The best way to stay updated is to update stuff. This applies to your computer operating system, page-a-day Garfield calendar, legal research, and a couple of other things. If it’s not on your to-do list already, updating the pocket parts of ALR2d should be one of the first things completed at the beginning of the year. Why? It’s possible that you’ll miss an important case or legal development that came out nine months ago.
Fortunately, the common law days of updating pocket parts are still here. But unlike updating at common law, it’s now easy to update various pocket parts through outsourcing. Our three steps to effective outsourcing should get you there quickly.
1. Hire Someone. You probably charge out around $200 per hour to talk on the phone and move paperweights from one pile of documents to the other. And that’s money well spent. But the time to update pocket parts, while chargeable to clients, is not an efficient use of your time. It’s more cost-effective for you to tweet your latest thoughts, live blog the release of the Verizon iPhone, or work on a new foursquare badge. For outsourcing pocket parts, we recommend that you hire out, either from a pocket part specialty service or from an excessively large pool of underemployed lawyers.
2. Organize the Pocket Parts. Before your new Pocket Part Specialist (“PPS”) starts work, make sure you organize the pocket parts into one large stack. To assure that the PPS is employed through at least February 1, throw the pocket parts down the back stairs, then pick them up into a disorganized pile.
3. Outsource the Pocket Parts to Your New Hire. Once you provide orientation to your new PPS (don’t forget to cover the office fecal accident response policy, if applicable), give him or her the disorganized stack of pocket parts and provide the following instruction: “file these.” Though most new law graduates have never heard of a pocket part, don’t worry. They’ve recently had months of training in filing documents and looking busy.
I’m sure many of you thought of outsourcing the task to India. But the cost of a plane ticket to Mumbai for your new hire would run at least $1,300, and even more during the outsourcing season. Such a cost, while a legitimate business expense, is not worth the return. Accordingly, it is best to go in-house for your pocket part outsourcing needs and hire a newly minted attorney for the task.
Great post – like the pocket parts metaphor. I would only like to point out that outsourcing to India doesn’t have to mean catching a flight to India. There are options stateside to take advantage of the cost efficiencies of offshoring with local companies.
But of course as you mentioned be sure not to jump into offshoring until a plan is in place for how legal process outsourcing will fit into your practice’s strategy. The outsourcing component should be complementary to the other tactics used within your plan – even if it means hiring someone ‘down the street’.