Four Departments You Can Expect to Find in Every Modern Law Firm6220192

If you take a look at the more modern law firms these days, you will notice that almost all of them have four departments in common. These departments will be the object of our discussion this time around. Hopefully we will be able to come up with a clearer idea on what these departments' roles are in the grand scheme of things in the firm. In our discussion, we will also attempt to understand the types of people who will be found in the staff of these departments. In some law firms, these departments are not clearly identified or separated in the structure. Some of them don't even have their own department heads. But they do tend to exist in some form: even if, in the smaller law practice firms, they turn out to be 'one-person departments.' Similarly, we also find the roles of the departments merging into one department. As a result, one department could be performing the function of two departments. But in bigger law firms, you will find more people on the staff of each of the departments, with each department having its own clearly identifiable head or supervisor.

The first department that you are most likely to find in a law firm these days is their legal department. This is otherwise known as their main operations department. This is the backbone of the legal practice: the department that actually brings money to the legal practice. The workforce that you will encounter in this department are the partners and the associates. These are fully-qualified attorneys, who do the actual legal work like representing clients in court, holding consultation sessions with clients, drafting binding legal documents and so on. Providing support for the partners and associates are often legal assistants and interns. These are usually people who are undergoing legal training, but who are not qualified attorneys. Left in charge of the more routinary tasks are the staff members who are referred to as paralegals.

Next, there is the administrative and secretarial department. As the name implies; you will find secretaries in this department. These secretaries will be working for the attorneys, sometimes on an exclusive capacity. The typing pool of the law firm is also found in this department. This department also often include the human resource officers employed by the larger firms. In some ways, it could be classified as the catch-all department, since the utilities, messengerial, security and even the catering services of the company could also fall within the jurisdiction of the administrative department.

Many law practices have also seen the need for them to keep up with the changing times, thus establishing their own information technology or IT department. A network of computers is now a common sight to see in most law firms, considering the advantages of computerization. Maintaining these computers and networks take a lot of work and manpower, and that is precisely why there is a need for this department.

Finally, it is a given that every law practice should have its own accounting and finance department in order to succeed. Cash flow and other financial transactions of the firm have to be kept track of and recorded properly. That is why this department is very important.

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