My firm is really behind the 8 ball in hiring support staff and would rather have attorneys use their time doing non-billable admin work. For whatever reason, they just can’t wrap their head around the math, which is that the attorneys would bill more if they didn’t have to do non-billable admin work and that billable work would not only cover the cost of a paralegal but add the the profits of the firm! Anyone have a similar experience? If so, how do you show them the light!

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Make sure you account for all that admin time in your hours. Keep it visible.

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Exactly. You should be able to “bill” it as “no charge”. I keep track of everything so that even if I have a lower billable day, I can show that I wasn’t just doing nothing or goofing off.

Good support staff are hard to find. They are a dying breed. Nobody grows up wanting to be a secretary. Those admin roles will typically follow money. So your firm’s comp might not be keeping up.

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We are having the same issue with paralegals right now. I don’t know how long the firm is going to let the associates drown before they raise the paralegal comp. The associates in my practice group are practically about to riot. We have been short paralegals since early summer 2021.

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In a similar situation. I've had a partner and the head of our division promise me additional support staff would be hired. But I'm tired of holding my breath. Our firm is notorious for under paying and, unfortunately, this position can't be remote (though hybrid would be ok).

It's getting to the point where I think the only way I'll be able to completely address this is in an exit interview :/

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Maybe we are in the same office, haha. Because I feel exactly the same. On the one hand, I’m super professionally fulfilled. On the other hand, I’m at my wits end and want to throw my laptop at the wall. I do so much admin/paralegal work, and my billing rate just jumped way up, so my effective rate went down. I shouldn’t be doing the shit that I’m doing, but there’s no one else to do it. I’d rather just do it than commit malpractice, but it’s putting so much strain on me and the other associates.

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