How Law Firms and Lawyers Can Improve Their Productivity

Law Technology Now

In this episode of Law Technology Now, host Monica Bay speaks with reporter and author Charles Duhigg about his new book, “Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business.” Charles emphasizes that a lawyer’s career is predicated upon making choices about how they spend their time and for that reason efficiency is incredibly important. The most productive people, he reveals, are the ones who create routines that allow them to differentiate between busyness and productivity. He encourages leaders to create mental models or visualizations of how any daily transaction will unfold and to make small directed company improvements, or changes to what he calls keystone habits. He continues by providing examples of how this approach, combined with carefully phrasing your proposed change, can lead to greater companywide advancements in the long term. Charles also discusses the importance of having an agile company and explains that the best way to create this culture is to empower your co-workers to make great choices. He states that empowering others to solve problems as they occur allows those individuals who can solve the problem best and who are often the closest to the issue the ability to handle these concerns as they occur. Charles closes the interview with an analysis of how crisis facilitates flexibility and provides tips on how attorneys can create the perception of potential crisis to help facilitate change.

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative reporter for “The New York Times” and the author of “The Power of Habit.” He is a winner of the National Academies of Sciences, National Journalism, and George Polk awards. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale College, he lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children.