By leveraging fractional administrative support, attorneys can reclaim hours lost to administrative tasks and spend more time on focused, billable work.
Table of contents
Small and midsize law firm owners know the billable hour can feel like a relentless treadmill. Time spent on client work fuels revenue, while hours swallowed by nonbillable management and administrative tasks drain both productivity and profit. The problem? Too many attorneys continue handling everything themselves, even as their practices grow. The result: long days filled with nonbillable tasks, constant stress and a frustrating cap on growth.
The Hidden Costs of Unbilled Time
The traditional model often creates a paradoxical trap. Attorneys are incentivized to bill as much as possible, yet their days are filled with tasks that cannot be directly charged to a client. Reports suggest that lawyers may bill as little as two to three hours a day on actual client work, with the rest of their time consumed by administrative duties. This administrative overhead leads to burnout, where the relentless pressure to log hours results in long workdays and missed breaks. It also directly affects a firm’s profitability.
Beyond the personal toll, time spent on nonbillable administrative tasks means less time for cultivating new clients, deepening existing relationships, or exploring innovative legal strategies. Compounding the problem, law firms, especially smaller ones, tend to delegate administrative, management and marketing tasks to full-time administrative staff — often hiring them without thoroughly assessing whether each person is an “all-star” in any of these areas. Since they’ve hired generalists to handle a wide range of tasks, the law firm gets generalized support rather than the specialized expertise and support that a growth-oriented firm requires.
Ultimately, firms struggle to scale and remain competitive without the capacity to focus on strategic, billable initiatives.
The Power of Strategic Offloading
Attorneys can increase their billable hours by re-evaluating how they manage their time and workflow, and strategically integrating fractional administrative support into their practice. Highly skilled assistants empower law firms, enabling attorneys to concentrate on what they do best — and what truly drives their firm’s success.
Fractional support can help attorneys in several key ways.
Every attorney has a unique superpower — the core legal work they do exceptionally well. Tasks that fall outside of this “superhero zone” become their “kryptonite.” With targeted, fractional administrative support, firms can offload nonbillable activities, freeing attorneys to refocus on billable activities.
Also, rather than hire more full-time employees, who may be “mediocre at everything,” fractional support provides access to experienced specialists in specific roles, such as paralegals, client service representatives, virtual receptionists and marketing assistants. This means attorneys get top-tier talent for the exact number of hours needed at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire, directly contributing to a higher percentage of billable hours for the legal team.
Practical Steps to Optimize with Fractional Support
Begin by identifying “kryptonite” tasks: the administrative activities someone else could do as well, or better, than you. Examples of kryptonite tasks include:
- Scheduling consultations and managing calendars.
- Bookkeeping and invoicing.
- Client intake and follow-up calls.
- Social media posting and email marketing.
Next, clearly define your needs. Look for providers who specialize in supporting law firms and understand a law office’s demands. These providers can work with you to further refine the tasks you want to offload.
Onboarding is the key to making fractional support truly effective. To that end:
- Provide a clear list of responsibilities and expectations from day one.
- Share brand guidelines and tone so that communications reflect your firm’s personality.
- Use short video tutorials or walkthroughs of your processes to enhance clarity.
Doing regular check-ins during the first 30 days will also build alignment and trust.
By strategically integrating fractional administrative support, law firms can increase capacity and also allow attorneys to reclaim their time to focus on what truly matters.
Step-by-Step Tips on Delegating on Attorney at Work
- Three Steps to Delegate Effectively: What, Who and How. The first step in delegating is knowing what to delegate. Use Yuliya LaRoe’s matrix to help determine what type of legal work you can (and should) assign to others, and what you can keep.
- Delegation Isn’t Just a Work Hack, It’s a Life Hack: 5 Personal Tasks to Delegate Now. Karen and David Skinner suggest five ways to outsource the personal tasks that quietly (or not so quietly!) drain your time and energy.
- Can Your Law Firm Run Without You When You’re on Vacation? Karen and David Skinner explain how visual matter management can give you the confidence to assign work, know it’s getting done, and actually unplug from your firm.
Image © iStockPhoto.com.
Sign up for Attorney at Work’s daily practice tips newsletter here and subscribe to our podcast, Attorney at Work Today.
