Attorneys Advantage Risk Management Tips
Creating Your Back-Up Plan
By Kathryn Marshall
Now that summertime is here, you may be thinking about vacations, scheduling firm outings or just planning to take advantage of a lighter workload. But before you head out of the office this summer, there's an important risk management step you shouldn't forget: Creating your back-up plan.
While it's true that summertime may feel more relaxed around the firm, your client's expectations won't be. So, it's an ideal time to establish a back-up plan for managing your clients and your practice in the event that you, a colleague or staff member may be absent.
Establishing a back-up plan is a sensible summertime activity for attorneys. But, it's not only for times preceding vacations and holidays. You really should have a solid contingency plan ready for anytime you may be unavailable to your clients. Emergencies happen. Computers fail suddenly and unexpectedly - and always when it's least convenient. Regardless of the situation, you should designate a qualified professional to handle your clients if you're unavailable. If you're a sole practitioner, reach out to an attorney at another firm. By leaving your clients in good hands, you're enabling long-term trust and loyalty in your professional relationships."
My colleague agrees. Dave Sukert, graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and State University of New York at Binghamton, and Senior Vice President at Aon Affinity Insurance Services says, "For the most part, creating a back-up plan is about managing your clients, expectations. It's a critical step, because if you don't have clients, you don't have your business."
However, Sukert says that planning for your absence requires more than just recording your outgoing voicemail message stating that you're not in. It's reaching out proactively to your clients beforehand. "Clients today demand more with less notice. So, if you're not readily available when they call, or if there's not a designated alternative, you're not managing the relationship optimally. When clients are surprised, they lose confidence. And, lost confidence often translates into lost business. More importantly, it can create a climate for malpractice lawsuits."
If you're an attorney in a larger firm, back-up planning is essential as you may need to recommend or count on your colleagues to provide services outside of your specialty areas (e.g., real estate counsel or estate management). In this case, your designated or contingency contact must be able to step in and execute seamlessly for your clients.
Whether it's Memorial Day, or any other day, back-up planning should be a regular part of your risk management regimen. Along with helping to reduce your professional liability risks, taking basic steps to establish your back-up plan helps you earn the trust of your clients - and helps you to build a good reputation in your field. Not only that, you'll enjoy your time out of the office even more, with the peace of mind knowing you've got a solid back-up plan in place.
Steps to Creating a Back-Up Plan
Now that you've decided to prepare a plan, you'll be better off in the event of an absence or emergency. When considering your back-up plan, it's important to prepare for both expected and unexpected absences. Here are some steps to get you started:
Planned Absences
- Create a calendaring and filing system that others would be able to discern in your absence.
- Delegate key employees, colleagues or trusted advisors to cover your client activities and business operations in
your absence.
- Review your calendar/docket; anticipate milestones for key clients.
- Document steps for keeping everyone informed of what is going on in case of disaster or unexpected absence.
- Reach out proactively to your clients, via email or phone to let them know the dates you'll be unavailable. Provide them with contact information and resume of the designated person who would handle your business.
Unplanned Absences
- Be sure your designee would be able to access to your files and client information in the event of your absence or an unplanned emergency.
- Document the designation of another party (preferably a lawyer or licensed practitioner) who would have the authority to review your client files and make determinations as to which files need immediate attention, and who would notify the clients of your emergency.
- Review your contingency plan with your colleagues or trusted associate.
- Back up your files and data regularly. Store a copy in a secure location or with a trusted colleague.
- Once you've established a back-up system for your files, all potential users should learn how to restore data - before any type of disaster hits. Your colleagues and designated contacts should become familiar with the recovery method before they have to use under stress. Some suggestions:
- Use zip disks to back up selected documents as soon as they are created. Critical documents do not have to wait for a scheduled total system backup.
- Use disk imaging and/or the Internet to maintain a complete system backup according to a schedule.
- Rotate your backup media.