Law Office Management is simply described as the study of the organization and methods employed in the law office. It also involves the relationship between members of staff of that office on one hand and their relationship with members of the public with whom they are in contact with on the other hand.
Law Office Management is concerned with the development of human, capital and other resources in a law office.
In the Legsl profession today, Young legal practitioners are generally encouraged to undergo pupillage before they can open a law office. This is a shift from the old position which prohibited lawyers of less than 5 years post call from engaging in private practice on his own. See Section 6(2) of Regulated and Other Professions (Private Practice Prohibition) Act, Cap. 390 LFN, 1990 but this law has been repealed.
•The new position now states that every legal practitioner can engage in private practice immediately after being called to the bar.
The need to establish a Law Firm
It is unprofessional for a Legal Practitioner to give legal advice or take instructions form a client at the client’s house or place or business, except in some special cases. Rule 22 RPC.
Therefore, a Legal Practitioner should give legal advice and take instructions from a law office which invariably requires him to establish a law firm.
•Thus the unprofessional practice known as charge and bail where Legal Practitioners hang around courts to take instructions for representation of accused persons in bail applications constitutes a breach of the RPC.
What is a Law office?
Simply put, a Law Office is an office that is owned, run, maintained or managed by lawyers or a firm of lawyers for the practice of Law. It is a business entity established necessarily for the practice of Law.
–Necessity
–Realization of an ambition
–Desire to be on their own and their boss/Independence
–Profitability.
– R. 22 RPC
•What are the qualities of lawyers who intend to establish law offices?
–Honesty and integrity. Rules 1, 15, 23,54 RPC, Adewumi v. Plastex (Nig)Ltd
–Hard work and organization; and
–Determination and commitment
–Resilience
•For a lawyer to succeed he must have:-
–Knowledge
–skill
–Values
–Ethics
Running a law office is a lot of hard work. Many of those that are successful today would be able to attest to this. For a lawyer to succeed he must possess the requisite knowledge and skill to do the work of his clients. Knowledge and skill is very important. Knowledge without skill will not suffice and vice versa.
Types of capital does a lawyer need
To set up your law firm, a lawyer needs two types of capital:
1. Start-up capital: As the name suggests, this start up capital are funds needed to provide office facilities such as premises, furniture, vehicle, equipment and machines, etc.
2. Working capital: Working capital are funds for recurrent expenditures like salaries and wages, utility bills and cost of stationery. They are funds that keep the office running.
•How does a lawyer source for capital?
- Personal funds and Savings
- Funds (gift) from family & friends
- Loans or overdraft
A Lawyer’s BUSINESS Plan
You may wonder why a lawyer needs a business plan. A Business Plan in the practise of the law is a document containing information about the proposed firm, its goals and the financial projection. It is advisable for lawyer to have business plan.
•Contents:
- –Name of practitioner
- Name of the firm
- Business Address
- Business Start Date
- Type of firm
- Goals of the firm
- Market competitors
- Capital requirement
- Borrowing requirement,
•Security to be provided,
•Use of funds,
•Employment of staff, and
•Management system
•Clientele (Client search)
•• The Legal Pracitioner must ensure there is a market for services before establishing a law firm.
•Clients range from relatives, friends, banks and financial institutions, companies, large statutory bodies, Legal Aid Council, Government establishments & individuals.
CLASSIFICATION OF LAW Office
•What is the classification of Law office?
- Small
- Medium
- Large
•What are the criteria for such classification?
1.Facilities
2.Status of Lawyers in the Firm
3. Number of Lawyers in the Firm
4. Location
5.Clients
Organization of Law Office
Law offices are grouped into 4
•1. Sole practitionership
•It is the unit of practice involving a practitioner practicing alone, but, employing support staff such as secretary, clerk, dispatch clerk,office assistant, to assist him in the office.
•He provides the capital of the firm and manages the firm. He does all the legal work alone.
•Smallest unit of organization of a law firm in Nigeria and the commonest.
Advantages of Sole Practitionership
1. It enhances quick decision making;
2. Lawyer keeps all the profits realized from the business;
3. It is cheaper and easier to set up.
It is easy to set up as there is less financial implication and less administrative procedure to be followed before its establishment;
4.He enjoys his freedom as he is not under any control. He is his own boss.
5. Takes full credit for success of the firm
6. He is always more committed in the sense that he knows he cannot allow the business to fail.
Disadvantages of Sole Practitionership
1.A sole practitioner bears all the risk and loss alone;
2.Because he works alone, he considers the brief alone. He cannot confer with others; (Professional isolation) he is over worked,
3.He may have problems of attracting clients as he would be the only one doing so.
