How to delegate work in your law firm
You sit down to finish work that needs your attention. Before you get far, someone asks whether they can move a consultation. Another person needs you to check a routine message. By lunchtime, you have helped everyone else move forward, while your own work is still waiting.
If that sounds familiar, hiring another person may feel like the obvious next step. But first, look at what keeps coming back to you. A capable employee can still need frequent answers when the limits of their role are unclear. They may know how to complete a task without knowing which decisions they can make along the way.
Delegating work in a law firm means giving someone enough information and authority to handle a defined part of the job. You still need a way to see what happened and step in when it matters. This guide shows how to start with one routine administrative task, agree on its limits and review the work. The fictional example and worksheet are tools to adapt with your team.
Find the questions you keep answering
For a working week, keep a short list of the questions your team brings you. Record what the person needed, who asked and what stopped them from acting. A sentence beside each interruption is enough to start.
Look for repeated questions about the same task. Someone may lack access to the calendar. Someone else may have permission to reschedule a consultation but be unsure which slots they can offer. Those require different fixes.
Discuss the pattern with the person doing the work. Ask what they already understand and where they hesitate. Their answer may reveal a missing rule, conflicting instructions or a workload problem you cannot see from the approval request alone.
Choose one task with a clear finish
Start with a recurring administrative task whose result you can inspect. Scheduling within approved availability or sending an approved appointment reminder can provide a manageable first handoff.
Keep the scope small enough to explain. “Manage the calendar” leaves plenty of room for confusion. “Handle requests to move initial consultations within the approved consultation slots” gives the person a defined job.
Name who is responsible for completing it and who covers their absence. Check that both people have the access, time and training they need. Then describe what finished looks like. For a rescheduled consultation, that might mean the calendar is updated, the person attending has received confirmation and the change is recorded in the firm’s system.
Writing for the American Bar Association, attorney Christopher Earley recommends explaining the expected result, how the work should be done and when it must be completed. Use those details in the instructions you give your team.
Write down what they can decide
A task can stay dependent on you even after you assign it. If staff still need approval for every ordinary choice, the decision remains with you.
For the task you chose, write down what the employee may do without asking. Then identify the situations they should bring to a named reviewer. Your firm’s attorneys should define any boundaries involving legal judgment or case-specific questions before the task is handed over.
Give the employee a way to reach that reviewer and explain what to do while waiting. Avoid “ask if anything seems unusual” as the only instruction. Use examples of the exceptions your firm actually encounters, and add new ones when they arise.
A fictional example: rescheduling a consultation
Imagine a firm where every request to move an initial consultation goes to the owner. The coordinator already has access to the calendar and sends confirmations. What they lack is permission to choose another appointment time.
The owner and coordinator agree on the arrangement below. This is an illustrative example, not a result from a BDI engagement. The coordinator can complete ordinary changes within the agreed limits, while exceptions go to the named reviewer.
| Situation | Coordinator’s action |
|---|---|
| The person wants another approved consultation slot | Offer the available times and update the booking once they choose. |
| The person requests a time outside approved availability | Send the request to the named scheduling reviewer. |
| The request includes a case-specific question | Route that question to the designated attorney. |
| The person asks to change the consultation fee | Refer the request to the person authorized by the firm to decide. |
| The booking changes | Send the approved confirmation and record the change. |
Practice the task before stepping away
Walk through a recent example together. Ask the employee to explain the next action and why it falls within their authority. Then try an exception. This helps you find unclear instructions before someone has to use them during a busy day.
Let the employee carry out the task while you observe. If you take over as soon as they pause, you lose the chance to see what information they are missing.
Keep the working instructions beside the tools the team uses. A short guide that explains the decision and links to the approved message is easier to maintain than a long manual no one opens. Name the person responsible for updating it when the process changes.
Review the work without taking every decision back
Agree on an initial review date and what you will inspect. For the scheduling example, look at completed changes and requests that needed review. Check whether the record is complete, the instructions were followed and the person attending received the correct information.
In her ABA article on delegation, Dina Eisenberg recommends clear expectations, progress checks and a discussion after the work is done. An agreed review gives you a chance to address problems without checking every routine action as it happens.
Ask which questions still came back to you. Separate a new exception from a rule the employee could not find or understand. Update the instructions where needed.
Count repeat questions and corrections over comparable periods if that helps you judge progress. Record how many tasks were handled too: fewer questions during a quieter week may simply mean less work. Check delays and rework alongside questions, so silence does not hide a task nobody completed.
If mistakes continue, inspect the cause before expanding the task. The person may need practice, clearer limits, better access or more capacity. Keep the review focused on the work you can observe.
Use this worksheet with one team member
Complete this together before changing responsibility. Put the answers where both of you can find them. Bring one recurring question to your next team meeting, test the agreement against a real example, and set a date to review the work.
| Question | Your agreement |
|---|---|
| Which recurring task are we handing over? | ___ |
| Who is responsible, and who covers an absence? | ___ |
| What must be true before work can begin? | ___ |
| Which decisions can this person make without asking? | ___ |
| Which exceptions need review, and by whom? | ___ |
| How do they reach that person, and what happens while waiting? | ___ |
| What does a completed task include? | ___ |
| When must the task be completed? | ___ |
| Where will the action and outcome be recorded? | ___ |
| Which access, instructions or practice are still needed? | ___ |
| When will we review examples of the work? | ___ |