Career Talk
If you'd like to suggest future Career Talk article topics, submit your idea.
Connecting a Global Workforce
by Charles Volkert, Esq.
|
Charles A. Volkert is executive director of Robert Half Legal®,
a legal staffing service specializing in the placement of attorneys, paralegals, legal administrators and other legal professionals with
law firms and corporate legal departments. Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Robert Half Legal has offices in major cities throughout the
United States and Canada.
|
One of the greatest challenges faced by legal administrators at the growing number of law firms with
a global reach is how to connect staff members who are working in multiple time zones or continents.
To complicate the picture, it’s not just a firm’s offices that need to be connected but also legal professionals
who are using mobile technology to work at home or from other offsite locations. Depending on the size of
your law firm, the creation of a streamlined communication system that allows the efficient exchange of
data, documents, expertise and ideas can seem a Herculean task.
Each firm must assess its unique needs and current resources and strive to create a comprehensive
communication system that will effectively link a geographically dispersed workforce. The bottom line is
that your firm’s legal teams must be able to communicate easily and efficiently, regardless of where they
are. Here are a few ideas about how to achieve that goal.
Law offices still rely heavily on phone and e-mail for communication, but these methods are often
inadequate for conversations involving more than two people. For example, the phone is of little use when
the supervising attorney on a case is in Beijing and the rest of the legal team is in the firm’s New York office.
Similarly, the asynchronous nature of e-mail means it is of limited usefulness when attorneys in five different
offices need to discuss a case in real time. E-mail can also become unwieldy; during large transactions, for
example, thousands of messages may be exchanged.
In our updated Future Law Office research project, we look at one effective alternative— videoconferencing.
A viable option when e-mail is insufficient and face-to-face meetings are not feasible, videoconferencing technology
has improved significantly in recent years to provide broadcast-quality transmission. Some global law firms already
use videoconferencing for a variety of activities, such as monthly cross-office meetings of practice areas, partner
meetings, internal training, office administration or any situation in which real-time interactivity is desirable.
One major disadvantage of videoconferencing is its cost, which can easily run in the tens of thousands of dollars
for a complete hardware package. A firm may choose to use a third-party videoconferencing service provider, but this
can be problematic, since less-than-optimal conditions (such as heavy network traffic) can affect video quality. If your
firm plans to use videoconferencing frequently, it may be more cost-effective in the long run to go ahead and invest in
an internal videoconferencing system.
You may be wondering how your firm can possibly add technology such as videoconferencing to its existing system,
particularly if your office’s approach to networking has been piecemeal and ad hoc until now. If your firm has grown
considerably in recent years or opened several offices abroad, it may be time to adopt an integrated system that
encompasses the entire spectrum of communication methods.
Future Law Office features the examples of multinational law firms that implemented systems of converged
voice, video and data applications. These systems allow firms to transcend the limits of time zones and locations.
Alternatively, with a centralized server, staff members in all offices have equal access to files and databases and the
ability to draft contracts and other documents online.
While better, faster communication is the immediate objective, the ultimate goals in connecting a global workforce
are to create greater efficiencies, maximize revenue and sustain a cohesive firm culture. If you keep these considerations
in mind as guidelines when evaluating and selecting communication tools and protocols, you’ll be able to create a workable,
effective system for your law firm, regardless of the scope of its activities or the far-flung locations of its offices.
For more information, consult Future Law Office (www.futurelawoffice.com)
to learn more about the role of technology in global legal practice and how law offices can best meet the challenges of
connecting their geographically-dispersed workforces.
Visit the Career Talk Archives to read past Career Talk articles!