Role design and job descriptions for Independent advocates: who does what in a chamber of one name
In many chambers every task, from fee records to filing, ends up with the senior or the clerk by habit. Clear roles make it clear who holds the diary, who drafts and who can step in.
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Share your requirementsWhy role design and job descriptions matters in independent advocates
A chamber grows by adding people one at a time, each taking whatever is nearest. The clerk keeps the diary, collects fees, fetches certified copies and sometimes drafts notices. A junior files papers, types and attends hearings. When someone is absent, nobody knows who covers.
Role design is a short writing exercise. List the tasks of the chamber, put a name against each and a backup against that. Then write a half-page description for the clerk, the junior, the assistant and the intern. People know where they stand, the senior stops being the answer to every question, and a later hire fits into a known shape.
How to set it up
1. List every recurring task in the chamber
Hearing diary, filing, certified copies, fee records, client calls, drafting, research, typing, library and accounts papers. Include the small tasks that people do without being asked.
2. Put one owner and one backup against each task
Where one person owns many tasks, ask whether that is wise. The backup should be someone who has actually done the task at least once.
3. Write half a page for each role
State purpose, main tasks, who they report to and what good looks like. Keep the language plain, as the clerk and interns must also read it.
4. Separate drafting duties from clerical duties
Make clear which juniors draft and which only file or type, so that legal work gets reviewed and clerical work is not mistaken for learning.
5. Share the roles and revisit them each year
Sit down with the team, read the descriptions and fix what no longer matches the work. See HR documentation for keeping the papers in order.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask the clerk and each junior to list their tasks separately and see where the lists overlap or leave gaps.
- Check which tasks stop if the clerk is off for a week.
- Note which tasks reach the senior that should not.
- See whether any role has been described in writing in the last two years.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach role design and job descriptions in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Half a page per role is enough. It settles arguments about who does what, helps when someone is absent and makes hiring easier because you know what you are hiring for.
That is for you to decide, but write it down. If the clerk drafts, someone must review it. If not, keep drafting with the juniors so their learning is not diluted by clerical work.
Look at the hours the senior and juniors spend on routine tasks. If much of the week goes on filing, typing or fetching, an assistant frees the lawyers for legal work. List the tasks first, then decide.