Whether you are a seasoned attorney or a first-year associate, evaluating how you manage your time should be a priority. When every six minutes has a value, it is easy to get overwhelmed by never-ending professional and personal commitments. For lawyers, good time management habits increase productivity and efficiency, ultimately allowing us to accomplish tasks more effectively. But equally important, these skills can be instrumental in trying to reach a sustainable work/life balance. Though sometimes overlooked, time management is also a valued skill set that can help us safeguard mental well-being—an area receiving increasing attention in the legal profession.

Learning to prioritize is a skill—as well as a process. Attorneys play many roles, beyond practicing law. We develop business and help others develop theirs; we meet new people and maintain relationships with others; we stay current on the law, as well as the industries and interests of those we represent. We are also family members, friends, members of the community, and people who need time to climb rock walls, brew our own beer, hike hills and more. Time management is not an optional skill set; it is a necessary one. The time you invest in developing effective time-management skills will bring benefits not only in the early stages of your career, but also downrange, as partner, counsel, shareholder, in-house counsel or wherever life leads you.

At its core, effective time management requires developing habits that allow you to prioritize among activities that are essentially competing for your attention.  Breaking these practices into three steps can be incredibly helpful: harnessing the data showing how you spend your time; learning to use that data effectively; and then de-emphasizing, or cutting altogether, those tasks for which the return on your investment of time is low or nonexistent.

Data Is a Part of Everyday Life: Use It

“Where did my day go?”

Most of us have posed that question at various times, and it leads us to the key to evaluating your priorities: data analytics. Today, data is incredibly valuable across a broad spectrum of uses. It is used to track habits and tendencies of all kinds, from the number of steps we take to our purchases to most searched websites. For attorneys looking to develop more effective time management skills, the most obvious data comes from time tracking—a necessary task for many, if not most of us. Tracking your time is an excellent starting point, because you are already compiling it every day.

Monthly time entry is primarily considered the vehicle by which we are compensated. But, there is value in tracking nonbillable time, as well. Time spent on pro bono matters, business development, charity work, even vacations—all help you analyze how you spend your time and where the returns on that personal investment are most rewarding to you. Do not ignore tracking nonbillable time, even if you think recording it may be perceived negatively. If you are not practicing at a firm, adopting the practice can still lend valuable insight into your time management habits.

Once you develop the habit of reliably capturing your time, start assessing the data to see where your energy is—or is not—being spent, and consider potential adjustments. Break down annual goals into segments and review regularly. Reviewing the data quarterly, for example, provides a sample size that should help reveal trends. Whatever timing you choose, the practice forces you to be disciplined and reflective about how you spend your time, and ultimately guides you in developing your priorities. By tracking your hours, you will be able to know well in advance if you are under target for your billables or perhaps have time to deploy elsewhere. Likewise, you will be able to monitor how much you have spent on marketing or professional development, and whether you should devote any additional time to those areas. Significantly, tracking your time can also serve as a barometer that you should take some down time to recharge.

Consider the Return on Your Time Investment

Time is a limited commodity, so considering the resulting benefit to you for your effort can be a helpful time management tool. While some assignments or activities may feel more important than others or infuse a feeling of urgency, priorities provide a notable return on your time investment, or ROI. When an associate generates revenue for the firm, the ROI may typically be realized through bonuses, annual rave reviews and promotions. Similarly, when a partner's pitch lands new business, the ROI for the time spent developing that business is clearer. The challenge lies in assessing the ROI for time spent on tasks where the return may not be apparent or takes time to develop—like building your brand, for example.

It is important to pause and consider the ROI for other nonbillable efforts, especially for those where the ROI is intangible. Taking a vacation in which you genuinely step back from 24/7 accessibility can be constructive and therapeutic. These breaks can provide high altitude perspective unattainable amidst the ordinary work week, recharging and facilitating creative and strategic thinking. That can make you more efficient in the long term, keeping you fresh and engaged in and outside of the office.

Like any business, attorneys in a law firm environment are incentivized to devote as much time as possible to doing billable work. But this approach should be balanced with other priorities.  Using resources available to you—from marketing to insights from colleagues—can help to hone in on other valuable endeavors, like mentoring or community involvement. Keep in mind, however, that determining the return on your investment of time is not confined to a spreadsheet. It is inherently unique to the person who actually devoted the time. Think creatively, expansively, but objectively in ascertaining where your time is best being spent. Also consider that sometimes the true priorities are not the assignments or tasks themselves, but the person who asked you for help or with whom you can partner.

One piece of advice we have both incorporated into our practice: trying to maximize the return on each investment of time. You may be asked to give a presentation on a topic that requires you to spend hours researching and preparing, for example. After all that work and disruption to your normal routine, it is tempting to move on to the next assignment. The better approach may be to leverage the time already invested in the first presentation and turn that knowledge into another speaking engagement or a published article. Other commitments may preclude you from being able to do so, but taking a moment to reflect on how you can get the most value out of every effort you put into your professional and personal life will pay dividends in the long run.

Learn to Say 'No'

Having data at your fingertips and the skills to evaluate your priorities will not help you achieve a healthy, happy and successful career if you cannot say no when appropriate. A sample annual target of 1,900 billable hours translates to an average of 158 billable hours per month, or 39.5 billable hours per week. That seems manageable enough, but adding pro bono assignments, professional development and marketing hours into the mix can significantly increase the amount of time the firm expects from you. And then there is the personal pressure, or in some cases a partner's demands, to exceed the firm's expectations. Don't burn out by saying “yes” to every assignment, falling into the trap of quantity over quality. You owe it to yourself to set priorities that foster a healthy work life balance—and to say “no,” when necessary.

Significantly, leveraging the experience of more senior lawyers can be invaluable in helping you set priorities and find the best approach, when you do need to say “no.” When the work is piling up, you need to be able to set expectations about what you can and cannot reasonably get done. It is better to let others know in advance that your plate is full, rather than disappoint others with a sloppy work product or missed deadlines. But, diplomacy and communication are important. No matter what your experience level is, a good mentor can be incredibly valuable.

About Us

Without question, time-management skills were needed in writing this article. We both carved time out from active litigation practices at Greenberg Traurig to share insights for this piece. Since being asked to co-author this article, Kevin Rethore had to balance his fiduciary litigation practice, advising financial institutions, trust companies and beneficiaries, with business development initiatives in New York and Atlanta, and board commitments in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Candee Wilde balanced commitments stemming from her equally active environmental practice, currently preoccupying her with discovery responses in a Superfund matter and negotiations to settle a remediation involving a historic environmental liability transfer arrangement, with travel for client meetings and moderating a panel on polyfluorinated alkyl substances.

Kevin Rethore, a shareholder with Greenberg Traurig, concentrates his practice on complex civil and business disputes, professional and fiduciary liability litigation and trust controversies. 

Candee Wilde, an associate with the firm, focuses her practice on environmental matters. Since joining the firm in 2016, she has concentrated on environmental litigation, including statutory contribution and cost recovery actions.