The Results-Oriented Legal Workplace

Legal jobs, whether investigating incidents, preparing documents or trying cases in court, are involved in a lot of detail. When legal people are so engrossed in the details of their jobs, it's easy for them, for anyone actually, to lose sight of the job's major contribution.

A Results-Oriented Legal Job Description is different from a traditional job description because it focuses an employee on the several job results that answer the question: What results must this legal affairs job accomplish for the organization?

Legal Job Standards added to job expectations tighten management controls by clarifying how well and when results must be accomplished.

Legal Job Objectives establish management and employee plans by highlighting important current and future results needed.

Job-specific Legal Employee Management Forms maintain consistent and legally sound management actions by basing manager-employee interactions on job results.

The Purpose of Legal Jobs

Stated in a results-oriented, three-line style, legal affairs jobs--

PROVIDE LEGAL SERVICES by

interviewing clients; accumulating and verifying information; researching case law; planning and developing cases; presenting motions, briefs and evidence.

Types of Legal Jobs

The key legal job is a lawyer who evaluates a client's situation, researches applicable law, and prepares and carries through a legal action. Most lawyers jobs are highly specialized. Other jobs support the lawyer by preparing documents, researching specific issues, filing papers, and contacting witnesses.

Still other jobs investigate situations for evidence, or help clients understand the legal process. And, of course, somebody has to manage and supervise the legal people and processes.

Legal Job Management Tools

Here are actual job examples of how legal affairs job actions can be focused on results and kept on track using each of our job management tools:

Results-Oriented Legal Job Descriptions form the foundation of all job management tools. Our uniquely structured job descriptions focus on the result to be accomplished first and prominently, followed by the duties performed in order to accomplish the result. For example,

RECOMMENDS LEGAL ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Legal Job Standards sharpen employee attention and management control by defining and communicating how well the legal affairs results must be accomplished and what benchmarks will be used to measure job results. For example, for the job result above, the job standards might be:

• Legal situations are correctly understood.
• All options are identified and evaluated.
• Legal recommendations are ready when needed.

Legal Job Objectives point the direction for employee actions by focusing job efforts on current and future legal affairs issues. Job objectives are written in the three-line, results-oriented structure. For example, for the job result above, a job objective might be:

SPEED-UP DECISION MAKING by

reducing time to deliver legal affairs recommendations by 10% by (date).

Legal Employee Management Forms tied specifically to each legal affairs job description are more helpful (and legal) than generic forms used for all different kinds of jobs. Job-specific forms are used to state job qualifications, guide job interview questions, orient new employees, plan job training, and appraise job performance.

Legal Job Qualifications are stated in the same terms used in the job description. They are not translated into generic (typically behavioral) terms. For example:

RECOMMENDS LEGAL ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Legal Job Interview guide questions are inserted directly below each job result in the job description: For example:

• "What specific job responsibilities have you had in this area?"
• "Where did you have these job responsibilities?"
• "When did you have these job responsibilities?"
• "How did you go about accomplishing these responsibilities?"
• "What accomplishment in this area gave you the most pride?"
• "In this area, what were some of your biggest challenges?"
• "How did you overcome the challenges?"

The Legal Job Orientation guide reformats the job description sequence so that job explanations, policies, protocols, processes, and procedures are logical and complete and can easily be checked off. For example:

RECOMMENDS LEGAL ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

The manager might say: "Here's the procedure and format we use to analyze and present legal affairs recommendations."

The Legal Job Training plan guides a thorough examination of actual job knowledge, skills, and abilities as described in the job description that need improvement or that might be enhanced. For example:

RECOMMENDS LEGAL ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

The manager might say: "Analytical skills would be improved by enrolling in a statistical analysis class."

The Legal Job Performance Appraisal guide is a job-specific form. It is not a universal form used for all jobs. The guide adds an appraisal scale below each job result in the job description so that attention can be drawn to each job requirement and expectation. For example:

RECOMMENDS LEGAL ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

__ Great! Just want we wanted.
__ We have a problem.
__ Improvement is needed.
__ Much, much more than we asked for.

Comments: _________________

Legal Résumé Template

Potential employers want to know what a job applicant has accomplished in his/her legal affairs work career. They don't want to be bored with minor details. Our Résumé Template provides:

• an outline to help assemble personal background information.
• a Results-Oriented Job Description to provide the legal affairs job language-focused on results-needed to write an effective résumé.
• Legal Job Objectives to orient thinking in terms of accomplishments.
• instructions on how to use a Results-Oriented Legal Job Description and Legal Job Objectives to express job accomplishments.

Use the legal affairs job description responsibility statement as a base:

RECOMMENDS LEGAL ACTIONS by

analyzing system controls.

Select the legal affairs job objective that fits your experience:

REDUCE COSTS 10% by

improving legal affairs processes.

Combine the two into a résumé statement:

Reduced costs 10% by analyzing, identifying, and recommending new legal affairs system controls.

Legal Career Links

University of Notre Dame, The Legal Profession

Article on motivation for studying the law.

American Bar Association, Careers in the Law

Information for people who are just getting acquainted with the legal profession, as well as useful links for those already in or considering law school.

HG.org

Worldwide legal directories.

Wesleyan University, Learning about the Legal Profession

Self-Assessment, career exploration, career toolkit, pathways.

Ms. JD

Online community providing a forum for dialogue and networking among women lawyers and aspiring lawyers.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Paralegals and Legal Assistants

Education and training for paralegal and legal assistant jobs, earnings, expected job prospects, what paralegal and legal assistants do on the job, and working conditions.