Meeter Reader: How to Hold Better Meetings

Seriously, I mostly stopped practicing law because of the inane, interminable meetings.  Now that’s a problem in most offices, but law firm meetings seem to me to be particularly meandering and aimless.  The pandemic changed how and where people met in fundamental ways, but the meetings still sucked.  Of course that doesn’t mean that law firm meetings have to remain so bogus.  There’s actually lots of different tactics you can use to eliminate unnecessary meetings, reduce the time spent in meetings you need to have and/or better organize those necessary meetings.

Let’s begin:

Technology-Based Workflows Reduce/Eliminate Status Meetings.

The majority of law firm meetings are centered around case updates.  Now, that’s important, of course – because, if there’s one thing a law firm needs to do, it’s to keep cases moving through the pipeline, and prosecute those effectively.  But, running through status updates for the entire case list during a loooong meeting can be soul-crushing – yes, even if you buy lunch for everybody.  The good news is that, in a modern law practice, you don’t need to have those meetings, regularly, if ever.  Law practice management software (a relational database organizing cases) is available in the cloud, so it’s easier to share data with your whole team, wherever they are.  Add case-specific workflows to the mix, and literally anyone in the firm can get a heads-up on the status of any case, at any time.

Daily Standup Meetings are a Quick & Easy Way to Stay On Top of Things.

Standup meetings are borrowed from the technology development world.  These are short-form (the aim is for 6 minutes or less) meetings, that are hyper-focused.  All team members attend, and the meeting leader role rotates among team members.  The questions are short and sweet: ‘What’s the most important thing you’re working on today?’  ‘Are you roadblocked in any way?’  It’s a remarkably effective way to reroute people, if they’re not focusing on the right things.  And, because literally everyone is on the meeting, many roads get unblocked, almost instantaneously.

Agendas are Not an Option, If You Want Targeted Meetings.

Organization is beautiful.  So, when you’re running a meeting, first introduce the purpose of it.  Then, run down your agenda.  That part doesn’t have to be so beautiful, though; just create a manageable punchlist, ie – don’t try to cover too many topics in one session.  Throw that up into a Powerpoint, and your audience will be mesmerized + locked-in, like never before.

That Meeting Could Have Been a Text: 2024 Edition.

There are so many ways to communicate now, that you shouldn’t be having a meeting, when you can just send a text.  Or, an email.  Or, maybe ping someone in your case management software.  Better yet, set up Slack, a free tool for messaging that drops all your inter-office communications into organized buckets outside of your email.  That can be substantive case comments, or administrative issues.  This is the new virtual water cooler, when everyone’s flex scheduled.

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Want to get your meetings back on track, give us a call today!

The Wyoming State Bar offers free law practice management consulting services through Red Cave Law Firm Consulting.

To request a consult, visit the Wyoming State Bar’s law practice management page, and start running your law firm like a business.

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