How to Run a Law Office

Firm Measures, Supervision of Nonlawyers, and Continuity

Almost nobody is disciplined for misunderstanding the law. They are disciplined because a
deadline lived in one person’s head. Because a conflict check never happened. Because a file
was never returned. Because a paralegal said something nobody supervised.
Operations is where discipline starts. And the State Bar has already told you which systems it
expects you to have. Comment 1 to Rule 5.1 names four of them: procedures to detect and
resolve conflicts, to identify dates by which actions must be taken, to account for client funds
and property, and to ensure inexperienced lawyers are properly supervised.
This two-hour program builds those systems and the ones that go with them. Intake and
conflict checking, including the one question most firms never ask. Central calendaring that
survives a resignation. Supervision of paralegals, contractors and outside vendors under Rule
5.3, plus the notice requirements almost nobody knows about when a firm employs a
suspended lawyer. Client files and records. And continuity: what happens to your practice if
you do not come in tomorrow.
It closes where operations and well-being meet, because the comments to Rule 5.1 already
contemplate guidelines for assigning cases and distributing workload among lawyers.
You will leave with a firm measures manual outline, a vendor and staff supervision checklist, a
continuity plan worksheet, and a case study.
Schedule:
Time Subject
0:00 – 0:03 Welcome and objectives
0:03 – 0:23 Intake, conflicts and calendaring
0:23 – 0:43 Nonlawyers, vendors and technology
competence
0:43 – 0:58 Files, records and client property
0:58 – 1:13 Continuity: absence, incapacity, death and
sale of a practice
1:13 – 1:15 Stretch break
1:15 – 1:35 Operations, workload and distress
1:35 – 1:50 Well-being systems for the whole office
1:50 – 2:05 Case study: the departed paralegal and the
uncalendared deadline
2:05 – 2:10 Quiz, evaluation and certificate

Credit line: 2 hours. Approval pending with the State Bar of California.

This two-hour program teaches California lawyers how to build and run the operational systems that
California Rules of Professional Conduct, rule 5.1(a) requires: measures in effect giving reasonable
assurance that the lawyers in a firm comply with the Rules of Professional Conduct and the State Bar Act.
Comment [1] to Rule 5.1 identifies the categories directly, including procedures to detect and resolve
conflicts of interest, to identify dates by which actions must be taken in pending matters, to account for client
funds and property, and to ensure that inexperienced lawyers are properly supervised. Participants work
through intake and conflict checking under Rules 1.7, 1.9 and 1.10, calendaring and diligence under Rule
1.3, and client communication protocols under Rule 1.4 and Business and Professions Code section
6068(m). The program then covers supervision of nonlawyer staff and vendors under Rule 5.3, the notice
requirements that apply when a firm employs a disbarred, suspended, resigned or involuntarily inactive
lawyer under Rule 5.3.1, confidentiality obligations under Rule 1.6 and Rule 1.8.2 as they apply to files and
outside services, and the duty in Comment [1] to Rule 1.1 to keep abreast of the benefits and risks of
relevant technology. It addresses client files and records, including the release duty in Rule 1.16(e)(1) and
the recordkeeping and retention standards under Rule 1.15, and continuity planning for absence, incapacity,
death and sale of a practice under Rule 1.17. Finally, using the 2026 ABA/Krill data and Comment [4] to Rule
5.1 on the assignment of cases and the distribution of workload, it examines how operational disorder
produces the workload and stress conditions that impair the mental, emotional and physical ability Rule
1.1(b) makes part of competence. The program closes with an applied case study.
Learning objectives

1. Build the firm measures Comment [1] to Rule 5.1 identifies: conflict checking, calendaring, accounting
   for client funds and property, and supervision of inexperienced lawyers.
2. Apply Rule 5.3 to nonlawyer staff and outside vendors, and identify the notices Rule 5.3.1 requires
   when employing an ineligible person.
3. Apply the client file release duty in Rule 1.16(e)(1) and the record retention standards under Rule 1.15.
4. Build a continuity plan for absence, incapacity and death, consistent with Rules 1.3, 1.4 and 1.17.
5. Explain how workload distribution and operational disorder affect the competence required by Rule
   1.1(b), and design staffing practices that reduce that risk.