This is the third and final installment in our series of deep thoughts and helpful hints from three true leaders in the effort to dramatically improve the efficiency and economics of the practice of law. This segment features spot-on comments by John Miller.
1. How do you suggest those in the legal industry best manage their time?
Time is exhaustible. It must be used or it is permanently depleted.
The key is to have a plan for using each day’s time to achieve the priorities of your plan, respond to the inevitable outside influences that will force you off plan, and the wisdom to recognize when the interruptions are what you hope to achieve from your plan.
In our industry time is one of the base commodities that form the supply chain for our services. Any minute that is not used providing services to your clients, is a minute that will not be available in the future, so it is wise, I think, to always prioritize client work over administrative and business building activities.
2. What 3 tips would you give to those in the legal industry on managing personal productivity?
Use technology to maximize your time. Technology expands the productivity of each minute (e.g., through document and process automation), the length of time available for work, and where you can work.
Make a plan. Annual plans for business development, continuing education and continuous business improvement create defined objectives and accountability. The annual plan should contain defined actionable items that are executed on monthly, weekly or daily schedules.
Take personal time. It is impossible to be highly effective without building in opportunities for the things that recharge your mind and body.
3. What are the current stumbling blocks for the legal industry when it comes to being more efficient?
From a personal productivity stand point the issues that I experience are the growing number of tools to consider for productivity and automation.
As a solo practitioner I don’t have the time to carefully consider all of the options and lack the technical knowledge to consider how choices of service will interact with each other (e.g., will my practice management suite play well with my accounting software).
4. How do you feel the industry can overcome these barriers?
That’s the beauty of the market. Someone will develop the right solution and find the way to deliver it at the right place, time and price point.
About John Miller (@JohnMillerCLT)
John heads up the John Miller Law Firm, PLLC (https://millerlaw-nc.com/) where his team are strong believers that the legal business is a people business. Prior to setting up his own firm, John worked for Alston & Bird within the Corporate Transactions Group gaining significant experience dealing with mergers and acquisitions. As a result of his experience, he believes that advocacy and accessibility within the industry is vital.
At TheFormTool, LLC we believe that we have the right solution to considerably improve productivity within the legal industry, with customers stating that they have saved 71% on average with our Doxserá software. To find out how both TheFormTool PRO and Doxserá can help your legal business to thrive, visit www.theformtool.com.
