Work Left Undone Means Profit Left Unearned

I am preparing for a presentation through CCM where my partner Brian and I are doing a presentation on implementing a virtual worker program in your law firm.  This has got me thinking a lot about virtual workers (not that I needed any more incentive).

Law firms always have to decide whether or not they’re going to understaff or overstaff.  Sometimes, they don’t get to decide and the workload leaves them with one problem or the other.  For law firms that have more work than they do staff to handle the work, virtual workers are the obvious answer.  Don’t they realize that work left undone leaves revenue and profits unrealized? 

In virtually every large firm of which I worked for in my previous life, there were significant periods of time when the workload was way beyond the capacity of people to do the work.  The upper level partners liked this because it meant everyone was going to meet their hourly billing quotas.  But it was really shortsighted.  Didn’t these partners realize that they could be earning even more money if they had someone to complete the tasks that needed to be performed, rather than workers simply putting out fires?  Virtual lawyers working on an independent contractor basis not only make sure those tasks get done (that’s good for the client), provide a relief valve for overworked lawyers (that’s good for – well – overworked lawyers) but also for the fat cat partners who will realize more revenue.  Not only do they realize more revenue, but they do so without one penny of additional expense.