The immense growth of online productivity tools and the rise of virtual office culture are breaking down traditional geographic barriers. The latest technological advances allow companies to be distributed and operate efficiently from anywhere in the world. Also, when an existing internal team is overloaded, creating a remote team always becomes a suitable option for most companies. However, setting up and managing remote teams comes with multiple challenges. If you have been planning to build a remote legal team, it is always important to consider a few factors to ensure that your remote legal team functions optimally.
Here are 5 things to consider when building a remote legal team:
1. Understand legal issues
When hiring a remote team, it’s always best to really understand the job you intend to hire someone for. When you need intellectual property lawyers, it is important to determine the type of risks you will be exposed to in the intellectual property space. Similarly, if you’re in the content business, you may decide to build a remote team with deep expertise in copyright law.
2. Draft accurate job description
Once you’ve understood your specific requirements, it’s always important to come up with an accurate job description. When creating a job description, be sure to include the details of the expected job. For a better understanding, it is always advisable to provide a more elaborate description of your company’s culture and environment. Last but not least, specify the must-have requirements for the candidates, such as the expected skills and the level of experience required. In addition to simply attracting candidates, an accurate job description also helps potential candidates quickly decide if your company is the right one for them to work for.
3. Select candidates with soft skills
Identifying a great attorney goes far beyond finding someone with the right technical expertise. In virtual teams, lawyers must act as part of a team and under pressure. When interviewing potential lawyers, consider how collaborative the lawyers are and how they function in high-stakes situations. Also, make sure whether a candidate has immense judgment skills or not.
4. Ensure consistent communication
By the time you have the right team, it’s important to facilitate consistent and effective communication. Facilitating constant communication is the biggest challenge facing managers building a virtual team. It’s important to remember that each team member can be highly productive, but when there is no productive communication, business efficiency can be hampered. To choose the right communication, it is important to choose the perfect software. Once you select the perfect tools, be sure to hold regular virtual meetings to track the status and progress of the team.
5. Establish team culture
When hiring virtual lawyers, it’s important that team members share the company’s vision and mission. Only when you share your business goals will your team members feel like they are a part of growing the business and this is definitely a major motivating factor in virtual teams.
It can take time to put your virtual legal team together and get everyone on the same page. However, a few strategies can help you build a more effective virtual team and improve the customer experience in a great way. The good news is that once an effective virtual legal team is established and well managed, you can get all the services at a fraction of the actual cost.