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Risky Business |
Risk Management
This article advocates for more supervision to be given by lawyers delegating work — something that would cut close to the heart of every junior practitioner.
Delegation and Supervision
Problems often arise in a law firm because of a breakdown in the process of delegation and supervision.
Delegation is the passing of instructions to any individual as to what to do and how to do it, whilst retaining (some) responsibility.
Supervision is taking all possible steps to ensure the timely and error free performance of work at the point of exposure to risk.
In some practices, fee earners (at all levels) are expected to work ‘on their own initiative’ or ‘without supervision’ or are ‘trusted’ to perform their work properly, irrespective of the potential risk involved. This is
unacceptable in an effectively managed risk environment, the aim of which is to identify and rectify errors at the point of risk. Even when work is delegated down through a number of levels, some responsibility is retained at each
level of the delegation process.
I recently had the task of interviewing candidates with one to five years’ PQE for vacancies at my firm and I was pleasantly surprised that many of the candidates were concerned that there should be a sufficient level of
supervision and that they would be given guidance in their work. In my view, many senior practitioners do not give sufficient attention to this matter. On more than one occasion, senior practitioners have said to me, ‘I don’t know
what these young people want, in my day, we were just given the job and we just had to get to it and find our way around’.
It is important that a firm has clear policies for the delegation and supervision of work. It is necessary that those responsible for delegating and supervising the work of others have the necessary skills and competencies to
perform that role.
Delegation
No work should be delegated to a fee earner without the approval of the partner responsible for that fee earner. Those who delegate work must be aware and accept that they retain some responsibility for all the work they
delegate.
When delegating work the following must be clarified at the outset:
It is also important that potential problems are identified and discussed with the fee earner who will be doing the work.
When delegating work to individuals, account should be taken of their:
This has to be evaluated against the nature of the work, its complexity and the client involved.
Supervision
Those with supervisory responsibilities must have the technical expertise and legal skills to supervise the matters for which they are responsible. They should recognise their own limitations in respect of management skills,
time and availability.
They should be available for consultation with those they supervise and when they are not, there should be clear procedures for communicating with those they supervise, through e-mail for instance, or for a nominated
alternative to stand in for them.
Supervisors should keep records of all the work for which they are responsible to ensure that things do not ‘fall through the cracks’. They should also be kept informed of personal matters such as illness which may affect the
performance of the persons they supervise.
Supervisors should hold regular meetings with fee earners to discuss progress on work and availability.
It is important as those authorised to supervise work are assessed on their performance in that regard, which may include a random review of files for which they are responsible.
Any firm where there is more than one practitioner must evaluate its delegation and supervision process to ensure that the risk in this area is properly managed.
Stanley Jeremiah
Goodwins Law Corporation
E-mail: stanley_jeremiah@goodwinslaw.com