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FIRM PRACTITIONER: |
BY
PAT YEVICS
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"Telecommuting: Can it work for
solo/small firm practitioners and their staff?"
By Pat Yevics
I had been considering this topic for quite some
time, and I decided to look into it more deeply when I heard that Western Maryland
was expecting 12 inches of snow. Admittedly, those in areas where there is
more snow are accustomed to it, but travel can still be difficult. Telecommuting
for lawyers and staff could be extremely helpful in situations such as
these.
As I did more research, it occurred to me that lawyers, especially
solo and small firm practitioners, could benefit from telecommuting. But what
exactly is telecommuting? According to Nicole Belson Goluboff in her American
Bar Association publication Telecommuting for Lawyers,
“Telecommute is really just a fancy word for what lawyers do all the
time: work wherever it makes the most sense to work.” Lawyers, regardless
of size of practice, have always taken work home, worked while waiting for
trials, answered client calls from the car and did whatever was necessary to
get the work done. “What is new about telecommuting,” notes Goluboff,
“is how much more we can do away from the office because of technology.”
Telecommuting does not mean constantly working every
minute, everywhere you go. Rather, it is the ability to manage your time and
workflow efficiently by being able to work when you would be unable to do so,
thus freeing up time for your family, friends or leisure activities. Some studies
have shown that people who telecommute do not necessarily work more hours but
are more productive. Telecommuting as it is being discussed here is not just
a “work wherever I am” but rather a systematic approach to working
away from the traditional office on a regular and scheduled way.
If you are the solo “owner” of the firm, it is
easy for you to make the executive decision to allow yourself to telecommute.
You will need “rules”
for this telecommuting if you have others in your office. Some may question, “If
I telecommute and am not in the office some days, how can I trust my staff
to get their work done?” If you plan to telecommute or offer the option
to staff, then you need to have people working for you who can be trusted and
are able to work without constant supervision. Telecommuting is only for those
people and firms where people work hard and are organized.
I do believe that in some cases there will be opportunities
for administrative and paralegal staff to be able to telecommute. This could
work for the person who does your bookkeeping or billing. It could also work
for a paralegal, who could do much work from any location for one or two days
a week.
Telecommuting can work for most attorneys and even some paralegals
as long as the technology and plan is in place and everyone understands what
will and what will not happen when the person is scheduled to be working from
a different location. Offering telecommuting one or two days a week can also
be an incentive to younger attorneys or staff with family obligations. It could
be easier than replacing a valuable employee.
Listed below are some questions to ask before considering
telecommuting for yourself or anyone in your office.
Issues to consider if telecommuter is an attorney:
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Will the person be a full-time or part-time employee
or an independent contractor? If full-time, will he/she have a set schedule
for telecommuting or as needed?
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Will the person be required to work set hours or on
an as-needed basis? If set hours, what happens if there is not enough
work when she/he is
“working”?
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How will the employee handle phone calls during his/her
business hours? Are there children or other family members home during
work hours? What is the firm’s expectation about how the phone
should be answered during business hours? Will the employee be required
to have a separate business line?
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Discuss how the employee will handle personal distractions.
Will the employee be required to let the office know that he/she is not
available during his/her scheduled work times?
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Will the firm have the expectation that there will
be minimal personal interruptions during the work time?
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Will the attorney be allowed to meet with clients in
the home office?
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Will the employee be expected to have a separate work
space and file area to protect client confidentiality? Will client files
be required to be locked in a separate file cabinet?
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How do workers’ compensation laws apply if the
employee is injured in the home office during working hours?
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Administrative or Paralegal
When considering whether or not to allow a staff person or
paralegal to work some time away from the office, keep the following in mind:
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What tasks are portable?
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Is he/she able to work without supervision?
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How will you supervise or monitor his/her work?
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Is the person technically able to telecommute?
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Are you, the solo practitioner, willing to be more
organized to work with this new system?
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Will the person be a full-time or part-time employee
or an independent contractor?
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Will the person be required to work set hours or on
an as-needed basis? If set hours, what happens if there is not enough
work when he/she is
“working”?
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How will the employee keep record of his/her time?
The timesheet should be detailed indicating exactly what was done and
how long it took. If you bill for word-processing time, the employee
must keep information about what clients should be billed.
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Will the employee ever be required to come into the
office? (If the employee is new, consider having the employee work at
the office first in order to get a feel for the firm.)
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If the arrangement is at the suggestion of the employee,
ask why the person wants to telecommute? Will the person have a problem
if he/she needs to come into the office from time to time?
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Discuss how the employee will handle personal distractions.
Will the employee be required to let the office know he/she is not available
during his/her scheduled work times?
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Will the employee be required to have a separate business
line? How often will the person be required to contact the office? Will
the employee be required to contact the office if he/she is leaving the
home office?
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Will the firm expect minimal personal interruptions
during the work time?
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Will the employee be expected to have a separate work
space and file area to protect client confidentiality? Will client files
be required to be locked in a separate file cabinet?
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How do workers’ compensation laws apply if the
employee is injured during working hours although working from his/her
home?
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Technical Issues
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Who will own the equipment that the employee will use?
Will there be a need for a separate phone and fax machine?
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If files are stored on the computer, will the employee
be required to have a separate computer for office work?
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Will any client files be saved on the employee’s
home computer?
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If the employee leaves the firm, how will the firm
determine that all files have been removed from the person’s home
computer?
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Who is responsible for maintenance of hardware and
software?
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To whom is the software licensed?
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If files are saved, who is responsible for backup?
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Will an offsite computer be password-protected?
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Will the offsite computer have a firewall and virus-protection
software? Who is responsible for making certain virus-protection software
is kept current?
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Will the employee be required to have a separate e-mail
account for business use? If yes, who will pay for the account? If no,
how will the firm safeguard client/firm data?
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If the person has a laptop, is it owned by the firm
and is it password-protected?
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These technical issues are important regardless of whether
the person telecommuting is you, a partner, an associate or a paralegal.
The answer to the question of whether or not telecommuting
can work for solos and staff is yes. I think those practitioners that start
to systematically telecommute and offer it to associates and staff on even
a limited basis will find that it works well, creating a happy staff and while
increasing efficiency and, yes, even the bottom line.
Telecommuting Resources
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Telecommuting for Lawyers, Nicole Belson
Goluboff, ABA Law Practice Management Section, 1998. It can be purchased
at www.msba.org/departments/membership/abapubs.htm or
borrowed for one week at a time by calling Kay Aronhalt at (800) 492-1964,
ext. 3038.
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“Telecommuter Handbook” TMA Group
Smart Travel Information, www.tmagroup.org/TelGuide.html.
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“Making Telecommuting Work”, from
Catherine Roseberry, Your Guide to Mobile Office Technology, mobileoffice.about.com/cs/balancingact/a/familymatters_p.htm
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“Setting Ground Rules for Telecommuting”,
Ajilon Pinstripe, www.pinstripegroup.net/articles/pinstripe_news_telecom_no1.asp
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