Delegation

Delegation is something that may not come naturally to you from the outset and was definitely one of my greatest weaknesses as a first seat trainee. I discussed this with various supervisors at the time, and their explanations helped me to get my head around the notion of “passing off work” onto someone else. To summarise, effective delegation can: help teams to remain within budget, increase the team’s efficiency, enable the delivery of a better standard of client service, and allow time for lawyers to focus on more substantive tasks (which is important in the context of personal development).

Delegation becomes increasingly important as you become more senior. Firstly, your hourly rate as a more senior lawyer will make it too expensive in the context of the overall project for you to carry out more administrative tasks (in light of fee budgets agreed with clients), meaning you will have to delegate these types of tasks to junior fee earners who have much lower hourly rates. Secondly, if you are simultaneously working on something whilst delegated work is being carried out, this can be far more time efficient, which is especially important when you are responsible for managing multiple workstreams with tight deadlines. In other words, you will likely be managing too many projects to complete all the work yourself anyway!

I also spoke about delegation with the people to whom I was expected to delegate, including paralegals and personal assistants. They all agreed that I should more readily delegate to them, as this is what they were there for. They said that their job is to help take the strain off lawyers and many enjoyed the range of work to which they were exposed (even though the work may not have sounded particularly complex/glamorous). This is no different to your supervisor delegating less complicated work to you as a trainee. If you don’t have a problem with that (which you shouldn’t), then why assume that others would have a problem with you delegating to them?

Introducing yourself to the PAs and paralegals in your department at the start of a new seat (and subsequently spending time getting to know them) could enable you to build a sufficiently strong relationship with them to help you feel more comfortable delegating at a later stage, so try to make this effort from the get-go.

Who can you delegate to?

Trainees will primarily delegate to personal assistants (or secretaries) and paralegals and firms may have different procedures in place for managing this process.

Personal assistants

Many City firms assign personal assistants to trainees (one personal assistant might work for one or two partners, a few associates and a few trainees). A personal assistant might be the first port of call for administrative, routine or repetitive tasks such as printing, scanning, photocopying, filing, formatting documents (e.g. aligning them with “house style”), creating spines and covers for folders, helping with internal administration (e.g. setting up printers and phones and accessing stationery), booking couriers and taxis, booking meeting rooms and any necessary equipment and refreshments for meetings, and administering your expenses (after all those late evening/weekend meals and taxis!).

Paralegals

Paralegals can help with tasks such as proofreading, cross-checking references/citations, reviewing documents, collating signatures during a signing, preparing transaction bibles, and preparing court bundles. Many paralegals have degrees and have completed the Legal Practice Course/Solicitors Qualifying Examination (or qualified as lawyers in other jurisdictions) so are incredibly capable. During my training contract, many of the paralegals I worked with were much more experienced than I was, so don’t be afraid to use them as a resource! Unless you are told otherwise, avoid delegating tasks such as legal research and drafting however, as these are tasks that trainees will usually be expected to carry out in the interests of their own development. Paralegals will generally be assigned to one or two main transactions/cases, but may also have capacity for ad-hoc work (especially if they’re willing to work overtime, which they may be paid extra for). Note that larger firms usually have a work-allocation manager who is responsible for helping to find paralegals with the capacity to support on projects, so try to find their contact details early on.

How to delegate effectively

As a trainee, you may be responsible for coordinating a team of paralegals or legal assistants who are helping with a large legal matter. When doing so, remember that you are ultimately responsible for the work produced, so it is important that you:

• Give clear instructions at the outset, and carefully check the recipients’ understanding of those instructions throughout;
• Remain available for, and open to, answering questions whilst the delegated work is being carried out (and be sure to explain how best to contact you moving forward);
• Regularly ask for progress updates; and
• Thoroughly check the delegated work once it has been completed before sending it on to your supervisor.

In addition, when delegating, always keep in mind the who, what, why and when:

1. Who are you delegating to?

Consider their level of competency and experience and make sure you only delegate suitable tasks. If the person has no previous experience with the particular database or program that you need them to use, then take the time to explain how it works (or arrange for them to receive the necessary training).

2. What do you want/don’t you want? 

When delegating, it can be clearer to explain both what you want and what you don’t want, as this can help to steer your colleagues in the right direction and avoid them going off on an incorrect tangent. Give examples where possible and perhaps start the task yourself so that you can give them an example to illustrate exactly what needs to be done. Always make sure your instructions are as specific as possible. For example, rather than saying “please print” in an email, you could leave less room for error by stating “please print 1 copy of the attached document titled ABC, on A4 paper, single-sided, with a staple in the top left corner”.

3. Why?

You should try to give some context to those you are delegating to. It makes the work more interesting for them, can better prepare them for the task(s) and can help you to build a rapport with them. If they know the context/purpose of the work, they are also more likely to pick up on any errors or double-sided omissions in your brief (which can help to ensure that you don’t waste a huge amount of time and cost by sending a team of paralegals off along the wrong path). Giving them an update at a later stage to explain how their work fit into the overall picture and benefitted the team/client can also be hugely appreciated. After all, if they have put in the time, they deserve to know the outcome.

4. When? 

Give a clear deadline and an indication of how long the work should take. If the work will need to be reviewed afterwards, build this into your time frame. Also explain when you will be available for questions throughout the process.

Practical tip: communication throughout is key. Make sure you are constantly keeping track of deadlines and everybody’s capacity and let your supervisor know immediately if the task is taking longer than expected. For more substantive tasks, it might be a good idea to ask those to whom you have delegated to report back at certain points so that you can check they have understood your instructions and are heading in the right direction. Also, do not be afraid to give feedback: positive feedback can help to motivate the person to whom you are delegating and constructive feedback can help them to improve.

How to give effective feedback

Take the time to give feedback to – and request feedback from – those who you delegate to, ideally as soon as possible after the work has been completed (whilst everything is still fresh in your minds). As a caveat, wait until you’re in an appropriate environment, and you feel composed and able to be objective when relaying your reflections. When giving feedback:

• Focus on behaviours, rather than making it personal;
• Be specific (i.e. avoid generalising) so that the recipient can grasp what they actually need to do to improve;
• Focus on factual observations (perhaps avoid universal quantifiers such as “you always do…” or “never do…” unless these actually apply);
• Ensure the feedback focuses on what can be done better in the future, rather than simply criticising a past contribution that can no longer be rectified;
• Where possible, explain the impact or consequences of the recipient’s behaviour on the business; and
• Suggest some next steps or goals that are specific, relevant, measurable and attainable, and have a clear time horizon (then check their understanding of these).