by Jan Bise, PLS

The combination of high associate salaries and the current economic climate has caused law firms to look for ways to trim expenses and keep the bottom line healthy. Often, the first impulse is to increase the attorney-secretary ratio (more attorneys to each secretary). While we may disagree with the wisdom of this approach, it is a fact that secretaries are being asked to support more and more attorneys while at the same time undertaking new tasks and learning new technology. To meet this challenge, we must learn to work smarter and more efficiently.

Prioritize. Make a list of all the tasks to be done with any known due dates. Write down instructions as they come to you, especially if you work with high-powered attorneys who tend to rattle off instructions rapidly, with little detail. Open the mail when it comes to your desk, to determine whether anything requires immediate attention. If documents or letters are connected with a court hearing or deadline date, they should be given priority. If you are unable to produce them by the time necessary, then you will need to request back-up help. If your firm has no system in place for assistance on an as-needed overflow basis, talk to your human resources department about implementing one.

While status of the requestor plays some role in prioritizing, it should not be the deciding factor. Work must be prioritized according to the urgency. If you support an associate and a partner, you may ordinarily give some preference to the partner. This does not mean, however, that you can never do work for the associate unless all of the partner’s work is done. If it did, you might never do any work for the associate, and that could provoke a complaint to the H.R Department. In a busy law office where everything seems urgent, prioritizing can sometimes resemble a juggling act, but taking the time to organize and prioritize your work can pay dividends in the end.

Delegate: Hand off any jobs which can be done by other personnel. This could include tasks such as copying, typing, assembling exhibits, and others which do not require your special skills and expertise. Get help with your filing if possible. If help is not available for this, use an alphabetized, expandable file to sort documents as you receive them. This will save time when you are ready to file them and also make it easier to locate them if you need them again before they are filed.

Exercise self-discipline. Don’t procrastinate. If you put off undesirable jobs, it will only make them more difficult. Unless you have a high priority task which needs to be done, try doing your least favorite tasks first thing in the morning while you are refreshed and energetic. You will get a great sense of accomplishment, and you won’t have to spend the day dreading it. The "bounce" you get from this will help take you through the rest of the day.

Cooperate. If you find yourself with extra time, offer to help someone else who is overloaded. This can be like money in the bank for those times when you are overwhelmed and could use a helping hand. Your coworkers will be much more inclined to offer assistance if they know they can depend on you to return the favor. We all need a breather now and then, but don’t overdo it with office chit-chat or surfing the internet.

Speak Up. Finally, learn to speak up for yourself. If your workload is too heavy, you should meet with administrative personnel and seek an adjustment or request assistance on a permanent basis. You may want to enlist the assistance of the attorneys to let the administrators know you are truly overworked and not just trying to "goldbrick" while others carry your load. If the administrators are not familiar with your situation, they may think the office workload is well distributed. However, a secretary who performs more substantive work may not be able to support as many attorneys as one who does only routine, administrative tasks. It is up to you to make sure they understand what your job entails. This will allow better evaluation of the workload.