International law firm

Providing scalable administrative support to enable firm growth

Results overview

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22.5:1 secretary to attorney ratio
for 1st and 2nd year associates

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$10+ million in savings

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Significant improvement
in lawyer satisfaction

Story

A US law firm with over 850 lawyers worldwide and a large M&A practice needed to overhaul its administrative team structure to better serve its growing legal teams.

Challenges

The firm had a highly tenured secretarial and administrative team with myopic skill sets that could not keep up with its growing number of attorneys and service requirements. Along with the increasing costs, there was inadequate administrative support for junior associates. A fragmented and inefficient structure led to task duplication, inconsistent work quality, compromised deadlines and limited insight into staff productivity. Williams Lea was appointed to provide an efficient and cost-effective alternative solution.

Solution

Our team of experts conducted a thorough due diligence to identify common tasks and request patterns. Standard operating procedures and best practices were established for a remote team, providing secure, dedicated support to attorneys from our Wheeling, WV center of excellence. Through the Williams Lea administrative support team, the firm now has a secretary to attorney support ratio to 22.5:1 for first and second-year associates. Third-year lawyers are offered an in-office support option. To date, all have opted to keep their support with the Williams Lea team.

Relevant Services

  • Access scalable resources

    Meeting evolving resource needs through flexible service models

  • Improve secretary-to-attorney ratios

    Optimizing staff structure through centralized secretarial support

  • Connect virtual and onsite teams

    Enabling a hybrid workforce through rightshore support models

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