Role design and job descriptions for Litigation firms: clear duties for advocates, juniors, clerks and diary staff
In many chambers, duties are assumed. A clerk may track dates, carry files and draft notices on the same day. Written roles show who owns what and prevent the missed listing nobody saw coming.
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Share your requirementsWhy role design and job descriptions matters in litigation firms
A chamber grows by adding people to whoever needs help. A junior ends up chasing registries, a clerk begins drafting letters and a driver keeps the diary. Nobody has written what is theirs, so tasks fall between people. When someone leaves, the work they did informally is discovered only when it goes undone.
Role design lists the main duties for each position, who they report to, what they decide and what they pass on. It separates tracking of dates from filing, drafting from checking and file custody from file use. It also makes hiring clearer, because a person can be asked about the real work.
How to set it up
1. List what actually happens
For one week, note who tracks dates, files, drafts, carries and calls clients. Include the informal tasks people have picked up.
2. Group the tasks into roles
Cluster related tasks into roles: advocate, junior, drafting assistant, court clerk, diary and records keeper. Avoid a role that mixes unrelated duties.
3. Write one page per role
Purpose, main duties, what they decide, whom they report to and what a good week looks like. Use plain words.
4. Assign ownership of dates and files
One named person for tracking hearing dates and one for custody of each file, with a backup. See role design and job descriptions.
5. Review after a quarter
Ask each person what is missing or unfair. Adjust and share the final pages with everyone.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask three people who tracks hearing dates and compare answers.
- Check whether any job description exists for clerks.
- List tasks that only one person knows how to do.
- See if a new hire could read their role and know what to do.
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Questions owners ask
A short page is still useful. It shows who owns dates and files, which matter most, and it makes hiring and handover simpler.
One named person with a backup, and a second check by the junior on each matter. Shared ownership with no name attached is how dates are missed.
It can in a small chamber, but write both duties clearly and add a checking step. Mixed roles drift unless the lines are stated.