Divorce Attorneys Should Use More Help When Needed

Family law is really stressful. Clients getting divorced often go to divorce attorneys and need immediate assistance. This means that the lawyer has to be prepared to drop what they are doing in order to prepare documents as fast and as accurately as possible. Along with other obligations, family lawyers find themselves quickly overworked.

Divorce attorneys should not hesitate to bring on additional assistance to support themselves in order to better their clients. While staying busy is good, being overwhelmed is not while people’s futures are on the line. This will definitely result in a reduced overall income for the lawyer, especially if they are a sole practitioner. It will also mean, however, that more work can be accepted leading to the slippery slope in which you are back in the same predicament of facing overwork again.

The solution to this is essentially to figure out a way to bring on enough staff to where you are comfortable with the amount of work and the income that you need. Unfortunately, this balance will be unique to your personal preference. Some divorce attorneys feel comfortable having multiple offices, sometimes even having eight or ten. Others are highly distrustful not reviewing all paper that has their name on it and are paranoid about delegating out legal work.

It would be far easier for divorce attorneys faced with the business of practicing law to have a formula they can turn to know exactly what ratio of staff to cases that they need. Because this is not possible, it has to be done be feel. Doing things by feel means that there will be times when you will be overworked and then underworked. Usually by being involved in the practice of law, you will meet lots of people who can assist your practice on short notice.

As far as paying your help goes, it is generally unethical for divorce attorneys to split a client’s fee with a non-attorney. It is normally possible under the lawyer’s ethical rules to have your client’s agree to pay the fees for your staff. In your legal services agreement, then, it is important that you state the hourly fees both for lawyers in addition to the fees for any support staff that become necessary. Your clients should love this as the support staff fee is generally far less than the fee of a Family Law lawyer, helping their initial retainer stretch further.

In the end you will probably find that by bringing on additional people to assist your practice helps you tremendously by allowing you to accept more cases, make more money, and be less stressful. You will also find that your client’s will be happier with your service because your staff will be in touch with your client’s more often. And happy clients are essentially to staying in and getting more business.

The above material is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended as professional legal advice and should not be construed as such. Attorney William H. Beaumont practices in New Orleans, La.