Your team is already stretched thin. Your clients are waiting longer for updates. Attorneys are working late, and you’re still handling work you thought you’d have delegated by now.
You know you need help.
The harder question is: Do you need another attorney or a paralegal?
Hiring the wrong role can leave you with the same workload and a much larger payroll. Before you post a job, look at what’s actually keeping work from moving.
Start With the Work, Not the Job Title
Ask one simple question:
What work isn’t getting done, and why?
If attorneys are spending hours gathering records, organizing files, preparing routine documents, following up with clients or managing deadlines, you may not have an attorney shortage. You may have a support shortage.
If your support team is preparing matters and keeping files organized, but cases are waiting because no attorney has time to review them, advise clients, negotiate or appear in court, that’s different.
You probably need more attorney capacity.
That distinction should drive the hiring decision.
Hire a Paralegal When Attorneys Are Doing Too Much Support Work
A paralegal may be the right hire when attorneys regularly spend time on work that doesn’t require a law degree.
Depending on your practice area and applicable rules, a trained paralegal can help prepare routine documents, gather and summarize records, manage files and deadlines, communicate with clients and prepare matters for hearings, closings or trial.
The goal isn’t simply to get work off an attorney’s desk. It’s to give attorneys more time for the work clients are actually paying them to do: advise, strategize, negotiate and advocate.
If your attorneys have enough legal work but can’t get to it because they’re buried in everything surrounding that work, another attorney may be an expensive way to solve the wrong problem.
Hire an Attorney When Legal Work Is Waiting for a Lawyer
Another attorney makes sense when you have a steady amount of profitable work that genuinely requires a lawyer.
Maybe you’re turning away good cases because nobody has time to take them. Perhaps your existing attorneys are delegating appropriately and still can’t keep up. Or your team has matters prepared and ready, but everything is waiting for attorney review or a legal decision.
The owner can be another clue.
If every case strategy, difficult client issue and important decision still has to come through you, another attorney may be necessary to take responsibility for matters and make decisions without your constant involvement.
Of course, hiring them won’t change much if you continue making every decision yourself. Bringing in another attorney also requires giving that person enough authority to do the job you hired them to do.
Make Sure Hiring Is Actually the Answer
Sometimes neither position is the answer.
A busy month doesn’t necessarily justify another full-time employee. If the increase in work is temporary, a contract attorney may make more sense.
And if there isn’t enough profitable work to keep another attorney busy, hiring one won’t fix inconsistent marketing, weak intake or poor case selection.
Before hiring, ask:
What work is falling behind?
Does that work require a law degree?
Is there enough of it to support a full-time position?
What should improve once this person is hired?
You should be able to explain why you’re hiring and what will be different afterward.
Hire for the Problem You Actually Have
When your firm is overwhelmed, adding another person can feel like the obvious answer. The important part is adding the right person.
If attorneys are buried in work that someone else could handle, consider a paralegal.
If work is ready but waiting for legal judgment, consider another attorney.
And don’t wait until everyone is so overwhelmed that the goal becomes finding anyone instead of finding the right person.
If you know your law firm needs help but aren’t sure which position would make the biggest difference, Build My Great Team can help you define the role before you begin the search. From there, we can find and screen qualified candidates while you and your team stay focused on your clients.