Good law office staff is harder to find (and keep) than clients (and sometimes spouses). Not a mere receptionist, typist, and filing clerk, good support staff can be the lawyer's alter ego, right arm, custodian, den mother, rabbi, and guardian angel. Could you manage if your staff did not show up tomorrow morning?

The average solo or small firm lawyer may spend more waking hours each day with staff than with a spouse or significant other. And in some cases, even years longer. They will devote all kinds of time and money searching for that significant other, courting the person, learning how to live with that person, being trained by that person—but when it comes to staff, an "Oh, that one will do" more frequently than not seems to be the way it is all approached.

The office staff often know the intimate secrets of their employers, know all about the clients' secrets and things that cannot be discussed with lawyers' spouses, know more than a spouse about a lawyer's finances, and, if they have access to a lawyer's trust account, can do more damage financially and professionally than a spouse ever could.

This second edition of Effectively Staffing Your Law Firm is a book inspired by lessons the authors have learned from law office staff, both their own and those employed by others.