The Mommy and Daddy Track June 15, 2008

I read this great article at ABA journal about the daddy track and how men are now becoming concerned with having a good work-life balance, just as moms have been for so long.

I think men are more involved than ever with parenting. The expectations of women like myself and my friends have certainly evolved from what our parents practiced. We love spending time with our kids but we expect our spouses to be true partners in their care. It might not always work as well as we’d hoped, but it certainly is the goal. For example, my husband does daycare pickups when he is off work in time and has taken days off so I could attend a conference in another province. He cooks meals and gives baths and reads bedtime stories.  And he doesn’t do it as a “favour” to me - he recognizes it’s his job as much as mine.

Of course if men are really getting on the “daddy track” so to speak, it makes one wonder about how businesses will cope. No one is going to want to work overtime anymore it seems and in fact many people want the option of part-time or job-share arrangements rather than full-time work. At my last job there were several men who took some paternity leave (even fairly lengthy leaves in a couple of cases) and combined with the aging workforce I foresee a lot of changes to the way work is done. I personally hope more telecommute options become possible, as it is such a wonderful option for many. I live in a suburb of a big city in Alberta, and I save 45 minutes each way by not commuting. I can’t even imagine the lengthy commutes in much larger areas like Los Angeles or New York.

Of course a great choice for any parent is self-employment, especially if you can avoid the temptation to work too much!

Law Practice and Life Balance June 12, 2008

Yesterday I read this article by Melanie Jester from Oklahoma Bar Journal Articles. It discusses work-life balance for lawyers. And then later yesterday I took my boys to the park and ran into a very nice lady, who it turns out is a lawyer on maternity leave and we discussed the topic of lawfirms and trying to have a career and a family.

I think balance is an elusive but achievable goal - it just takes having an open mind to doing things a different way. This is the part lawfirms struggle with I think - there is often a tendency to do things as they have always been done, since it has worked for so long. But there is a long list of ways to give your employees some flexibility while still achieving the firm’s goals and providing results for the client:

1. Telecommuting -easily a top choice for workers - it allows work from home or really anywhere. For example a parent home with a sick child can try and get some work done if allowed the opportunity to access work files from home.
2. Part-time work - another great option for some people. Some staff want more time for hobbies, travel, family etc., but they don’t want to give up their career either. I think that as the population ages we’ll really see a demand for this, as people who’ve worked so hard on their careers are ready to loosen up a bit without letting go altogether.
3. Alternative hours - people have different “peak” hours in the day. My husband is a total morning person, I am best midday and I have a friend who works best late at night. If we all work 9-5 the reality is that we won’t all be performing optimally. Workers who can adjust their hours even somewhat to work around their natural inclinations will work harder and will appreciate the trust placed in them to show up and do the job regardless of if the boss is in and working the same exact hours.
4. Flex time - put in extra hours and get time off later, it’s a simple and easy solution and I’m surprised more lawfirms haven’t taken advantage of it. It saves money on overtime costs and allows staff an occasional extra day or even half-day off.

I think the most important thing to note about all the above options is not only that they will be a wonderful benefit to workers but that they all offer rewards for the employer. Win-win in my books!

Women in the Law - Women in Business June 10, 2008

I recently read this wonderful article from Canadian Lawyer magazine about women in the law. The article featured roundtable discussion from several prominent women lawyers.

It’s interesting to me to note that the concerns facing women lawyers are indeed the concerns facing many women in business. We all have to find ways to advance our careers, we all need to find ways to maintain balance and a personal life and we all have to overcome some obstacles along the way.

I think it was particularly interesting to me as just yesterday I was really thinking about what it means, even in this wonderful modern age, to have children and a career. My husband is a wonderful man who does A LOT around the house and with our kids. Still many things have always fallen to me as the mom - making the childcare decisions and the medical appointments, attending school functions (he comes when he can get away from work, but that is not always), etc. When both parents have careers it gets so hard to juggle all the things that need to be taken care of. And like the women lawyers in the article, you realize some things are going to have to give. Usually it’s your personal time - the time you might have spent with friends or on hobbies.

I don’t know if seeing the problems can help change them - but it is a start isn’t it?

VA and Home Business Blog Carnival June 9, 2008

Check out this week’s edition of the VA and Home Business Blog Carnival.  My post on Blawgging is one of the posts presented.

As usual, there are some other interesting posts such as Virtual Efficiency’s post titled Does Your Email Present a Professional Image and Playing it Safe Online by D. Victoria Virtual Assistance.

Enjoy!!!