4.He has no time for holiday and relaxation. He cannot afford to stay out of the office as he may lose his clients by doing so.
5.Specialization is not possible in his practice and
6.Finally, there may be no continuation as he may have no one to succeed him on retirement or where he dies.
2. Sole Proprietorship
•This is a practice where a lawyer establishes a firm and employs other legal practitioners to work in the firm. The relationship between the Sole Proprietor and teh employed lawyers is that of employer/employee.
•Their relationship is governed by a contract of employment with terms and conditons.
Advantages of Sole Proprietorship
1. Like in sole practitionership, It enhances quick decision making since he takes decisions solo as the boss.
2. The sole proprietor keeps all the profits realized.
3. Takes credit for success of Firm
4. It is easy to set up as there is less financial implication and less administrative procedure in the establishment.
5. He is more committed as he cannot fail, he is independent as he is his own boss.
6. There is possibility of specialization as the work can be divided amongst other lawyers in the office.
7. He can can go on vacation.
8. Children & other relations can succeed him.
Disadvantages of Sole Proprietorship
1.1. The owner is solely responsible for the cost of running the firm (Capital) alone
2.Proprietor bears the risk and loss alone
3.He may have difficulty in attracting clients at the start of the business.
4. The sole proprietor takes all decisions alone and this affects the quality of his decisions.
5.Protracted illness or death of the sole proprietor may lead to the collapse of the practice.
6. May have disgruntled/disloyal juniors etc
3. Associateship
It is a unit of law practice where two or more lawyers contribute the capital to provide facilities required to run a law firm. Each lawyer’s practice is however independent.
All the practitioners occupy the same premises and share office facilites, they contribute equally to wages and salaries of supporting staff but each remains a sole proprietor because each owns his independent pracitce and seperate clients within the associateship.
They pool resources together to facilitate the establishment and the running of the organization but each practitioner has his distinct legal practice.
Advantages of Associateship
1. Quick decision making.
2. Each keeps all the profits realized.
3. Less financial and administrative burden in setting up. (Easier to set up as they pool resources together)
4. Each Practitioner is a boss of himself
5. Not professionally isolated/ Can share knowledge 6. They don’t share profits
7. Take credit of success of independent practice
8. Enhances a large well furnished office etc.
Disadvantages of Associateship
- Each Associate bears the risk and loss alone (Hinders growth)
- Problem of attracting clients.
- Holiday and relaxation, a luxury.
- Possibility of client poaching, that is possibility of converting clients of another lawyer within his office which offends rule 27 of the RPC
- It is also possible to have divided loyalty amongst the support staff in serving the associates in the office.
- Rivalry/Lack of trust among associates
- Due to unequal success, an associate may not keep up to terms of the associateship.
- Conflicts may arise
Read: 21st Century Client Interview and Counseling Skills for Lawyers
4. Partnership
This is a unit of law office where two or more legal practitioners wishing to establish a law firm contribute capital to form a partnership and jointly run the firm. Where a partnership is formed, all the legal practitioners involved are owners and relationship between them is that of joint owners. They are agents of one another and they owe a fiduciary duty to one another.
Partnership is rarely set up in Nigeria because of:-
- lack of trust/confidence; fear; greed;
- generation gap; indiscipline; ego;
- Inferiority/superiority complex;
- Impatience; and incompatibility.
A partnership may be formed orally or in writing an dmay be by deed. To avoid misunderstanding, a written agreement should be entered into. Such agreement should contain all the terms governing the partnership
Restrictions on the formation of partnership by legal practitioners.
Although, parnterships are permitted for legal practioners, the RPC places certain restrictions on the formation of partnership by legal practitioners.
R. 5 (1-4) RPC
- A lawyer shall not form a partnership with a non_x0002_lawyer or with a lawyer who is not admitted to practice law in Nigeria, if any of the activities of the Partnership consists of the practice of law.
- The name of a deceased or former partner may continue to be used as Part of the name of a law firm, provided it does not lead to an imposition or Deception through the continued use of the name.
- Where a member of a law firm becomes a Judge and is thereby precluded From practicing law, his name, if it appears, shall be removed from the partnership Name.
- Where a lawyer practice alone, he shall not hold himself out as a Partner in a firm of lawyers using a firm name such as “A, B. and Co”, or such other Name as many suggest that he is in partnership with others.
Advantages of Partnership
- Accessibility to funding at start due to combined contributions.
- It allows for division of labour or specialization due to numbers of lawyers in office.
- There is shared or spread risk which is a plus for the stability of the practice.
