Management & Me

One of the biggest challenges in running your own firm is being able to manage one million tasks, and then adding one more.

Sure, you've learned some time management skills in law school, and there's wonderful programs to detail responsibilities, but when it all comes down to it, your duty as a solo is to get things done quickly and perfectly.

It's tough, especially as a "newbie", to determine how much time and energy one "simple" set of discovery requests is going to take. Or worse, when the other side sends you heaps of motions due within 20 days. I get even more frustrated when I lose time performing other out-of-the-office tasks, which dissolve the amount of time I can play with back in the office.

Recently I spent some time attending a hearing. I had expected the hearing (including travel time) to last about an hour. To my distress, 2.5 hours I walked away from the court. What was more, I spent most of the at the hearing waiting in the lobby of the building, not waiting for the judge or other attorneys. This was valuable time I could spend working on other projects or handling other business. This is time, which because of this client's particular agreement, I couldn't recover by a future billing.

Unfortunately, these are the games you play, and the risks. Your task is to make it work, keep your sanity, and accomplish your tasks. You're always going to have stress and unexpected, additional hitches. However, if you can work hard and smart, you're going to be just fine.

As always, if you'd like some advice or recommendations, visit my firm's contact page, and send me an email.