Blawgging June 6, 2008

I just have to share this post about lawyers and blogging from Real Lawyers Have Blogs. I loved this post because it really addresses the heart of why I personally like to blog and why I LOVE to read blogs (especially law blogs (blawgs!)

I love how real blogging is - that it puts you right in touch with the writer in a format that often allows for discussion and expansion of the original topic. I love that many blawgs give lawyers a chance to demystify what they do and therefore make a case for how useful and beneficial their work can be. Lawyers often have a bad rap in society, but in my experiences working with lawyers I have seen that they care about their clients and they want to help them. They spent years in school and then usually many more years acquiring the experience to handle the cases and work the courtroom and they generally charge a rate that is in accordance with those years of experience and skill. Yet the average person thinks that they overcharge or underperform and why? Because the communication isn’t real when they face off lawyer vs client in a stuffy boardroom in a downtown office. Blawgging lets clients see the person in the law office - the one who works hard and worries about the outcome and who has a responsibility to the client, their staff and themselves to do the job right, even at a higher financial cost.

So keep the blawgging going - it is a wonderful tool and experience for us all.

Blog Carnival June 1, 2008

Check out this week’s blog carnival hosted by VagabondetteVA - my post on lawyers and technological change is one of the posts featured!

There are several other great posts featured this week - my top two are:

1. Time Thieves from Physician Entrepreneur
2. Webmaster-1’s post titled 5 Reasons Why Blogging is Beneficial

Enjoy!

How Do Virtual Offices Work Anyway? June 1, 2008

Christopher McKinney supplied a wonderful guest post over at Home Office Lawyer. The post provides a great explanation for one way a virtual-based office can work for a lawyer. Christopher uses a setup similar to what I’m planning on working with.

It’s funny, although understandable when you look at the sheer numbers of people and logistics involved, but it seems like a lot of sole practioners or small firms are able to work with these more advanced and portable case management systems that aren’t easily available within big law firms or government firms. At least not the ones I have worked with! When I worked with the govt only certain individuals had access to laptops, let alone the software for case management - it just wasn’t in the budget. Now that I’m on my own, I can have a great setup because I don’t need 3 levels of managerial approval - it’s all up to me!

Working with a Virtual Assistant May 30, 2008

Tina of Clerical Advantage has a great post up on Home Office Virtual Assistant about the mechanics of working with a VA.

Tina’s post really got me thinking - it’s easy to work with a VA, especially once you get over the hurdle of realizing how much can be done off-site from your business location. At first it seems overwhelming to realize how many choices there are - choose a VA, choose a method of communication that works well for you, maybe you need to learn how to use a shared workspace. But once you take those first few steps, think how much easier running your business will be! It’s great to share some of that burden of running a small business and realize we really don’t have to do everything for ourselves isn’t it?

It’s such an exciting and challenging prospect, for me as a virtual assistant and for businesses who can get exactly the help they need.

Lawyers and Technological Change May 28, 2008

It can be hard for any of us to embrace new technology, but a recent article from law.com addresses how lawyers in particular have trouble embracing advances that would improve their work experience (and probably their bottom line too!)

It certainly has been my experience that lawyers can be cautious about embracing technology. I know of many sole practitioners who were hesitant to even get internet in their offices - they were more concerned about abuse by employees than the many benefits online access could offer.

Personally, my favorite technological advances are the ones that reduce my dependence on paper! I have found in my years of legal assistance work that the legal system uses entirely too much paper. I want to get away from this when possible and try to go paperLESS (not paper-free)!

I am looking to upgrade my scanner soon to a high quality one so I can scan everything into my computer. I’m going to use an electronic fax system so that I can receive faxes by email and only print when absolutely necessary. I’ll also have an automatic off-site backup system in place soon so that I don’t have to worry about a computer crash causing me to lose everything. I keep my computer drives pretty “clean” and organized, so I know that using my computer for organizing all my documentation is going to be a great system for me!

I’m curious - what is your favorite technological advance? Leave me a comment to discuss!

Legal Secretarial Layoffs May 21, 2008

I just read this article about a large lawfirm in the US that laid off 70 legal support staff - wow! It’s pretty scary for people during these times of economic slowdown, layoffs and paycuts.

This is an excellent time though, I think, to take a chance and change your approach to support staff. Freelancers make it easier to slow down on the amount of work being completed (and thus save some money), but also leave open the opportunity to ramp up quickly when work picks up again. You keep your experienced and professional support personnel near to hand but don’t have to provide busywork when your practice has taken a downturn.