4. Brainstorming in considering difficult cases is also present,
5. There is usually a wider client base when compared with other organizations and
6.There is the luxury of a partner taking vacation as there are others who can hold forth in a his absence. (Possibilityof holidays and vacations)
Disadvantages of Partnership
- Element of dishonesty, greed and fear may affect level of commitment.
- Delay in decision-making… wide consultation.
- Setting up takes time.
- Death or incapacitation of one may lead to the breakup of the partnership.
- Friction/disagreements; Distrust etc
- Liability of all partners by one’s action/inaction. They are agents of one another. See United Bank of Kuwait v Hammond (1988) 1 WLR, 1051
Types of premises for Law Office
•The premises where a law firm operates is popularly called Chambers in Nigeria. This is not appropriate because of the fused nature of legal practice in Nigeria. The proper name should be Law Office as it is called in USA where the profession is also fused.
•Finding of Premises
•A legal practitioner must decide whether to rent an office or buy land to build the office. The general trend is that many legal practitioners rent their offices.
•Information about availability of office can be obtained from associates, newspaper or from estate agents and other practitioners in the estate business.
•Where the office space is part of other business premises, the legal practitioner must ensure that the other businesses on the premises are compatible with legal practice.
•Factors to consider in establishing a law firm include:
•Location
•Capital
•Clientele, etc
Types of Premises
There are three types of Premises
1. Purpose Built Office Accommodation
2. Existing Building
3. Office in the Home
• First is a type purposely built to serve as an office known as purpose built office. It is often open space requiring partitioning by the Legal Practitioner.
• Existing Building-meaning a practitioner can convert a suitable existing building into a law office. It may have served a a residence before the conversion.
•Office in the Home. This is mainly done to due to financial constraint, that is to save money. Management Theorists have warned against this because the business ambience can be distracted by the home environment. It is also restrictive of the growth of the law practice.
Law Office STAFF
Legal work is carried out in a law office by its staff. There are 2 types of staff:
- Fee Earners: These are the lawyers who earn fees for the firm by doing the legal work. The number of legal practioners depends on the size and type of the law office.
- Support Staff: These are people who assist lawyers in the office.
•Methods of employing and selecting staff-:
•Staff can be employed by-:
- Advertisement
- Introduction/Recommendation by existing and former staff
- Inviting applicants from previous advertisement
- Recommendation by agencies and consultancies
- Online invitation
- Leaving invitation for application in Lawyer’s room notice board and notice boards in court.
Procedures for selection of staff
•Selection can be made by-:
–Test/interviews
–Qualification as assumption of competence
Induction of New Staff
New staff need to be familiar with:
- History of the firm;
- Existing staff of the firm;
- Administrative procedure;
- Disciplinary procedure;
- Nature of his job and how he is expected to perform it; and
- Grievance procedure
LAW OFFICE EQUIPMENT
Within the law office, machines, equipment and supplies are needed for the day to day running of the
organization.They facilitate efficient performance of other functions.
Office machines include generators,
Office equipment include computers, photocopiers, printers, intercom, staplers,laminating machine, etc,
Office supplies are consumables like letter head paper, invoice books, business cards,file jackets,
legal forms, office pins, etc
Law Office Administration.
–Like any other organization, a law office must be administered. It must have its mission and vision, its systems and procedures and its running and management. A law office in its administration should have a mission and vision.
– A mission statement defines the business/firms objectives and means of achieving the objectives. It depicts the essence or reason of the law firm’s existence. In other words, what it sets out to achieve. Concentrates on the present
–A vision statement on the other hand, deals with the firm’s projections. They are long term goals which the law firm seeks to achieve. Focuses on the future
Law Office Systems and Procedures
•For members of staff to know the office systems and procedure, they would require a manual.
•Law office systems and procedures are usually provided in a Law office manual.
•Office manual is: An established system and procedures of an organization to regulate work and performance of tasks.
CONTENT OF A MANUAL
Working hours; absence or lateness; attendance register; overtime work; confidentiality of work; salary increment; salary advancement and loan; holidays; bonus provisions; annual leave; assignment of staff; file management; assignment of staff; provision of office supplies; procedure for borrowing office books, disciplinary procedures, grievance procedures, etc.
Management of a Law Office
•After setting up a law office, the legal practitioner will have to choose the type of management structure the firm will have. Management functions are classified into five which are:
- Planning.
- Organizing
- Coordinating.
- Controlling.
- Evaluating.
•1.PLANNING
•This is an act of formulating a program for a definite course of action. Planning as a management function is the act of setting out either immediate or long-term goals of a law firm to be achieved in line with the vision and mission statements.
