Growing a law firm has several stages. In the beginning, you are hungry for clients and looking to make a name for yourself. You work on promotion, your track record, and never miss a networking event. But there comes a time when your problem is actually having too much work. If you are in that stage, this article is for you.

People who move to the third stage (where your law firm is running without you and you can focus on your most energizing work and growing the business) have learned how to delegate effectively. Mastering the skill of delegation will allow you to free up your time and uncap the ceiling of your income and impact potential.

The problem is that most law schools do not teach fundamental business schools, so many lawyers who end up running a law firm lack a proven framework for delegating — Which is what we will explain in this article.

The 10-80-10 Principle

Entrepreneur and coach John Maxwell developed a simple principle for delegation after working with thousands of leaders for over 40 years: The 10-80-10 Principle.

It works like this:

1. You get involved in the first 10% of a project. This is the ideation and planning phase, where your team will require your involvement to really know what is the expected outcome, the standards and the deliverables.
2. You delegate the 80%, which is the implementation phase. You have steered the wheel towards the direction you want, it’s now time for your team to take over. You remain available for them and keep them accountable while they bring the vision laid out during the first 10% to life.
3. You jump back into the last 10% of the project. This is the completion phase where you do “quality control,” fill any loopholes, and make sure everything is up to your standards. You also ask deep questions so your team can grow from this experience.

“I call those two parts the bookends of success. I could also compare the process to piloting a plane. The crucial parts of the flight are the takeoff and landing. They’re the most dangerous, and the most complicated. By involving myself in the team’s project during those crucial times, I’m able to help them make a successful trip.” John Maxwell

The 10-80-10 Principles has many benefits for lawyers:

1. You delegate implementation but maintain control of outcomes. The legal world requires precise execution, confidentiality, and maintaining strict deadlines. Client matters may be too sensitive to delegate them completely, which is why you are getting involved in the first and last 10%, and making sure everything gets done promptly through the middle 80%.
2. You delegate the most time-consuming part of the process. Your genius becomes creating the strategy and maintaining client relationships, while your team takes over the most time-consuming activities. In this way, you are still contributing with your years of experience to win cases, while being more efficient with your time.
3. You can grow new leaders from every project. One of the things that Maxwell recommends is to use the last 10% of any project to identify people who took the lead in the project. When you are constantly on the outlook for rising leaders and invest in your people, you can develop new leaders to take over your role so you can ascend to an even higher position in your law firm.

If you are looking to get more done while making sure quality is maintained in your client delivery, the 10-80-10 principle is the place to get started.

More Than 21 Years Helping Lawyers Delegate More Easily

We know that delegating is not an easy task. You worry about not having enough funds, about the quality of the delivery, and about the time it will take to find, train, and retain people. That is why here at Amata we have made delegation a breeze with our on-demand support services.

-If you need a virtual assistant to manage your calendar, new client form intake, and inbound calls

-If you require diligent paralegals who will research on your behalf and write document drafts

-If you require staff to do errands and daily runs to courthouses for you, while also managing your mailing and greeting any clients who come to your office

Then Amata’s support services are for you. We help you save time and money with pre-vetted professionals who act as an extension of your law firm, and who are paid on a per-hour basis. You only pay for the work you are receiving, and do not need to devote days to train every new hire because they are all experienced in the legal industry.

“Amata makes the transition from large law firm to solo practitioner virtually effortless. Secretarial and paralegal services are available at competitive rates on an ‘as needed, pay-as-you-go’ basis which is ideal for the solo practitioner or small law firm.”

Paula Kaplan Berger
BERGER LAW, LLC

By blending Amata’s support professionals with the 10-80-10 principle, you can expand your clientele while maintaining profitability, delegate time-consuming tasks, and create a thriving law that can run and grow without you.

Contact our team today to inquire about our on-demand support services.

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We recently heard from an attorney:

“I’m just looking for a job where I can maintain a relationship with my kid and have a bit of time each weekend to go fishing or something. I don’t need the level of grief from a 60-hour work week, just want to balance good pay with quality of life.”

