April 15, 2009 – Lawyers suffer from much stress, but much of it is avoidable. A docket control system or reminder system will help you stay in control of your work schedule. When looking for such a system, consider the importance of a reminder system that allows time to complete the work. Don’t be satisfied with one that announces the deadline but leaves you little or no time to complete deadline tasks.
Blending the concepts of a docket control system and your appointment book is one way to ensure you have time to complete tasks when due. Schedule several reminders whenever possible. Most importantly, allow time in your workday to complete the client's work.
Your clients will be more at ease if they see you block out time and enter reminder notes for their work. I usually do this in the client's presence. Use computerized calendaring and appointment software, a formal case management system, or your trusty pen and paper – anything that permits advance planning of your time is just fine.
Generally, a client experiences a calming sense of trust when you check your schedule and tell the client the soonest you have sufficient time to work on the matter is, for example, a week from Thursday. Ask the client if that’s acceptable. The client rightly assumes that next week some other client will learn they have to wait too, while the first client’s work is being done.
In my experience, when asked if the delay is acceptable, few clients actually mind at all, and most all agree to the proposed timeline. You demonstrate integrity and fairness in your planning process as a side benefit to being honest and forthright. You don’t undertake to do more than you realistically can accomplish, and clients are well served in the process.
Consider adopting scheduling rules that benefit both you and your client. For example, no file may be put away without making a tickler slip for further work or review. This will force you and your staff to be ever conscious of “what’s next” and make it harder for a file to “take root” in a file cabinet.
Consider also ending every letter to your client with a paragraph that explains what will happen next, or what you are waiting to learn, and when. (Hint: You will receive fewer client phone calls asking, “How’s it going?”)
In that letter, invite the client's call if your self-declared deadline date passes without further action. Now the client has become another “tickler” system, and will likely be happy to help you get back on track, to everyone’s benefit.
If you follow these suggestions, you can enjoy working with satisfied clients and have less stress in your practice. Effective time management helps reduce the frequency of too much to do and too little time.
Robert Hagness, U.W. 1975, is a sole practitioner in Mondovi. Hagness will speak on creating a healthy work-life balance at the General Practice Section and Small Firm Practice Committee program during the State Bar Annual Convention in Milwaukee on May 7. Other presenters will speak on using Fastcase legal research, avoiding ethical problems facing solo and small firm practitioners, and dealing with pro se litigants.
