P2P

61 I L T A N E T . O R G H ere are a very few nuggets of advice from ILTA members when we asked them that question: • Time is valuable, every minute not billing is lost revenue. • It's OK to say, "I don't know the answer to the question but I will find out." • Emails to lawyers should be short, clear and action oriented. • Get to know the attorneys individually and customize your approach to each of them. • Requests for assistance shouldn't be dealt with on a first come, first served basis. Instead, focus on requests by the most senior people first. • Everyone matters but some matter more, know your VIPs. • Attorneys just want to practice law. They need people and IT solutions that can benefit the business of the law firm. • Attorneys love options, give them good, better, best set of options with a recommendation. Let them choose. • Attorneys don't like to hear "No" for an answer, we need to look to their root objective and find a solution to accomplish that objective. • Urgency is a critical success factor for attorneys. Match your sense of urgency to the services you provide to them. • Attorneys are very concerned with risk. Don't be afraid to say you can do what they are asking but you need more time to be sure it's the right thing. • Corporate attorneys are very different than litigation attorneys. • Lawyers don't all understand the financials or how IT Projects may impact their bottom line, so we have to help them with that. • Lawyers do care how people dress, at least in looking professional (that may have changed slightly with everyone working from home ) In our remote working environment, more than ever, we all need to help each other be successful in working in legal environments. We can't absorb as much of the culture or grasp the nuances of the business of the law firm or legal department as easily, while we are remote. So, what are the critical questions to ask and understand in order to support lawyers and legal practice? I'll answer a few of these here to help you deal with the realities of life in legal and also learn about what's changing and how you can keep ahead of those changes. I'll follow up with more in my next column. And I'm happy to point you in the direction of resources to help if you have other questions. • Why are there so many strange traditions involved in law? • Why does legal seem to take to long to get with the times? • What are all the kinds of law and how different is the work and technologies to support them? (Clue: it's not all what we see on TV) • How to lawyers think and how can I work better with them? • How does a law firm work and what's different than a corporation? • Who does what in a law firm? • What do all those legal and acronyms mean? • How are legal services evolving from the traditional law firm model? • What's so special about the technologies in legal? • How can I help bridge the gaps between IT and the business?

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