Overtime Hours in Litigation Support
I left the office at 10:00 pm this evening. A set of production documents had to get out to the vendor so that they have enough time to turn it around to meet our desired production date.
It's funny, at times. Everyone else will leave the office once their sign-off has been given to litigation support. Magically, behind the scenes, litigation support and the service provider will deal with the electronic data aspects of preparing a document production. In the old days, the paralegals would be the magicians behind the scenes and it would involve manually dealing with paper and miniature adhesive labels with bates numbers printed on them.
Nothing has really changed over the years in terms of the working overtime in litigation matters. If you work in litigation, it is all about the deadlines. Sometimes the volume is too great for the deadline and working extra hours is the only way to meet the deadline.
However, now that most of the documents are in electronic form, it is difficult for the rest of the legal team to comprehend the numerous steps we litigation support professionals need to take to accomplish what appears to be a simple task. We joke that “they” think there is a magic button we can push that will pull everything together in a jiffy.
Overtime hours in litigation support is a given. However, I have seen different scenarios.
Sometimes the overtime hours are in spurts or when a big case is going on.
Sometimes it is the expectations of the firm or the service provider that overtime hours will be worked. Period.
Sometimes teams are divided into shifts, day time and night time.
Sometimes the litigation support staff will have an assigned schedule so that everyone gets a weekend every few weeks.
Sometimes the team is missing a few team members temporarily and it causes more work for everyone on the team.
Sometimes there are not enough people on the team and management won't approve more resources so everyone on the team is overworked.
Sometimes the attorneys are unreasonable and cry wolf all the time.
Sometimes the attorneys only ask you to stay late when they really need it.
Sometimes there are too many interruptions during the day and it is easier to complete tasks in the evening, just to keep up with the deadlines.
The bottom line is, if you don't care for overtime hours, litigation support is probably not the right career choice. There is no way to know which of the above scenarios you will be confronted with. During the interview process, they will always ask how you feel about overtime. Be prepared to give a response that you can follow through with. I once had an interview applicant tell me “I will not work any overtime hours, but I am the most productive person during the work day that you've ever seen.” I hired him. He was correct. He even went so far as to put a small stack of paper in his visitor chair to deter people from sitting down to chat! Ha!
I would have hired that guy too! Availability to work overtime is crucial to the success of the team, but not everyone has to (or will) contribute in that regard. Flexibility should always be a two-way street.
Agreed, Dave. I will also add that everyone on my team would offer to help another team mate that was overwhelmed at the end of the day.
I am going to have to remember the small stack of papers on the visitors chair trick!
I, of course, was his manager and he was in another office that
I traveled to, so I moved the paper out the way and sat right down. Ha!
I’ll be the voice of dissent — if you’re not willing to work OT, lit support is probably not the right career for you, and ability to work OT is a state requirement of lit support job descriptions. Sometimes, a request comes in at 3 p.m. and is due by FedEx that night. At that point, it doesn’t matter how amazingly productive you were before 3 p.m., you’re going to be there late. My bigger concern is the morale of the rest of the team who has to pick up the late-night and weekend work for someone who flat-out will not put in extra hours. Managing perceptions of how evenly the work is distributed is challenging enough without having someone who clocks out right at close of business every day.
Very good point, Bonnie, about managing the morale of the team. It also points to the true team player attitude, as opposed to just “saying” you’re a team player. Regardless of whether you prefer to work OT, it is simply not cool to leave a team mate behind without at least offering to help before you leave for the day, even if that team member is in another office.
As a manager, I have stayed late at the office or stayed up late at home along side a team member simply for moral support if a team member is on a crazy deadline. I think it’s important for them to know they are not in it alone.
Check, check and check! Everyone one of those scenarios is happening EVERYDAY in this business of ours. I’m at LTWC as I write this and can’t tell you how many times during just day one that I’ve heard conversations regarding these situations and the elusive “Easy Button” that we all have in our back pocket. It seems like this perception is now especially true with the huge amount of marketing in the predictive coding space that appears to reinforce this idea.
As a manager OT and the issues surrounding it can be one of the hardest issues to manage. Motivation, morale, scheduling and cost are all things that must be dealt with proactively when faced with the consistent OT pressures in litigation support. Not always easy, but when you have good teams like I’ve been blessed with over the years it’s always doable.
The situation of members of the team not being willing to work extra hours is a tough one to work around. I understand the candidate not wanting to infringe on their personal time, but because last minute demads are such a large part of our daily lives I’ve found that those people typically arent as successful as others and wind up working their way out of the business, at least on the service provider side.
