US-based international law firm

Story

A US-based international law firm operating in over 25 offices worldwide with a culture of teamwork and innovation was looking to improve productivity and efficiency in its administrative and secretarial teams. The firm partnered with Williams Lea to transform those support teams to improve morale, increase receivables and generate savings.

Challenges

Due to reductions in secretarial staff, the firm was facing productivity and efficiency issues within its administrative and secretarial support functions. Missed deadlines were frustrating lawyers and compromising client relationships. Admin team morale was suffering. Inconsistency in work quality and inefficient processes were driving up overtime and temp costs. The firm approached Williams Lea to streamline those support functions to bring better efficiency, service quality and scalability.

Solution

Williams Lea developed a tailored a support model designed to alleviate the increased workload of firm admins. Through our centralized administrative support center with staff dedicated to the firm, we help with time-consuming and repetitive tasks, freeing up firm admins for more strategic activities and eliminating the need for temporary staff and overtime.

The new team structure and process increased attorney to secretary ratios from 3:1 to 5:1 in the first year and 6:1 in year two. The firm saw 40% in annual savings. Most importantly, staff morale and attrition rates were significantly improved due to delegation of administrative tasks to the support teams.