Law firm management is an antiquated system. Attorneys were used to practicing law by servicing their clients one-on-one. A lot of attorneys were generalists. Up until recently, law firms consisted of a legal secretary and/or a paralegal to support the attorney. Historically, legal secretaries would answer phones, transfer calls, schedule meetings when told, send out mail and welcome visitors. Paralegals or highly trained legal secretaries would provide other services such as dictation, shorthand and transcription. As far as building a clientele, marketing was not allowed until the 1980's. Networking was not ordinary practice. In fact, networking events consisted of "all boys clubs" such as county and state associations or groups.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Attorneys are now looking at their practice as a business. The old school general practitioner model is not what people or organizations are looking for. An attorney is no longer just an attorney. Attorneys are now encouraged to brand themselves in a specialized area of law, bring in their own business, manage their staff and market. Some firms require attorneys to handle their own accounts receivables and time entry, bill, and (depending on the size of the firm) may suggest involvement in committees, boards and charities.

People and corporations are looking for experts in a specific area of law. They are looking for a leader, an educator, an expert. How do you show them that you are that type of firm or individual? People want to see informational content regarding the attorney's chosen area of practice. Their calling card is no longer a business card, but a website, twitter feed, Instagram photos, or Facebook content. Social media reflects your personality, type of practice, the way you service your clients and much more. Just like new age businesses, law firms should consist of teams where everyone is trusted, motivated and held accountable. People are at the heart of any law practice and any business.

Law firms that succeed in building their practices not only have a plan, but also the partners, likely with some employee input, have an agreed upon set of best practices—e.g., best behaviors—against which they can execute. They also have a measurement for accountability to ensure that the plan and the best practices are executed. Automating certain functions and developing processes that streamline the way both your lawyers and staff accomplish daily activities will improve efficiency and result in less stress for everyone. Better systems and processes will also improve task completion, facilitate better turnaround time for client service, and result in clients who will happily provide word-of-mouth referrals to their friends, business associates and other prospects.

While marketing is typically not in an attorney's skill set, it is nonetheless an essential part of the action steps you must take to grow your business. Part of your short-term plan, then, might be calling in a marketing expert to help with some of the activities required to market your firm. Plus, having a plan will put you in a better position to allocate funds for these endeavors. At the same time, having a plan and the resources in place for marketing, will free you up to focus on your core business of practicing law.

Processes are key. They are designed to streamline the way that you and your team work. Poorly designed processes, or lack of processes, create multiple organizational issues: customer complaints about poor work quality, bad service, colleague frustration, work duplication, cost increases, resource waste, bottlenecks and missed deadlines. Also, the practice of delegation can wipe out the stress of being totally overwhelmed. In fact, when carried out properly, delegation provides incredible benefits to a firm—structurally, organizationally, culturally and monetarily—and this becomes more apparent as one breaks down the various touchpoints at which delegation will benefit your firm.

The efficiencies of the technological age have also given us tools that make up for the shortcomings of the legal pad. Lawyers, of course, write their to-do lists on legal pads, and during interviews or client phone calls scribble copious notes. Many people, including lawyers, love legal pads. But say what you will about them, one of the main things wrong with them, particularly for lawyers, is their capacity for scribble, and their randomness. Deciphering the scribble is hard enough. Beyond the chicken scratch, notes for the same case are taken on different legal pads in the office, the conference room, the court, your car. They become difficult to sequence. Even worse, they go astray—a fate akin to there being no notes at all. Good legal business practice requires often copious and certainly clear notes to track what you have done on a case, what's still pending and requires action, with whom you have spoken, what you talked about and when.

This concept benefits attorneys as the ease of storing and finding client information becomes more efficient. With the proper storing of client information under a unique matter number, your firm now has more control over intellectual property. This means that anyone in your firm from an admin on up, with permitted access to the case file, can quickly respond to client needs and participate in keeping a client up to date. For most firms, centralizing data is a significant undertaking which requires employees top-down and bottom-up to change their way of doing things. Behavioral reorgs like this can be challenging, because people detest change, even if the way we've been working isn't totally efficient. Automate tasks to create, track, store and review matters, but case management systems enable the automation of routine tasks and afford law firms the direct practice management benefits of reporting by easily creating, tracking, storing and reviewing all matter pertinent to a case.

Communications between lawyers and their teams is equally important. In fact, many experts believe that communicating with staff members builds positive workplace relationships and becomes the important first step to client-centric/prospect-centric outcomes. Today, communications are geared toward creating a sense of community and dependent upon digital connections. To accomplish this, smart firms are developing strong internal networks to move away from communications that consistently contain the views of leadership and instead encourage a dialogue of feedback from employees. Those two-way conversations lead to higher levels of commitment and motivation from staff and a greater sense of pride in their firm. It's important to understand that internal communications are a marketing, branding and cultural initiative. The information shared should help everyone understand the firm's vision, mission and values, and gives employees a purpose and ownership in the day-to-day operations of the enterprise.

Law firms are changing and need to constantly evolve in order to compete in a new world of technology and creative management styles. Historically, law firms are slow to adopt the ever-changing landscape of business. Imagine if Facebook or Uber were managed like the steel companies of old. As business leaders and customers become accustomed to the creative, all-inclusive modern business machine, the law firms that adopt these measures will reap significant benefits over the traditional hierarchical firm structure of yesteryear. When the law firm is properly structured and organized, legal work is managed seamlessly, customer service is paramount, corporate culture is valued, and marketing campaigns are consistent. Clients, the community, and the staff become raving fans of the firm, and the attorneys confidently practice their chosen profession. The question becomes, will you fall behind, follow second, or emerge as the leader?

Clelia G. Pergola is Chief Strategy Officer at Mandelbaum Salsburg in Roseland, as well as Executive Director of the firm's Elder Law Center. She is co-author of the book The Law Firm Revolution.