Cross-posted to LAW-LIB and PRIVATELAWLIB-L. Please excuse any duplication.
I am posting this message for Linda Will, the Research Center Director at
Greenberg Traurig.
>From Linda:
> As Julie stated in her summary, the survey regarding staff ratios was an
> edifying experience.
>
> Like many of your law firms, the law firm where Julie and I work,
> Greenberg Traurig, is in global growth mode. When I first came here five
> years ago, we had 6 locations. We are soon to have 16. The last staff
> position added to the Research Center was that of Electronic Librarian,
> created three years ago. As whenever there is growth in a law firm, the
> bottom liners want to keep the overhead down. And of course, Librarians
> all know that the new technology is saving us people and time and
> therefore money for the firm. NOT!
>
> So for the past three years, Management (believing the press and with an
> eye to the number of support staff) has discouraged the addition of
> non-attorney employees. There was not much room for discussion on this
> mandate, so we hunkered down in the Research Center, ran faster, and added
> responsibilities to our outside filing service. We are fortunate here in
> Miami, to have a very professional and responsive company that not only
> files looseleafs, but acts as the assistant to existing firm
> para-professional administrative staff. I have three "outside" assistants
> who catalog, post to accounting, open mail, route materials, and deal with
> publishers (print) issues three times a week. By keeping my professional
> team lean and mean (and haggard!) and by outsourcing the more clerical
> duties, I have been able to keep my staff numbers or ratios low By
> ratios, I mean professional and para-professional librarians to attorney
> population.
>
> But obviously after a while, no matter how fast we ran, we could not keep
> up with users needs. As I explained to my managing partner...it not a
> question of if the staff can stay late to finish the project. It is a
> matter of having enough staff at 3:00 in the afternoon when ALL the RUSH
> SUPER IMPORTANT projects need to be done at the same time, and you do not
> have the people resource to accomplish them.
>
> We were allowed to hire two more professional librarians. A combination
> of timing, ratios, hours billed, a full moon and perseverance won the
> argument for additional professional staffing. As well, we were adding
> time keepers. The Research Center staff is tied directly to the attorney
> population. We are here to assist the attorneys to do business. We are
> part of that business. We net revenue. MIS by the way does not.
>
> I know that each firm has its own management style. Greenberg counts
> money, but it also counts people. People numbers vs. overhead seems to be
> the latest mode for legal administrators to try and solve the cost of
> growth in law f firms
>
> The Greenberg Research Center Ratios are .03 to 500 attorneys in 16
> locations. Detail as to the makeup of the .03 is as follows:
> 1 Director
> 1 Assistant Director (who oversees firmwide electronic catalog)
> 1 Electronics Librarian (who is our trainer, support and help desk)
> 1 Reference Librarian (who coordinates the e-mail requested info firmwide)
> 3 Branch Librarians (who mainly do firmwide and bill)
> 2 Paraprofessionals (who do simpler research...docket sheets, assists etc)
> 3 Admin Paraprofessionals (centralized ordering and accounting)
>
> One more thing...I managed to, include the following facts in my argument
> to management for more staff: the new technology is not just driving the
> market place, it is driving the work place. It saves space and only
> space. Traditional research/reference resources are in a state of chaos
> and this is fueled by the providers who are irresponsible and
> unprofessional in their treatment of the end users (us). (This of course
> is an entire other scenario... Someone needs to write an End User Bill of
> Rights!). As well, the mode and medium of the attorney population to
> retrieve information requires a full time trainer, full time MIS Support,
> a full time Library Help Desk and lots of patience. (Personally I believe
> that every CD ROM that is shipped should come with the
> warning...Professional Electronics Librarian needed for assembly. )
>
> I don't think that there is a clear cut alpha and omega way of managing a
> Legal Research Center. Each scenario is different according to the firm
> culture and the times. But by sharing our ideas on listserves (the
> invisible college of the 90s, we can at least forge some sort of strategy
> collectively, as well as provide moral support!
>
> Hope this helps and thanks again all.
> Linda
> Linda Will
> Research Center Director
> Greenberg
> Miami
>
>
>
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