HR Support for
new law firms

Getting your team into shape.

HR support for new law firms which start with a full complement of staff can remove a weight from your shoulders. Take a look at the Chartered Institute of Professional Development’s website and you will see there are many legal requirements to be followed and good practices to be established.

These are some of the key points to consider:

Employee handbooks.

An employee handbook is usually given to employees upon their arrival and contains important information about company policies and procedures.

It is intended, as part of the induction process, to give new starters an understanding of the business and the norms and obligations they are expected to comply with. often, these can be extensive documents covering all aspects of your organisation’s policies. If you haven’t prepared one before yourself, it makes sense to take expert advice.

Performance management.

Effective performance management is the key to your practice’s success. It should:

• Ensure everyone understands the importance of their contribution to business targets.
• Enable each team member to understand what is expected from them and define training and support required for them to meet these expectations.
• Harmonise the objectives of the team with those of the business.
• Create clear-cut systems for line management and reporting.

Discipline and grievance procedures.

Having the right procedures in place to deal with these issues is important. Without them you could end up before an employment tribunal facing claims of unfair or constructive dismissal and even discrimination.

To ensure you are fully covered, you will need a structured approach to disciplinary matters and you should make this clear to your team members.

Absence management.

Similarly, you should adopt a structured approach to absences. Having effective intervention points can reduce the frequency and length of time staff are absent from work.

Health and safety.

Health and safety legislation sets out mandatory requirements for all organisations with more than five employees. This includes having in place documented health and safety policies and procedures and being able to demonstrate their effective management.

Employment contracts.

Every member of your team should be given a written contract of employment from day one of their service. As a minimum, the contract should stipulate:

• Terms and conditions of employment.
• Legal rights
• Responsibilities
• Duties

HR support for new law firms from LawStart.

As you can see, there is quite a lot to consider. LawStart can put you in touch with a variety of specialist HR consultants who specialise in HR matters and have extensive experience in the legal profession

If you need assistance with HR, contact us by clicking the button below.