An Overview of a Legal Administrator
Legal administrators are essential personnel in every law office regardless of size. In smaller offices, they may be the face of the firm, participating in every activity. In a larger office they tend to focus on either operations or administration but both areas are equally important and can run effectively only when both branches are working well together. Tacticians ensure the staff works as a team, the information systems are in alignment with strategic goals, and long and short term planning incorporates the firm’s resources. They are the in-house management, fully engaged with all administration issues . Administrators participate with long term strategic management consulting, outside counsel, budgeting, facilities planning, and human resource management. Tacticians protect their engineers by taking care of the details so they can concentrate on their game. Administrators must be forward thinking and have the sense and sensibility to see patterns of development and change and realize opportunities. The position requires a high level of business knowledge, including finance, marketing, and operations. Administrator’s tools of the trade include communication proficiency, organization, interpersonal skills, ability to motivate, inspire, and influence others, leadership, negotiation, problem solving, critical thinking, and decision making.
Typical Responsibilities
Some of the key responsibilities of a legal administrator are to organize and maintain a law firm’s legal documents, schedule meetings with clients and outside counsel, research and draft memos, analyze billing and fees, and assist with case-management. Legal administrators manage a firm’s staff to ensure the day-to-day tasks are being performed to proper standards. A legal administrator may be responsible for installing and maintaining computer software programs and equipment within a firm. A major role of a legal administrator is assisting the attorneys of the firm in their drafting and correspondence needs so that they can maximize their time for their cases and their clients.
Necessary Skills
Success in the role of a legal administrator demands a broad spectrum of skills across a range of competencies. An understanding of information technology, particularly if the organization utilises a case management or client relationship management system; general human resources administrative skills; and experience in bookkeeping are among the key functional abilities of a legal administrator. Additionally, interpersonal skills and the capacity to effectively communicate with other members of the organizational team help to ensure the advancement of all personnel will be a priority for the legal administrator’s agenda. Industry knowledge and the ability to converse with not only clients, but also the media, can be an invaluable asset to the law firm in times of potential crisis. As such an officer of the court who may be called upon to legitimize the law firm, general legal knowledge and the capacity to advise best practice from a systems perspective can help to maintain the reputation of firms of all sizes.
While not a prerequisite of the position, a degree in business or a related discipline may be required or advantageous by some firms. Many legal administrators come to the role from a background in practice management.
Career Progression and Qualifications
Traditionally, a legal administrator is accredited with at least five years of legal experience. This, combined with the administration knowledge and skills learned throughout professional experience and training are essential to success in a firm. However, the required number of years can vary depending on the size and needs of the firm and the position for which a person is applying. For example, a new hire with no prior legal experience could be considered for a legal administrative assistant position. On the other hand, an administrator for a 600+ attorney firm would typically be expected to have 10+ years of relevant legal experience.
Therefore, a bachelor’s degree in business administration, management, or a related field is generally required for entry-level jobs. A master’s degree can be beneficial but is not generally a necessity except in larger firms.
Progressing through the ranks to a senior position with a large firm also requires relevant work experience. Many legal administrators are promoted from within after working for a smaller firm for several years. Legal administrator positions in large firms could also be considered an entry-level post since many of the administrators start in support roles (such as paralegals or secretaries) before taking on leadership (managerial) roles. In this type of scenario, continuing education is often supported and encouraged revealing a strong preference for gaining relevant experience.
In recent years, administration experience has been seen as the most common requirement for mid-level positions in smaller firms. In this case, education and training becomes the primary focus on how employers decide between candidates. This is why most law schools offer credit courses for those seeking education in legal administration. A few law schools also offer a certificate in legal administration.
Paralegal vs. Legal Administrator
In smaller law firms, one could argue that the lines between the paralegal and legal administrator are often blurry. That’s because in a small law firm, people tend to wear many hats. Just like a paralegal, that legal administrator may be called upon to assist attorney(s) with legal work and even deal with clients directly. This is not uncommon in a law firm where there are few support employees to begin with. However, they may also be called on to handle a range of business-oriented tasks that only paralegals are trained to handle as they do not require a background in business or human resources or advanced computer skills. There are also distinct differences in the paths that legal administrators and paralegals typically take in their careers. Paralegals generally begin their careers with the goal of becoming a legal assistant , which is where they typically are before becoming a full-fledged paralegal. Those higher up in the firm have their eyes on becoming partners; legal administrators tend to have their eyes on upper management in other industries, such as chief financial officer. It’s important to note that a paralegal can become a legal administrator and vice versa, but this is likely not going to be the start of a legal administrator’s career.
Potential Challenges of the Role
The legal administrator will constantly be faced with new challenges. As laws change, firm policies change and even how the firm operates changes, the administrator is there to help solve the problem and implement a solution that works for the firm as a whole. This can be difficult when the firm is small and limited staff are available to dedicate to working through problems. It also can be difficult due to staff personalities. Not everyone in the firm will want to embrace a change that is being made. This can create conflict if one person’s idea of how something should be done is very different from another’s. Without strong problem solving skills to help work through things like this, your legal administrator could easily become overwhelmed. A legal administrator that works independently and stays on top of the changes in the industry is invaluable to a firm. Their skills are not always visible and in many law firms an administrator will not have direct input on the financial or legal strategy of a firm. But the day to day operations of the firm will flow smoothly if they have a good foundation of processes that are managed by an administrator who keeps the firm on track and productive.
Potential Impact on Law Firm Operations
The more you know and understand your overall firm workload, the better you are able to delegate and handle it. Legal administrator Tim Goodnoe believes that it’s critical for legal administrators to have a strong grasp of what the entire firm does and how it operates, in order to get the most out of its available resources by maximally leveraging the talent on staff. Communication, both within the firm and with clients, is key in achieving this level of efficiency.
You need to have an understanding of where the work is coming in from and then manage and distribute the workflow accordingly, across the practice areas of the office. And if you’re the decision-maker, you have to know when to say "no" to more work if it means you can’t handle it the right way, either because you don’t have enough of the right personnel, or time, or physical space to do what needs to be done.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of attorneys who are not as financially savvy as they should be. They don’t understand the true cost of all the overhead that goes into every single piece of work they do, and they don’t value the true talents that some of the people in their office have. Often, there are non-attorney staffers who could be much more efficient in performing certain tasks , but they are not utilized to their fullest potential, and the firm misses opportunities to increase its revenues by billing clients at their higher attorney rates.
On the other side of it, I’ve seen attorneys who are very good at developing a client base and they have plenty of work, but they don’t know how to deliver the highest quality and efficiency to the client, so they end up losing a lot of work—sometimes to small firms who simply do know how to deliver an excellent result without the huge overhead. That’s where you have to look at some process improvements in the work flow, so you can get the right people doing the right work, and more efficiently.
A law firm is truly like a manufacturing concern. It’s just manufacturing a product that’s intangible-—the legal services you perform. You’ve got to look at your processes and see what can be tweaked or improved so that the whole apparatus of the firm runs more smoothly, and to provide a better product ultimately to your client.
Tim Goodnoe is president of Legal Management Solutions, Inc., a legal firm consulting firm based out of Troy, Michigan. In addition to helping firms improve efficiency, he also conducts law firm workflows.