• The managers of the law firms are saddled with this responsibility. While planning to achieve the goals of a law firm, the political, economic and social environment in which the firm operates should be considered as it affects the day-to-day activities of the firm. They are known as the external environment.
•There are three (3) types of planning strategies namely:
•i.Long term planning: A law firm may run on a long-term period to achieve its goals.
•ii.Medium term planning: This is also known as tactical planning. It isa type of planning that involves breaking down a long-term strategic plan into smaller plans.
•iii.Short term planning: This deals with the day to day or weekly execution of the policies of the law firm.
–For a law office to be properly planned and organized, it needs to pay attention to 3 main factors in particular for it to be managed effectively. These are Time Management, filing systems and law office records.
–Time Management
–Filing Systems
–Law Office Records.
Time Management in the Firm
•To manage time in the law office, work needs to be categorized, that is, who does what? Work also needs to be prioritized. In order to be prioritized, jobs could be labelled into categories such as ‘things to do’, ‘important’ and ‘urgent’.
•The use of reminders can be used to achieve this. Lawyers use personal reminder systems and Firmwide reminder systems to help them organize their events.
• Personal reminder systems include personal diary,personal computer, tablets, mobile phones, etc.
•Firm wide reminder systems include index systems, printed froms, tickler slip system, office diary, office computers, etc.
Filing System
•In the running and administration of a law office, a filing system is very key because of the nature of work done by lawyers involving dealing with large numbers of important documents, several belonging to clients. Normally, files are opened for each client in which the client’s documents would be filed. Documents can be filed manually, that is in paper form or via electronic means. For easy retrieval, it may be helpful to have a methodology to storing documents, e.g.., alphabetically or numerically.
•Documents are filed in the following ways:
•Manually -paper form – Best to store in cabinets or shelves.
•Electronic means – Stored in electronic devices.
•Methods of storage can be sorted either:
–Alphabetically (e.g. client name, subject matter, etc.)
–non-alphabetically (e.g. Numerical)
•Movement of files must be controlled
•They can be controlled by-:
–Managing a register of incoming and outgoing files. This would allow for the retrieval of any file when requested.
–Law firms should also determine what actions are to follow closed files.
Law Office Records
•Law Firms keep records of various types.
•Some records required in a law firm are-:
- Office Manual
- Staff Register
- Equipment and Machines Register
- Title Document Register
- Books and Periodical Register
- Master file Register
- Closed File Register
- Referral Register
- Internal Telephone Directory
- Incoming and Outgoing Correspondence Book
- Incoming and Outgoing Telephone Call Book
- Visitor’s Book, etc
2.ORGANIZING
•This covers the implementation of the planning function of management. The rationale of organizing is to allocate activities to be performed in the firm by both the lawyers and the support staff. The success of the goals of a law firm depends on how effectively these tasks are assigned to both the legal and non-legal staff.
• When assigning tasks, lawyers with a flair for litigation should be assigned to that area while those with the flair for drafting or any other practice in law should be assigned to tasks that relates to that area.
•3.COORDINATING.
•After assigning functions to both the legal and non-legal staff of the law firm, the managers of the firm should be available to oversee that these tasks are being carried out. This entails monitoring how the functions are exercised in order to achieve the planning strategy of the law firm. If all the activities are well coordinated, it would lead to the achievement of the law firm’s goals.
•4.CONTROLLING
•This deals with the monitoring of the performance of each segment of the law firm to make sure that it conforms to the anticipated goals of the law firm. The staff, service, finances, facilities etc. can be controlled through monitoring.
• The essence of control is to ensure that the law firm meets the targeted goals while rendering services to its clients.
5. Evaluating
•This relates specifically to the finances of the firm. Evaluation can be achieved through periodic auditing of the law firm. It is necessary to for the owners of the law firm to know whether the financial performance of the firm is in line with the expectations of the owners.
• It involves the analysis of the legal work which the law firm did in a specific period, the professional fess realized from the work and the overheard of running the firm including taxes. The profits made in each period would be realized at the end of the exercise. The reason for the evaluation is that the owners of the firm would be able to access the firm’s performance in each period and decide on some areas to cut cost.
Notification of Law Office
Legal Practitioner/s must notify the branch NBA of its location of its establishment
Such notification must be made within 30 days of its establishment
What must the notice contain?
(a) the name of the legal practitioner;
(b) the address where the legal practice is carried on;
(c) the date when the legal practitioner was called to the bar in
Nigeria; and
(d) the date when his name was entered in the Roll of Legal
Practitioners in Nigeria
The information is entered into the register of the NBA
Change of information, if any, is communicated to the NBA. See Rule 13(1) RPC
Law Firm for Senior Advocate of Nigeria
•To be conferred with SAN, the office must meet certain criterion.
