Un-Billable Hour: Business Management Strategies for the Busy Lawyer Around the Community Table

In this episode, a little about production and a little about you. When you sit down at your desk, are you doing billable legal work – the real work – or are you doing administrative tasks?

Guest Gina Cotner is the founder and CEO of Athena Executive Services, a virtual assistant firm that frees busy professionals from mundane tasks so they can focus on serving clients, solving problems, and growing their business.

If you’ve been told (maybe over and over) that you need to delegate, you’ve probably never been told how. This may be the episode that helps you untangle that problem and finally take that first step.

Cotner shares how she helps attorneys work with assistants and build the trust that opens up space for additional billable hours instead of routine administration. If you’ve been told to delegate but can’t let go, Cotner’s insights learned through years of experience helping busy executives turn over tasks may be what you’ve needed to hear.

In this episode of the Un-Billable Hour’s Seat at the Table: How do you know when a hire isn’t working out (hint: you already know) and then pull the trigger and let them go?

It happens: you hire someone, and it doesn’t work out. So many firms put off the hard discussion: terminating an employee. It’s not pleasant, but it’s necessary. That’s where planning, preparation, and an established process come into play.

Is it a lack of communication? Or a truly bad fit? Establish performance metrics and address issues early on and help avoid surprises. When it’s time for the firing discussion, everyone should already know what’s coming because it’s been out in the open for a long time.

Clarity can reduce the risk of labor law tangles after the termination. Don’t let a fired employer create more problems. Reviews, management consultations, and documented steps can both guide your employee to better performance, which is optimal, or protect your firm after the firing.

You saw the signs. You knew it was coming. But now it’s time to take action and let an employee go. And if we all know the mantra “hire slow, fire fast,” we also know lawyers don’t always follow that rule. We can be way, way too slow to fire when an employee just isn’t working out.

So how do you know when the time has come? Our panel of legal management and HR pros digs in. As one panelist says, “If you wake up three mornings in a row thinking about somebody who’s not your spouse, they’ve got to go.” You know when someone is taking up too much time and derailing the office. The problem isn’t recognizing the problem, it’s not recognizing that you’ve already recognized the problem.

Have a plan, specific policies, metrics, management consultations, and a process for firing someone before you reach that point. Without clarity, even experienced HR professionals struggle.

Every process should account for your firm’s vulnerability. Labor laws, password management, access to client documents, even physical access to your office with keys or key cards should all be part of the process before the termination discussion. Dig into an episode today that can help your firm prepare for the future!



REFERENCES MENTIONED:

ClioCon 2026, Oct. 26-27, 2026

Legal Talk Network Unbillable Hour

Growing your business starts with you, and your front door is your web presence. The beating heart of your business is your technology. Guest Colleen Joyce is the CEO of the lawyer-client matching platform Lawyer.com and the founder of the Lawyer Growth Summit gathering.

Joyce shares how she started working with lawyers who didn’t know a lot about even their own website and expanded to begin helping attorneys and firms build their brand online and make themselves more accessible to potential clients.

Running a law firm requires marketing, it’s letting the world know who you are and how you can solve problems. But how you market online matters. Every dollar counts, and tracking your spend is vital. Know where you are reaching clients, and where you may need guidance.

If your firm isn’t growing, it’s stuck. Are you changing things up? Are you reinventing yourself and your presentation? What are you doing right, and what could you do better with just a few small tweaks? (Oh yes, AI fits into this, too).

In this episode of the Un-Billable Hour’s Seat at the Table:

A law firm’s culture. What is it? Your firm has a culture even if you’ve never identified it. The problem is, if you don’t create an intentional culture, an identity, you may slip into a culture you didn’t want to be part of

Start with what you want to be, how you want to be known, who you want to work with. Understanding your culture can help your firm come together, move as a team, and even keep you from making a hire that’s doomed from the start.

“Everybody on the same train, moving in the same direction, with the same values” matters. Develop the workplace you want to work in. Communicate it. Live it everyday.

First, what is “firm culture?” The personality and backbone of the firm? Is it what happens when the boss isn’t around? Is it what people say about your firm when you’re not in the room? Every firm has a culture, whether you know it or not.

Guests Lori Brown-Simmons, Hannah Hembree Bell, and Ben Hockema are experienced professionals who share their thoughts with host Christopher T. Anderson on building a healthy firm culture.

For a lot of firms, “culture,” is an afterthought, if it’s thought about at all. But every firm develops a culture, either by accident or intentionally. (Intentionally is better). Understanding your firm’s culture, its mission, values, and goals helps everyone work together, collaborate, and even helps your firm from making a hire that may look good on paper but “wasn’t a good fit.”

Do you have the right people in the right seats? Do your clients represent you and your goals? You can be a team with a recognized reputation, or you can be an office with a bunch of lawyers chasing billable hours. An intentional culture is the difference.

Mentioned in This Episode:

Clio

ClioCon 2026, Oct. 26-27, 2026

Legal Talk Network Unbillable Hour

When it comes to your firm’s – and your clients’ – security, AI is changing the game. Cybersecurity isn’t new but how it fits in with AI is.

Guest Nick Martin is a recognized expert and leader in cybersecurity. The cloud, data portals, and connectivity all impact how we treat data and client relationships. It’s complicated. Where’s your data? Who’s backing it up? Who can access it?

Martin is the CEO of cybersecurity firm FileScience. He breaks down the evolution of cybersecurity and secure storage of data, even when there’s a power outage or an online hacking attempt. The game has changed, and both your case and your client’s security are at risk around the clock.

Is your firm living with a false sense of security? Do you understand your security measures? Are you potentially liable for a security breach. You need to know, and you can’t put it off. Don’t miss this episode!

Mentioned in This Episode:

Clio legal solutions

MyCase

Actionstep legal

NetDocuments

iManage

Microsoft SharePoint

Smokeball

Google Threat Intelligence

"Public Officials Separate Workplace and Personal Online Lives. Hackers Don't Care," Wall Street Journal