty demanding, and the pressure to perform can become [00:02:00] intense.
However, when you work as part of a team, the burden is more spread out. Which means that you don’t really have to be an expert in every single area of the law, which takes a long time to get to that sort of level that you can really rely on your colleagues who have their own strengths and areas that you might actually be weaker in, which allows everyone to focus on what they do best.
So, as an example, if you’re great at legal research, but let’s say you’re less confident or less experienced in courtroom litigation or in presenting evidence in front of a judge, you can team up with a colleague who loves and excels in trial work. That way, you’re both playing to your strengths, and in turn, the client receives the best possible legal service available.
So this is the very definition of a win win scenario. And that’s not even mentioning efficiency.
When case tasks, or the to do list that you put together that we talk about on this podcast when we’re discussing the success [00:03:00] cycle, when case tasks get divided up based on individual strengths, the case work tends to get done faster and with more accuracy. So imagine one team member who’s, let’s say, excellent at drafting documents, or maybe there’s another who’s just a pro at negotiations, and there’s a third who absolutely crushes it when it comes to client relations.
That means they’re pretty good with people. By assigning your to do list tasks based on individual strengths, the team can handle cases much more efficiently than if each member tried to do everything on their own.
In addition to dividing up the to do list tasks based on individual strengths, a team based approach encourages collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. So, when you work closely with others, you learn from their experience and their insights, which ultimately helps you grow as an attorney, and this sets the stage for a continuous learning environment that just gets created and is [00:04:00] invaluable, especially for new lawyers.
Now a team based approach simply fosters a sense of camaraderie and support. Just knowing that you have colleagues backing you up whenever things get tough, it can be incredibly reassuring. It also creates a much more enjoyable work environment that generally contributes to an increase in job satisfaction.
I mean, who wouldn’t want to work in a firm where you receive a lot of support and you have the option to collaborate with others?
Another benefit of a team based approach is the ability to provide superior client care and superior client services. So when a team works together, they can provide a far more comprehensive service experience for their clients because each team member brings a unique expertise to the table, which can lead to more innovative solutions and better outcomes for the client, since there are simply just more people looking at the same problem.
Additionally, if one attorney is away from the office, let’s say they’re in a trial or maybe they went on vacation, the other [00:05:00] attorneys can pick up the slack and they can make sure deadlines don’t go unnoticed. So in this way, the client always feels very well taken care of.
Working as a team together also fosters a culture of collaboration and open communication. It encourages team members to share their knowledge, to share their wisdom and their expertise, and it creates an environment where everyone feels comfortable asking for help. Now, no matter how good you are practicing law, there’s simply going to be situations that are going to come up that you never could have anticipated because the laws, the regulations, and even the courtroom procedures are changing all the time.
Therefore, it helps to have reliable sound boards to keep you on track at all times. You don’t want to distribute tasks on your to do list to then realize that those legal services are were performed with an outdated process. That becomes a complete waste of time. And it also means that you’re gonna have to do all that work over again.
Now remember, the goal is to work together to achieve the best [00:06:00] possible outcome for your clients. It’s always about the clients. They must see the value at all times in the legal services that you’re performing. And it’s why you, as an attorney, need to remember that you’re also in a sales capacity. Since you’re always going to be selling.
Selling your clients on the value of your legal services that you’re performing. So they feel their money is spent very wisely on an investment that eventually will bring them back a significant return.
So that’s a fairly quick rundown on why a team based approach in a law firm offers several benefits. Again, it reduces stress, it increases efficiency, it fosters continuous learning, and it produces a superior level of legal services, which means your clients are far more likely to keep working with you.
So by dividing up the to do list tasks based on the individual strengths of the attorneys on your team, you can create a far more effective and enjoyable work environment for everyone involved.
I’m Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast. Thank you [00:07:00] so much for checking out this episode. Now, if you like this podcast and you’d like to get more information about us, you can always go to our website at classroom2courtroom. com. That’s classroom, the number two, courtroom. com, where you can send us a message to keep in touch with us, or even just inquire about our seasonal associate programs that we have available for law school students.
And as always, don’t forget to share, like, and subscribe to stay on top of all of our newest episodes. And until next time, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time.