- It should be of good size
- Size and quality of the library;
- Quality of office space and other facilities available;
- Number of junior Counsel or Partners in Chambers;
- Level of remuneration paid to Counsel in Chambers relative to the remuneration policy of the NBA
- Number and quality of support staff;
- Maintenance of proper books of accounts.
Guideline 22 2022 Guidelines for the Conferment of the Rank of the Senior Advocates of Nigeria
ICT IN LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT
●What is ICT IN LOM?
●An umbrella term that includes all technologies for the manipulation and communication of information.
●Entails the use of computers and telecommunications to transfer, receive and store information.ie Information Technology (IT) .
•Lawyers in recent times find IT relevant because it aids the management and control of the diverse documents allowing them prepare effectively for their clients’ cases.
•The use of manual typewritters has faded out.
•Computers and other it accessories have taken over.
•IT is very useful in processing, storage, communication, and sharing of information.
•The importance/Uses of ICT in LOM
●IT is useful in case management. Once, a lawyer is briefed, all the information concerning the client may be stored in the computer in a specific folder opened for him.
●Acquire, process, create systems, store, transmit and retrieve information.
●Management of Legal and paralegal work.
●Research.
●Communication
●Helps a lawyer to function in the global market effectively.
The role of ICT in Solicitor’s Financial Transaction
●Helps a lawyer record all his financial transactions using databases like Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, etc.
●Databases assist lawyers in sorting, calculating, obtaining accuracy, and accurate transaction keeping.
E-library or virtual library
●An electronic or online library, creating access to books, journals, novels, articles, or any other information over the internet from anywhere across the world.
●Books and scholarly materials are stored and retrieved electronically.
●Allows lawyers conduct vast research online in a quick and easy manner due to ease of access to materials.
●Examples of e legal data bases are -West Law, Lexis Nexis, Law Pavilion
•Website and Internet
•A law firm may decide to hoist a website where it may post information concerning the firm and partners of the firm.
•The law firm should be conscious of the provisions of the RPC on advertising while posting information on the site. R39
The Use of ICT for Effective Case Management
●Supports and automates case management practices of courts and law firms.
●Allows for safe storage of client’s instructions in folders and allows for backup of documents.
●It has tools that allow for effective case management such as:
●Note-Taker
●Automated Sound Recording System
●Electronic Dairy
●Optical Disk
●Modem
ICT Facilities:
●Tools employed in ICT:
●Hardware devices: Physical components of a computer.
●Internal or external.
ICT IN LAW OFFICE MANAGEMENT
- Internal Hardware
- External Hardware
- Central Processing Unit (CPU)
- Monitors/projectors/Smartboards
- Random Access Memory (RAM)
- Laptops/tablets/phones
- Read Only Memory (ROM)
- Keyboard/mouse
- Optical drive
- Printers/scanners/fax machines
- Motherboard
- Recorders
- Hard drive
- Flash drives
- Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)
- Cameras/CCTVs
•Software devices: Set of instructions, data or programs used to operate computers and execute specific tasks.
●Examples:
- ●Application software – web browsers, word processors, etc.
- ●System software – Operating systems, language translators, etc.
- ●programming software – assemblers, compilers, debuggers, etc.
- ●driver software – Allows you connect devices to function. – game controllers, USB storage devices, etc.
ICT facilities in modern law offices
- ●Monitors/Projectors
- ●Recorders
- Electronic Diary
- Televisions
- Computers
- Printers
- Scanners
- Modem/Internet connectivity
- Telephones
- Cameras, etc.
Advantages of ICT
- Helps in workload shedding
- Stored information is easy to retrieve
- Assists in legal searches and perfections, e.g. CAC and Lands
- High storage facility
- Helps to manage databases
- Easy retrieval of e-version of materials, e.g., e-textbooks
- Used to create documents
Disadvantages
- Facilities may be expensive to acquire
- May create room for unemployment
- High levels of non-ICT literacy may be a limitation for users
- Data lost may not be retrieved except instance where back up is provided
Challenges to the use of ICT in LOM
- Cost of acquiring and maintaining ICT facilities
- Electricity
- Weather conditions
- Cyber crime/IT Theft
- Virus/File corrupted and cannot be retrieved
- IT Illiteracy among lawyers and admin staff of a law firm
- Lack of top Judicial Administration enthusiasm to embrace ICT
Conclusion
Managing a standard Law Office in Nigeria while adopting to the digital era staandards can be a herculean task depending on the nature and structure of the law firm.
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