That is not to say there aren’t extremes situations that shouldn’t be considered normal. I know someone that averaged 90 hours weekly for almost 3 consecutive months due to poor planning and an unwillingness of ownership to add staff. Needless to say his morale was not great, but that could have been avoided.
At the end of the day overtime and late demands are something that have always been a part of legal services so aren’t something to be worried about or afraid of, but instead planned for and managed. Good leadership can minimize the impact on the team and still meet the expectations of the customer.
Thanks Shawn. Btw, LTWC = Legal Tech West Coast for those that don’t speak Shawn.
To give some perspective, over the years I worked double-time hours within a month many times and I worked triple-time hours within a month a couple of times. Paralegals and attorneys are usually given a minimum number of hours they should bill time for each year. It can range from 1,200 hours to 1,700 hours depending on the law firm. In litigation support, I have worked 3,000 hours a year before.
Nice article and so true. Which is exactly why I decided to
leave litigation support and do something completely unrelated. Because of the
recession many law firms either closed down or cut back. That left the people in
lit support with more demanding work, less pay, and little or no bonus. No thanks.
Thanks for the comment. For those that leave the litigation support industry, I like to refer to them as “those that figured out a way to escape”. Ha!
Nice poin. My contract attorney and document review friends and I are working on our GTHO Plan in this respect. Get The Hell Out Of document review.
LOL, hilarious, Trevor! I hope I can help some of them if they are interested in litigation support. I have some doc review friends with the same mindset as yours so I will tell them about your blog. Thanks for the comment.
I have worked in Lit Support for 4 years now and I love it! I work with technology and there are often very short turnaround times that must be respected. Also, when going to trial you only get one chance to make your point — it’s worth staying up to make you have all your ducks in a line. The bottom is that your client is the reason you are in business and can afford your meals — either you respect that or think about another line of work with a more rigid 9-5 schedule.
If you get paid overtime, then what’s the problem? If an employee is salaried, then the pay should reflect the expected hours. If you’re making the big salary, then what’s the matter? Okay, you have a family and don’t want to work 80 hours a week — then get a more reasonable schedule with a more reasonable salary. My issue, though, is employers who “don’t believe” in paying overtime (if the employee is hourly) or who complain about it. Sorry it’s federal law. In my experience management often can be a lot more proactive rather than reactive. Many times they don’t understand the technology and what it takes to keep the machine running smoothly. Also top executives can share a little more of their fat profits.
Employees should be given enough time off, though, to reenergize their batteries and attend to personal matters. Okay you have to work over memorial day weekend — then you should be able to take your own trip perhaps later in the summer. A little work/life balance goes a long way, as well: if I can come in late if I stay late then I can actually get some rest (assuming there are no other early morning matters) or if I can run an errand or use the internet during working hours to keep up with my personal life I can feel that I am still connected to the things in life that are meaningful. Believe me I am not advocating free usage of Facebook or making chatty cell phone calls during work hours but allowing me to schedule a dentist appointment or a flight will allow me to keep healthy and working late!
Thanks for chiming in. This is one area that litigation support managers need to be flexible with. Give and take is how it should be. I remember working two all-nighters in a row and then calling my manager the next morning to tell her I needed to take a sick day to rest up. She said, it is not a sick day, it is a “mental health” day and you don’t have to use your leave. She got it.
Great post and very insightful analysis of the OT requirements in the litigation support part of disclosure operations. I as a contract attorney and project manager of document review teams can certainly refer to the impact OT has on the team’s morale sometimes. Nobody, be it litigation support, associate, legal assistant or contract attorney likes to be surprised with a sudden request of staying in all night. Best approach would be to be as upfront to your team as you possibly can be and give them a heads up even if the deadlines have not been confirmed yet. Nothing good about having upset team members not giving their best to reach those deadlines because their worklife (understandably) being taken granted by the employer.
Thanks for your input and perspective, Trevor. One of the best compliments I received was from a doc review attorney who thanked me for being honest with the team and for truly caring about them.
Nice to re-find this article on LinkedIn today, although I have to say it’s not so nice to be reminded that I continue to work all of the overtime hours that I am requested/required/demanded…
Amy, come and take a look if you wish at how Contract Attorney Central is progressing since we last conversed on your blog! It’d be great to see you over there. Keep up the great work on here!
Trevor
Will do, Trevor. Also, check out my e-mails I sent to you about the Meetup.