Stay on Top of Your Caseload as Employees Leave for Vacation

Submitted by ntd on Thu, 07/12/2018 - 16:36

Summer is in full swing! You might be enjoying the season, but your law firm still needs to maintain a steady caseload in the heat of summer. With the kids out of school and summer vacation plans abound, you’ll undoubtedly have fewer staff in your office each week. Here are some tools and tips to help your law firm stay up and running.

Coordinate Days Off:

Many of our clients run small to medium-size law firms. With fewer staff, each member of your office is essential. You’ll want to make sure that your entire intake team doesn’t head out for vacation during the same week. Imagine the lost profits if case leads are coming in to your office with no one around to follow up!

It is standard practice for business owners to ask their staff for advance notice on vacation days. You can easily keep track of which employees will be out of the office each week by purchasing PTO tracking software. This will help ensure that your firm is still sufficiently staffed throughout the summer months and someone’s always available to handle your incoming leads.

Nail Down Procedures With Your Staff:

Standardized procedures ensure that your firm runs efficiently. For example, law firms process hundreds, if not thousands of pieces of paperwork each year. One missed filing can result in lost cases and upset clients. Your office has likely developed a system for processing paperwork, but if employees who typically handle paperwork are unavailable, someone will have to step in to fill that role.

Take some time to meet with your staff to make sure that everyone knows standard procedures in your office for vacation time and covering each other’s roles. This will cut down on the chaos that can stem from breaks in your standard operating procedures.

Use a Case Management System:

Having a centralized database of all client files and deadlines is critical to making sure that nothing gets missed when you have employees out of the office. The members of your office who interact with your clients on a daily basis need a case management software to record all important client interactions and case updates, especially when you’re short-staffed. The benefit to using case management software is that even if your client-facing employees are out of the office, you’ll still know exactly what’s going on with each open case.

Shared calendars, auto-fill documents and a host of other functionalities are included in most reputable case management platforms. The cost of this software will pay for itself when you consider how expensive missed deadlines or forgotten clients could be.

Let Your Clients Know When Your Office Is Closed:

You might plan on shutting down the office for a week to give your staff some much needed time away. While your employees will appreciate your generosity, your clients might still need to contact your office.

Consider setting up an automated email to respond to anyone who tries to reach you by email and changing your voicemail message to let your clients know how long your office will be closed.

For time-sensitive issues, you’ll need to provide your clients with a way to reach you. Providing a cell phone number or promise of a speedy response in case of emergency will help keep your clients happy and their legal cases progressing smoothly.

Keep On Marketing:

Summer is a time to relax, which can sometimes lead firms to slack on revamping marketing campaigns or looking in to new initiatives. Maybe the individual who handles marketing for your firm is an avid backpacker and decides to trek across Europe for the summer. Who’s going to handle the marketing now?

Consider less time-consuming marketing options if you don’t have the staff available to work on complicated marketing campaigns. These options could include mass emails sent out to your clients/prospects, pamphlets to your local community, or contracting a lead generation service.

Don’t let the summer stifle the progress your law firm has made so far this year! Plan ahead, look into different programs that can efficiently manage your employees’ time, and keep your marketing manageable, but profitable.