5 Effective Problem Solving Tips For Lawyers

Legal

Written by:

Spread the love

Lawyers are actually problem solvers. The clients they represent have different types of problems that need to be solved. Typically, the lawyers apply their knowledge of the law gained through education and training, to a given situation to come up with a solution. However, lawyers sometimes forget that the clients they represent do not understand the law as much as they do. Litigation law firms in Delhi say it is difficult to gauge what the clients actually want because what they say they want is often inconsistent with their actual goal. Different clients have different set of issues that need to be addressed. As such, every law firm has a different set of issues to deal with that are outside the realm of the knowledge of the law.

Some important tips for lawyers on how to solve these problems are listed below.

Identify the Real Problem

As mentioned earlier, the real challenge is to understand the real issues that the client is facing, which may often lead to lawyers taking the wrong course. This may result in missed deadlines. When multiple people are involved in a case, this tactic is really useful. Identifying the real problem is very important. To understand what is causing frequent missing of deadlines, you need to know the perspective of each member of your team and their version of the reasons for the problem. Once you do that and discuss them together as a group, you are very likely to get to the root cause of the problem. You can then devise ways to find a solution.

Compartmentalize the Problem

This strategy often referred to as “decomposition” is generally used by computer programmers.  It is meant to identify the smaller problems that contribute to the larger problem. There could be varied reasons for the main problem. For instance, your team might be using an obsolete computer system or software, the team members might not be following the main calendar to set their individual deadlines, the lead manager might be taking too long to review and send back his/her recommendations to the associates, etc. Each of these problems can be easily managed, but together they create a much larger problem. Once you identify the glitch and address it efficiently, the larger problem gets solved on its own.

Replicate the Problem

By trying to make the problem even worse than it actually is in order to solve it may sound really stupid, but it is a good way to test your understanding of the underlying cause of the problem. This strategy, according to some litigation law firms in Delhi or best corporate law firms in india, involves replicating the problem by purposely by creating the conditions that you might think were causing the problem.

For instance, if you think spending time on answering emails regularly was the reason behind low productivity, you can then set email alerts and make it a point to answer each and every email. You follow this routine for one week and at the end of the week to see how it has affected your productivity. If it actually decreased your productivity, then you probably need to turn off the alert and set a dedicated time slot to answer the emails. Your productivity is definitely going to improve.

Zoom Out

It often happens that we focus on trivial details in our attempt to solve a problem. Instead of looking at the bigger picture, our attention is directed at non-essential details. However, it can be more beneficial if we look at the larger picture. Going back to our example of missed deadlines, it is definitely true that smaller individual issues contribute to the main problem. However, this may not be the case always. Individual team members missing deadlines may not be the cause of the actual problem. In such cases, if we address the bigger problem, the smaller individual issues will automatically get resolved.

Set Smart Goals

Another great way to solve problems in the legal profession is to set smart goals. It goes a long way in eliminating the issue at the outset. Being smart in setting goals means you should set goals that are specific, precise, quantifiable, time-bound, and realistic. For instance, take the example of missed deadlines once again, if you set a goal of finalizing a project one day in advance than the actual date committed, the problem of missing a deadline can be eliminated. Here the goal is specific in the sense that the project has to be finalized one day before, and is also measurable whether the project is complete or not. It is really as finishing the project one day before is achievable and is time-bound as well. If you do this, the problem of missed deadlines will vanish.

Litigation law firms in Delhi suggest that if you pay thoughtful attention to realistic solutions, and follow the above mentioned problem-solving tips for lawyers, your team will be able to overcome most of their problems.

Leave a Reply