The Keys to Creating a More Productive Practice

It was once said, that “Quality is never an accident: it is the result of higher intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives”.

While studying hundreds of law practices, large and small, in the big cities and small towns regardless of the type of law the attorneys practiced, it was apparent that the most productive practices had three things in common. Every system in these firms met three criteria. The firms had to be Simple, Fast and Efficient. In order to better understand these principles so that you may apply them to your practice lets look at them individually.

1.Simplicity

The most successful practices that we evaluated had readily reproducible systems that most if not all of the members of the organization understood. There were several reasons why these reproducible systems made the practice more productive. First the easier the system was to understand the more apt the employees were to embrace the system. Secondly the simple system allows employees the ability to learn more rapidly and lastly it enabled the office to have cross-functional teams that could handle many of the operational issues in the office even in the absence of key individuals.

2.Speed

Time is of the essence not only when working on cases or handling contracts, but when responding to requests of clients and employees alike. In the information age, the most successful offices have rapid response teams in place to meet the ever-changing demands of their clients and business. The speed at which these firms respond to these needs separates them from their competition, which affects the bottom line.

3.Efficiency

The firms that are forging ahead in the legal profession are the ones that have been able to maximize their time to get the highest performance and best use of their employees and organization. These firms recognize that every second counts in business and their systems of prioritization optimizes their success.
In order to make your practice more productive you need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are my current systems too complex to reproduce and does anybody understand the purpose of them except for me?

2. What can I do to set up a quick response in order to meet my clients and firms needs?

3. Am I maximizing my time for the best use of my strengths so that my business will grow?

Once you have answered these questions you will be able to determine the systems that need to be improved in order to maximize the productivity of your practice.