We have seen this trend become more and more prevalent among new lawyers, who demand not only career advancement opportunities but a healthier work/life balance. But what about small law firm owners?

Most lawyers who went solo came from a corporate background, so they know what it’s like to put in 60 hours of work each week. The difference is that, when they start their own firm, they have to keep doing all the legal work PLUS the countless tasks of managing a business.

With time, having time to explore nature on the weekends or even go to your kid’s dance recital becomes a pipedream. Your days run fast, calling client after client, handling paperwork, going to court, and looking for new associates.

Despite wanting to offload some work and free your schedule for higher leverage activities (like serving top-tier clients and growing your firm), it’s normal to hesitate when making a full-time hire for your firm. After all, you started this business from scratch and do not want to dip profits to hire someone who may or may not work. What if you don’t have enough work to keep them occupied?

It is for all these reasons that Amata’s Virtual Receptionist service can have such a great impact on both your firm’s growth and quality of life.

Why Busy Lawyers Need Virtual Receptionists

There are many tasks beyond serving clients that are added to your schedule once you decide to run your own law firm:

– Managing new client intake
– Scheduling appointments
– Answering the phone during off hours (for emergencies)

And while big firms have assistants doing these tasks for lawyers, so they can focus on billable hours, most solo practitioners and small firm owners don’t have this luxury.

With so many tasks to do, how do you know what is the best and most productive use of your time?

You calculate your target hourly rate.

Here’s how that works:

1. Determine the revenue you desire to generate from your law firm each month.
2. Define the number of hours you plan to dedicate to your business each month.
3. Calculate your target hourly rate by dividing your desired revenue by your allotted hours.

So if you aim to earn $10,000 per month and plan to work 30 hours per week (equivalent to 120 hours per month), your target hourly rate should be $83.33.

Now, assuming that HALF your time is devoted to billable hours, that number should be $166 minimum. And if you want that $10,000 per month to be profit (not just revenue), it would have to be even higher.

This is why having a virtual receptionist is crucial. It allows you to delegate as many non-$166/hour tasks as possible, so you can focus on billable hours and growing your bottom line working the hours that you desire.

What is a virtual assistant and what do they do?

Let’s face it—no one became a lawyer to spend their time answering phones and filing stacks of paper.

Virtual assistants are remote professionals who specialize in all those essential but routine tasks like scheduling, document management, and phone answering. At Amata, our Virtual Assistants are trained in the legal industry, so they know how to manage urgent inquiries on your behalf and recognize when to filter a call.

Some of the tasks a virtual assistant can do on your behalf include:

• Email Management
• Payroll, Billing, and Accounting
• Database Management
• Document Conversion and Management
• Phone Answering and New Client Intake
• Appointment Reminders and Scheduling
• Legal Correspondence and Transcription

Anything that must be done in the office that would otherwise take you or your attorneys off casework is best left to a virtual administrative assistant.

But if virtual assistants are so important, why do so many law firms wait to hire them? There are 4 reasons:

1. They don’t know they can delegate these things
2. They feel like nobody can be trusted
3. They are afraid hiring will cost them too much money
4. They genuinely enjoy doing administrative tasks

That is why we created a Virtual Assistant solution that fits your budget and consistent quality needs:

With Amata, you don’t have to hire an in-house legal assistant. Our vetted assistants work only for the hours that you require and act as an extension of your team. We train them to serve the specific needs of law firms, so you can confidently delegate to them.

Investing In Your First (Or Next) Virtual Assistant

As we have seen through this article, the real cost of not having a virtual receptionist is:

1. Losing precious time and focus from serving your clients.
2. Getting stuck in the weeds of daily management, phone answering, and office tasks
3. Not making the money that you want nor having the freedom that you started your law firm for.

But despite the high costs, we understand that investing in your first (or next) virtual assistant can be difficult. That is why all our virtual office clients receive a 30% discount when they use our attorney support services, which in many cases more than offsets the costs of the virtual office program.

So if you want a professional to enter billing, update social media posts, and return client calls for you, we can help. Contact us today to explore how Amata’s virtual assistants trained in the legal industry can save you time and focus.

Discover our legal support staff for lawyers in Chicago.