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Legal professionals work hard to get the job done, but they also have to work smart to ensure their time at work is spent efficiently. This means adopting tactics at work to maximize your productivity, as getting work done more quickly without sacrificing quality obviously benefits both you and your law firm immensely. Here are five excellent tips for legal professionals looking to boost their own productivity at work.

Prioritize by Descending Difficulty

If you do the worst, most painful, most difficult thing on your daily agenda, the rest of your day is going to be easy in comparison. It’s a simple fact: tackling your tasks by descending difficulty means that the most energy-consuming tasks get knocked off the list first. It’s also psychologically comforting, as you don’t have a phone call with a problem client or a particularly tedious legal draft hanging over your head all day. Procrastination and productivity are mutually exclusive.

Make Drafting Documents Easier through Templates and Online Tools

When your job involves drafting documents that share a lot of similarities with each other, a lot of needless and time-wasting repetition can be eliminated simply by using interchangeable templates. Likewise, using online tools to organize these documents can also help streamline the document drafting process — whether it’s Google Docs, Microsoft OneNote, or some other service, having templates available in the cloud means you can draft docs wherever you have access to these online resources.

Block Out Time To Work Without Interruptions

Almost everyone works their best when left alone for specific lengths of time. Nothing’s more disruptive to concentration and productivity than a series of small interruptions, especially when they’re low priority ones. If you want to maximize your productivity, block out time that you can work without being interrupted — tell office workers you’ll be unavailable until a specific time or set an autoresponse for your email to carve out some undisturbed work time.

Delegation Isn’t Necessarily the Best Solution

Have you ever delegated a task to an associate attorney or a paralegal, only to be frustrated by a lack of progress? Based on the task, it might be because the decision to delegate might have been the wrong one. Instead of farming out small but tedious tasks, you might want to consider finding a technology-based solution that makes completing these tasks on your own quicker and easier to accomplish than when delegated to another. Whether it’s document management or something else, there are a number of applications or services to that end.

Become Tech-Savvy in Ways that Support Your Productivity

Speaking of technology-based solutions, a broader integration of technological solutions can certainly pave the way for heightened productivity, but only if applied appropriately. While it might be tempting for your law firm to install an automated phone tree to direct calls instead of an administrative assistant, you having someone manually answering and routing calls can help in letting you work undisturbed while engaged in critical tasks by taking messages or sending callers to voicemail.

The practice of law requires, by default, the ability to keep as organized as possible. Akin to spinning plates, the duties of any legal professional can comprise a baker’s dozen of tasks at any given time, all of which has different priorities and requirements. That’s why it’s so important for anyone working in the profession to develop excellent organizational habits. Here are some of the best that you should consider adopting if you find yourself struggling with your own organizational skills.

Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute: Procrastination Will Destroy You

Don’t put things off until the last minute. Procrastination is a highly destructive habit that creates undue stress and prevents you from doing your best work, as attempting to rush to complete a task with a looming deadline means you’ll inevitably miss something. Instead, prioritize your tasks on a daily basis, beginning with the one task that will be the most difficult to accomplish that day. Doing so will ensure that not only will it get done first, but the rest of your day will be a lot easier.

Use Proper Technological Tools to Create and Maintain Task Lists

Don’t know where to start? Write down every task you have to accomplish and use this list to keep track of your progress. Whether it’s a daily list, a weekly one, or a full calendar month, creating and maintaining a task list provides you a clear, easily recognizable snapshot of where you are and where you need to be. While you can certainly write these task lists out longhand, you’d be better suited to record them using any number of technological tools at your disposal, ranging from a simple spreadsheet on your desktop to a list-making app on your mobile device.

Invest in a Time Management Course to Learn Advanced Skills

Keeping organized is more than just making sure your desk is neat – it’s about managing your time effectively. No one is born knowing how to do this innately, however, and this means that taking the time and energy to learn is an investment in your future that will pay dividends. Taking a time management course that instructs you on best practices will provide you the skills you need to budget your time better, ensuring that all the tasks you need to accomplish get done as efficiently as possible — leaving time for you to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

The Benefits of Good Organization

Being a well-organized legal professional provides you with several benefits. You’ll experience much less stress and anxiety about incomplete tasks if you tackle them in an organized manner, and as a consequence, you’ll be happier and more productive. Office managers and senior partners are more likely to recognize your work performance, possibly leading to increased career success. Finally, you’ll know that when you leave work every day that you’re well and truly done, allowing you to enjoy your time off just that much more. In the end, isn’t that what it’s really all about?

Whether you’re in the courtroom or you’re in the break room, confidence is a key component to your career as a legal professional. At the same time, confidence isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone, especially if you’re fresh out of law school or stepping into your first internship. Regardless, you’ve got to talk the talk if you’re going to walk the walk — so you better get used to finding ways around the problem.

Why Confidence is Important

Being involved in the practice of law involves being able to communicate clearly. While in many instances this can take the place of the written word, ranging from legal briefs to court documents and beyond, you’re going to have to open your mouth sooner or later.

This can be an exceedingly difficult task for anyone struggling with confidence issues — and it’s readily apparent in a number of ways. Whether it’s stuttering, a querulous tone of voice, an abundance of “um”s and “ah”s, or any combination of these, a lack of confidence in interactions with clients, colleagues, and courtroom officials is going to sink your chances of having a successful career.

Meanwhile, there are even non-verbal ways that you can betray yourself when it comes to a lack of confidence. Body language can be very telling. Slouching, poor posture, keeping your limbs close to yourself, avoiding eye contact, and other non-verbal tells scream “I am not confident in my abilities” loud and clear, again sabotaging your chances of career success.

