The Gazette 1992

GAZETTE

DECEMBER 1992

Time to Invest

A l t h o u gh there are u n d o u b t e d ly ma ny c omp e t i ng d e m a n ds for your f u n d s at this time, the u p c om i ng 31 J a n u a ry d e a d l i ne might cause you to give extra c o n s i d e r a t i on to ma k i ng p a yme n ts to a recognised p e n s i on p l a n, so why n ot consider c o n t r i b u t i o ns to the Law Society P l a n? For f u r t h er details o n the Law Society Pension P l a n, please c o n t a ct either myself or Joe Hanrahan at T h e Investment B a nk of Ireland Limited, 26 Fitzwilliam Place, Dub l in 2. Telephone: 616433.

L-R: David Gallagher, Business Development Manager, Pensions, IBI; Harry Cassidy, Associate Director, IBI, and Terence Deacon, Portfolio Manager of IBl.

Harry Cassidy, Associate Director, IBI Investment Services Ltd.

Technology Notes - (Continued from page 406) for indexation, a d d a s um for a r e a s o n a b le salary for the p a r t n e rs a n d the rent of buildings, divide it p r o p o r t i o n a l ly a m o n g the fee e a r n e rs a c c o r d i ng to their salaries a n d divide each s um by, say 1000 h o u r s, or if y o u ' re a workaholic, 1500 h o u r s. O u r experience shows t h at 1000 to 1200

dyslexia were treated with withering c o n t emp t.

k n ow l e d ge t h a t, at s ome time s o o n, he'll have to pay me f or the pleasure.

T h e i mme d i a te effect of the system is to see wh at you are d o i n g, h ow mu c h time is spent o n clients a n d how mu ch is wasted. You b e c ome aware of your time, you seek time records for clients a f f a i rs a n d, mo st imp o r t a n t l y, you bill t h em . . a nd you are able to s t a nd over the bill. T h e system analyses the wo rk d o ne by each fee earner, in each area of wo r k, d u r i ng the present w e e k / m o n t h, d u r i ng the present year. It tells you in g r a p h ic t e rms where you are ma k i ng a n d losing money. It helps you e n c o u r a ge paying work a n d refuse n o n - p a y i ng wo r k. If the o f f i ce is large, there is a cost b e n e f it analysis for each area of business, enabling you to plan for e x p a n s i on (or c o n t r a c t i o n ). T h e awf ul prospect of self-organisation, long the b a ne of the legal p r o f e s s i o n, is h a n d ed to you on a plate.

Th e re are n o s h o rt cuts for keeping time. If you d o n 't record it, your mo n t h ly report will show you u p as a laggard. If you ma ke mistakes you'll record n o time at all.

h o u rs is reasonable. In retrospect, this calculation was less difficult t h a n it a p p e a r ed at the outset.

Time Posting

We t o ok the view t h at the fee-earners wo u ld record time, the m i n d er wo u ld collect the time sheets ( a nd mete o ut p u n i s hme n t) a n d the time wo u ld be posted by trained s t a f f. T h e m i n d er did the po s t i ng d u r i ng the test p e r i od a nd t a u g ht the fee e a r n e rs h ow to d o it properly. He t h en h a n d ed over the task to the po s t i ng staff with the p r o b l ems ironed o u t. Posting time records takes time, a p p r o x i ma t e ly 10 m i n u t es per fee- e a r n er per day. Th is factor s h o u ld be taken into a c c o u nt wh en deciding on a system.

To be absolutely sure of o ur figures, we analysed the d a ta f r om the three mo n t h trial p e r i od a n d m a d e suitable a d j u s t me n t s.

Keeping Time

Skill in time recording is inversely p r o p o r t i o n al to the age a n d seniority of the recorder, p a r t n e rs being the worst. In this e n d e a v o ur the m i n d er

was a u t h o r i s ed to " t a k e n o p r i s o n e r s ". He i n t r o d u c ed an

incentive scheme:- " n o time sheets, n o pay," " f i ll o ut three f o r ms w r o ng a n d you will have to d o all the po s t i ng for the o f f i ce for a day ( a f t e r - h o u rs at t h a t ) ." Un t i dy f o r ms with w r o ng references were u n c e r emo n i o u s ly fired b a c k. P r o t e s t a t i o ns of i n n o c e n ce or latent

All you have to d o is to fill a time sheet. If I c an d o it . . a n y o ne c a n.

Why Bother?

Wh a t delight I f i nd wh en I p ut d own the p h o n e f r om a particularly u n p l e a s a nt client to record o ur p h o n e call on my sheet, safe in the

Frank Lanigan, Frank Lanigan Malcomson & Law, Court. Place, Car low. •

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