SM: Absolutely everyone is talking about the current economic downturn. If you pick up a newspaper, turn on the radio or the television it is inevitable that there will be mention of it. In various legal publications journalists are writing about what can be done to counter the effect of the credit crunch but, in reality, can anything be done?

MM: There is no magic formula to stop the effects of the credit crunch completely. However there are actions law firms can take to mitigate its impact and to position themselves as strongly as possible for the future.

Two of these are team planning and redeployment or refocusing of resources.

SM: Should there be a formal action plan or should people be made more aware in an informal way?

MM: I am continually talking to law firms at every level about the need for organisational, team and individual plans. Large firms tend to have these plans in place but the degree of implementation at team and individual level is varied. Often only lip service is paid to them. Some medium sized and smaller firms are very sophisticated in this area, others have nothing.

SM: What do you actually mean by a plan?

MM: Something that outlines the key objectives for the team, and how they are going to be achieved, over a defined time.
 
SM: How do you go about creating the plan?

SM: You mentioned that there are a set of actions that one would take as part of such a process. Is this correct?

MM: What I would highlight here is that if you already have a firm or team plan it is essential to update it to align with the current economic environment.

I am coming across firms in Scotland and England that are projecting substantially reduced income over the next 12 months but other than redundancy programmes, few if any actions have been put in place to reflect this.  The most common example is fee earners still striving to meet targets which are no longer in line with reality. There’s no point in a solicitor getting demotivated and depressed trying to reach 7 chargeable hours a day when the work just isn’t there. It’s better to reduce the target and encourage focus on other activities.

SM: And what if such information has filtered through and been recalculated through practice and case management systems?

MM: If there is less work and billable hour targets have been reduced the issue becomes what are these people now doing? Effectively you are increasing the “non-chargeable” element of the individual’s work profile. This is where a group planning exercise can help to identify activities that will be valuable to the business and agree who does what. An obvious example is to focus on unpaid fees, but there are numerous others – IT initiatives, product development, client relationships, quality accreditations, skills improvement, internal processes, marketing, tendering etc.

Putting these objectives in a plan and allocating tasks, together with reducing chargeable targets if appropriate, gives people the focus and confidence to carry them out.

SM: So redeployment of staff is something to consider?

MM: Absolutely. How can your staff help your business or department survive?

SM: So, firstly create a plan, secondly cascade any strategy changes made in financial projections to the working patterns of staff and then think about being more flexible in terms of the approach taken to staff roles and responsibilities? Is there anything else?

MM: Excellent communication. In periods of personal uncertainty it is essential that business leaders communicate with their staff frequently and effectively. People now have so much access to changing information that the need to create a feeling of cohesion and purpose becomes more acute. Involvement in creation of a plan is one way of doing this is at a group level. Make a real effort to increase individual contact with your team. If you make it a daily target to speak face to face when you would usually send an email, even that will make a difference.

SM: The majority of CaseCheck’s readers are involved in litigation, so, in the main they have become busier but the other units within their practice will have suffered.