Beyond Law School

Time management for lawyers is critical, where billable hours drive revenue and multiple competing deadlines are the norm. It is equally important for students – effective time management ensures that they can handle the demands of their studies while also allowing time for extracurricular activities and personal growth.

Legal professionals face unique time management challenges:

• Managing multiple cases with competing deadlines
• Balancing billable work with administrative tasks
• Handling unexpected urgent client matters
• Finding time for business development and networking
• Maintaining work-life balance in a demanding profession

This guide provides practical strategies for time management for lawyers to allow them to meet client expectations, and maintain work-life balance.

Create a Schedule

• Why It Works: A structured schedule helps you allocate time effectively – whether it is for study or for office tasks.
• How to Implement: Account for your daily activities and consistent commitment in the schedule – such as travel time, meals, classes, etc. Each person’s day-to-day is different and unique to them, so make sure your schedule works for you. Break down your work into manageable chunks and assign specific times for each chunk. You can use tools like Google Calendar or Trello to plan your schedule and book time slots in.

Allot tight time slots

• Be aware of Parkinson’s law: Work will expand to fill the time that is allotted for it. Allot reasonable time frames for specific topics but lean on being tighter with time rather than allocating extra time. This way, even if you are unable to finish a topic in the allocated time, you can try and schedule another chunk of time in if needed but you will automatically try and complete the task in the given time.

Prioritize Tasks:

• Why It Works: Prioritizing helps you focus on what’s most important and urgent, ensuring critical tasks are completed on time. Often people view success as having all their tasks completed on all the days. But being realistic is key – prioritising ensures that the most important tasks get done while less important tasks may get bumped onto a next day.
• How to Implement: The Eisenhower Matrix is a popular method to categorize tasks. It utilises four quadrants: urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither. As priority tasks get completed and lower priority tasks get bumped forward, eventually these tasks end up becoming urgent and important and rising up in priority. Asana, a popular task management platform provides the following graphic of the matrix:

Here’s how the Eisenhower Matrix applies to typical legal tasks:

Urgent & Important:

• Client emergency injunction filing
• Court deadline tomorrow
• Immediate client crisis

Important, Not Urgent:

• Business development activities
• Professional development
• Long-term case strategy planning

Urgent, Not Important:

• Most “urgent” emails
• Unscheduled interruptions
• Some client calls that could be handled by associates

Neither Urgent Nor Important:

• Routine administrative tasks
• Most internal meetings
• General email management

Schedule in break and rest periods

• Why It Works: Regular breaks and time off are essential for enhancing productivity and mental well-being along with reducing burnout. 
• How to Implement: Schedule short breaks throughout your day and ensure you take time off regularly. Engage in activities that help you relax and recharge. You can try using the Pomodoro technique. This productivity technique was developed in the 1980s. It involves using a timer to work for 25 minutes and taking a 5-10 minutes break at the end of it. After 4 such cycles, take a longer break of 15-20 minutes to recharge. Another technique is to take 2-minute breaks between different matters to reset mental focus and avoid carrying over details between unrelated cases

Delegate Tasks:

• Why It Works: If you are in the position to be able to delegate, it allows you to focus on high-priority tasks while ensuring other tasks are still completed efficiently.
• How to Implement: People often avoid delegating because they fear losing control over the outcome of the task if it is delegated rather than performed themselves. The way to cure this is training and ensure clear and concise communication around expectations on a task. This will ensure the best possible outcome and also aid development of other people in the organisation. Managing a team is a skill in itself.

Use Technology To Your Advantage:

• Why It Works: Lawyers can often be opposed to the usage of technology – often due to fear of being replaced by it especially due to the recent developments around large language models. Technology should be embraced. Developments will only evolve the legal practice – instead of drafting regular and basic drafts, lawyers can utlilise technology to streamline tasks and improve efficiency and direct their attention to tasks which require their expertise and experience.
• How to Implement: There are now several software providers targeting the legal industry. You can have a case management software which helps manage cases, track time, and automate administrative tasks such as billing and also have document automation tools which generate templated documents often useful for in-house business teams to quicken the pace of business.

Insights from Experts

In the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey emphasizes the importance of prioritizing tasks based on their urgency and importance. He advocates for focusing on important but not urgent tasks to achieve long-term goals and prevent crises.

Arianna Huffington, in her book “Thrive,” highlights the significance of sleep and relaxation in maintaining productivity and avoiding burnout. She argues that well-being and performance are interconnected, and neglecting personal well-being can hinder professional success.

The American Bar Association held a seminar during their 35^th Annual Forum on Franchising around time management skills for lawyers. Some of the key tips discussed in the seminar were:

• Managing communications to ensure you handle each item as few times as possible. If you can complete the task associated with the item within two minutes or less, do the task the first time you handle the item (no matter how minor or non-urgent the task).
• Keep time records on the go, even if using abbreviations rather than collating them at the end of the day.
• Minimise multi-tasking as much as possible to accomplish your tasks efficiently and effectively, ideally by paying full, focused, concentrated attention to one task at a time.
• Create an environment conducive to concentration – whether mental (by reducing multi-tasking), physical  (by getting regular exercise and rest periods) or technology (by turning off your email prompt for a particular amount of time).

We highly recommend going through the seminar notes as they contain several useful actionable points for lawyers. They can be accessed here. 

Conclusion

Effective time management is a vital skill for both law students and practicing lawyers. By implementing structured schedules, prioritizing tasks, and taking regular breaks, both groups can enhance their productivity, achieve their goals, and maintain a healthy balance between work and personal life.

Remember, the key to effective time management is consistency and adaptability. Tailor these strategies to your individual needs and circumstances, and you’ll find yourself better equipped to navigate the demands of your legal career.