Faking Confidence for Fun and Profit

Lucky for you, there are methods and techniques for erecting a veneer of confidence by changing the way you talk and move. Called the “fake it until you make it” technique, it involves making conscious changes to your outward presentation that simulate confidence, even if you don’t feel that way.

It begins by identifying the specific outward symptoms of your lack of confidence and then, for the most part, doing the opposite. Are you restless and fidgety when you’re speaking? Root yourself to the spot instead. Can’t meet the gaze of who you’re talking to? Force yourself to make eye contact — or at least focus on the bridge of their nose. Stumbling over your words? Slow down and take your time. If you feel like you’re talking too slow, you’re likely just right.

Become What You Desire

When you devote yourself to acting more confident, even at times that you don’t feel that way, you’re likely to see the fruits of your labor almost immediately. It’s likely that your professional interactions will resolve themselves more advantageously, which will lead to higher overall levels of success and achievement. Truth be told, adjusting your behavior like this is going to be exhausting at first. However, as you become more accustomed to doing so, you’ll notice that adopting your more confident persona will become like second nature. In time, you might even become that confident person you wanted to be so badly in the first place.

It’s important to have a good working environment no matter what line of work you’re in, but it’s even more crucial for legal professionals. With so much on the line at any given time, office environments can become tense and toxic all too quickly, which will negatively affect not just your engagement while at work but your productivity as well.

But there are steps you can take to make your office environment better. Taking these steps don’t just make your office more pleasant to work in — they make you a better legal professional as well. Here’s the key to accomplishing just that.

Embrace Technology that Makes Your Job Easier and More Efficient

Working in a law office involves doing a lot of exacting, important, but sometimes repetitive and tedious work. Having to do this work by hand can make you feel less like a legal professional and more like an office zombie, and this can lead to making needless mistakes that could end up costing your firm.

In order to prevent this — and in order to improve your own productivity — it’s important to seek out and implement technological solutions that give you a break and make you more efficient. That’s why, if you’re a legal professional, it’s vital to move to adopt an online attorney service firm today.

Physically Alter Your Environment to Lift Your Mood and Better Your Health

Nobody is at their best if they spend several hours a day in a place that feels bleak and lifeless. It’s not exactly inspiring if you’re staring at the same blank cubicle walls day in and day out, and an uninspired work environment can easily lead to uninspired work performance.

It may seem simplistic, but physically changing your work environment is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your performance. If you can get your firm to transition to an open office environment, one without cubicles or walls in order to let in more natural light and prevent workers from feeling claustrophobic, that would be ideal. The benefits of open working also include better communication and collaboration as well, if you need more ammunition.

Don’t Ignore Your Work-Life Balance

One of the best ways to truly improve your productivity and efficiency while you’re in the office is to spend more time out of it. This sounds counter-intuitive, but it’s true: legal professionals tend to work long hours, spending inordinate amounts of time in the office. If you’re one of those nose-to-the-grindstone types, you need to get out of the office once and a while if you want to be at your best when you’re at work.

One solution is to ensure that you’re not ignoring your work-life balance. Seek out alternative work schedules that will benefit you in the long run. Telecommuting is one option, as is working part-time, flex working arrangements, or working a compressed schedule. Burning yourself out helps no one — not your clients, not your firm, and certainly not yourself — so make sure to take some me time when you can.

When it comes right down to it, the practice of law has conflict built right into it. It’s an adversarial system by design, one side pitted against the other in a battle that relies on a successful argument.

But making a persuasive legal argument in court and getting into an argument with a colleague are two very different things. Conflict within a law firm can jeopardize clients and careers, so it’s important to adopt ways to resolve these issues successfully. Here are 4 of the best conflict resolution strategies for your firm.

1 – Don’t Beat Around the Bush

Most people are hard-wired to avoid direct conflict. This means employing strategies like avoidance, triangulation (talking to a 3rd party about a conflict), and other mitigation strategies. This doesn’t do anything but prolong the issue. If you don’t take active steps to confront the issue head-on, this will lead to whatever conflict caused the issue in the first place to potentially worsen. Remember that confrontation is the only method for moving past a conflict successfully, and while this can be painful, it’s a necessary component of interpersonal growth.

2 – Keep Things Professional

Whether it’s a procedural, ideological, or an interpersonal difference, whatever might have caused the conflict is likely due to emotions spiraling out of control. When you do have a confrontation, whether it’s with a client or a colleague, approach the issue from a professional perspective and don’t let emotions run high. Doing so will only make it more difficult to reach a successful resolution. This is obviously more easily said than done, but if you want to be considered a professional, you’re going to have to demonstrate the ability to act in a manner befitting your position.

3 – At the Same Time, Acknowledge the Emotional Component

However, you can’t discount the emotional component of a conflict completely. It’s important to acknowledge and validate the emotions of those in conflict. Using empathy to put yourself in the other person’s shoes and then telling them “I can see how this would be upsetting and you have every right to feel the way you do” goes a long way in resolving conflicts. People want to feel that they have been heard and understood. While this isn’t universal, in many cases it’s this understanding that is enough to resolve a conflict altogether. If not, it’s an excellent first step in demonstrating your willingness to discuss and resolve an issue.

4 – When All Else Fails, Apologize

Admitting you’re wrong can be difficult, especially if you feel the other person is the one who’s at fault. At the same time, there are bigger things at stake than your personal sense of justice. If a simple, sincere apology will mollify an upset client or ensure that a conflict between a fellow legal professional will be resolved, consider doing so. Additionally, a simple statement that you’re sorry the other person became angry or upset because of something you did means you can express regret for the outcome without compromising your original stance.