The identification and retention of an attorney for the firm is one of the first orders of business and should be done prior to an emergency need. The ongoing relationship of the firm with its legal advisor(s) requires effort from both parties but will yield results in the form of reduced risks, exposure to lawsuits, and positive outcomes for the firm, its employees and clients.

RESOURCES

IRS publication 1779 about contractor and employee relationships is available from http: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1779.pdf.

The HR Esquire web site has information on employment law and a specific section on Federal and State minimum wage information and is available from http: www.hresquire.com.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark office provides a variety of online resources, including search capabilities available from http: www.uspto.gov.

The copyright office of the Library of Congress provides information and frequently asked questions about registration for copyrighted works and is available from http: www.copyright.gov.

Martindale-Hubbell provides extensive search capabilities on individual attorneys and firms and is available from http: www.martindale.com.

NOTES

1. U.S. Internal Revenue Services (IRS) available from http: www.irs.gov/govt/fslg /article/0,id=110344,00.html.

2. US Internal Revenue Services (IRS) available from http: www.irs.gov

/businesses/small/article/0,id=99921,00.html.

3. HR Esquire available from http: www.hresquire.com/minimum-wage-laws.htm.

Office Management

John Baschab and Jon Piot

There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for-granted relationship.

-Iris Murdoch, British novelist

This chapter discusses the key attributes of running an efficient and organized office. Your office(s) first and foremost needs to be a productive work environment for your staff. When hiring a new employee is the space, phone extension, and computer ready for them on the day he or she arrives-or are you scrambling to get these things set up during their first couple of weeks on the job?

Further, the professional services firm office is your face to clients and prospective and existing staff. It reflects either organization or disorganization, confidentiality, or lack thereof or it reflects simplicity or complexity. What catches your clients attention when entering your office space? What first impression does your office and staff leave?

Office management includes support services such as managing and maintaining the facility; organizing and managing the administrative staff; ensuring proper services are provided such as phones, offices, and document reproduction centers. Office management may also include some of the softer aspects of running the firm including fostering the firms culture and capturing and maintaining the history of the firm. For smaller firms, office management duties are typically combined with other functions (e.g., book-keeping) that can be carried out by one person. In larger firms, office management may actually be the function of a dedicated full-time employee or a department of employees. In this chapter, we discuss many of the basic services provided by the office management function and the growth points in the life of the firm when transitioning from part-time staff to full-time staff and other organizational actions are appropriate.

Why Is This Topic Important?

This topic doesnt receive the attention it deserves because it is a support function. The bulk of professional services firm management attention, investment and discussions will appropriately focus on billable activity and business development. However, business development will suffer if one walks into a poorly run professional services office and notices immediately that no one is attending to the reception area, the phones are not answered consistently, and the space looks cluttered and unorganized. A disorganized office begs the question: If the firm is willing to treat its own offices this poorly, how well can it possibly service client accounts? Conventional thinking would suggest that running a simple function such as answering the phone or maintaining an impressive reception area should be an easy act for a professional services firm. Doing the work of the firm, selling, and working with clients is complicated; managing the office is not. Or is it?

Rarely does the plant run as smoothly as one wishes. Many important duties can get complicated due to inattention, time demands or office politics, for example:

Assigning offices

Optimizing administrative staff assignments Prioritizing duplication services

Executing common tasks, such as new employee onboarding or recruiting events

Filing confidential client or employee information

What can appear to be a simple office change for one attorney or consultant can cascade into a mess of negotiations and disgruntled workers who dont want to be moved or dont like their office assignment.

A well-run office management function is important for four key reasons:

1. It helps keep your billable staff from focusing on unproductive office and administrative matters.

2. The reception area and workspace are transparent to the client and reflect on the firm.

3. The organization of the workspace can increase staff productivity or hinder it.

4. The function can be (and most often is) a central force in promoting a culture.

A professional service firm maximizes profits by ensuring the professionals are as billable as possible. Their time is not well spent on office or facility issues. So the a critical objective for the office manager is to keep the