given instructions, written in modilications, or simply filled in the blanks. This can be done with any Irequently used documents, including letters. Not only will this improve your product and efficiency, but will get you ready lor word processing equipment and show you what uses you can make 01 it, without committing you to its purchase. Rational time records are also an important type 01 system (and one that that high school student can handle, along with your library and liling). Even il you never charge by the hour, you have got to know whether you're getting a reasonable retum on your time. II you're not, in a particular area, the case lor more systematization may be even stronger.
creased productivity. Further, it may thus reduce (but not eliminate) the problems 01 scarce secretarial personnel encountered in small towns. 2. TEAM CONCEPT-0bviously, the need lor trained personnel remains. The solo practitioner can analyze the tasks he performs. By building a team to perform them, he can (a) increase productivity, (b) attract more business, and (c) make clientsleel they're getting more, not less attention. A quick survey 01 most towns will tum up intelligent women whose children have started school and who would like to work. Acute stenographic skills may not be required, nor rigid hours, instead simply an ability to lollow instructions. Several bright, part-time workers, happy in their jobs, help spread the word as to your abilities in the community. They can do lactual investigations, summarize depositions, and interview clients, especially in estate planning. Two lawyers I know in Sardis, Mississippi, consider their managing assistant such an integral part 01 their team that she is listed on their letterhead!
Throwbacks or frontlines? Specialists in most prolessions tend to view their general practitioner colleagues as relics 01 a horse and buggy era. This attitude 01 superiority may itsell engender an unwillingness on the part 01 the GP's to use the tools the specialists take lor granted. But, the standards 01 performance set by these specialists bring increasing pressures to bear on the general practitioners, and make adoption 01 their methods imperative. Small town, solo practitioners can produce quality legal products, at reasonable cost, with an adequate return. (They now tend to do the lirst two at the expense 01 the third, which they cannot do indelinitely.) Technology, judicious use 01 more lay personnel, and systems can enable small-town general practitioners to compete effectively in most areas with their urban counterparts, and continue quality personalized representation. IIttley do not accept the challenges posed by increasing specialization and technical advances, they risk lunctional extinction. When that occurs, they, their clients, and the prolession as a whole will be the poorer lor it. ' "
Two for the price of one Clients then know at least two people, not just one, are conceming themselves with their lile. The lay assistant is generally more accessible than the lawyer, who, once again, may be out trying cases when the client calls. Legal research may be a problem if you don't live near a law school, but il you can schedule large blocks 01 research lor summer months, summer clerks are a bargain in a buyer's market. The law schools have research programs to help out between summers. And attention to available CLE programs can polish or add needed skills. (Only 20% 01 Arkansas lawyers attend in a given year.) Again, the question is cost effectiveness. People cost money. But, il you can have a high school student do alter school things the lawyer would otherwise be doing lor himsell (but can't charge lor), client, lawyer and student all win. 3. SYSTEMS-The secret to optimum use 01 non-lawyer, semi-stenographic personnel and word processing equipment is systems, including those lor office procedures, such as the Arkansas Law Office Manual. The Arkansas Bar Association has valuable systems in probate, wills, workers compensation and others.
Don't buck the system Systems also encounter resistance. Lawyers want to hand-tailor their work. ThaI's line, says Sam Smith, chairman 01 the American Bar Association's legal economics section, but thaI's like tailormaking a suit-you price yoursell out 01 reach 01 most 01 your clients. II you must trim and alter, most systems can at least provide a starting point that you can work with. Others worry that by concentrating on the usual, systems encourage you to overlook the unusual. By thinking through each matter, the lawyer supposedly catches the exceptions. However, I suspect the reverse is true. The systems cite pertinent statutes, encouraging you to review the law again. By setting out the usual, to which you can compare your present case, the exceptions are made even clearer. Finally, there is really more room lor error in a tailor-made product than in a standard product with well-tailored alterations. Remember, everyone's goal is quality, consistent quality.
Hardware not required By the way, systems don't require word processing as such, as your secretary can lollow lorms as to which you've
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"Dear Uncle Jed: Since you retired and moved to Florida, the practice of law here in Quiet Corners has changed a mite. .. " October 1980/Arkansas Lawyer/l83