Life and Work with Melissa Hirst

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Hirst.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Melissa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I began working in the legal industry in 1987, when I accepted a position as a Legal Secretary for a small family-run litigation firm in Springfield, Illinois. A few years later, I was offered a position for the Illinois Department of Insurance and then became the Executive Assistant to that state’s Insurance Commissioner. Because Illinois is such a strong leader in the insurance industry and because of the regulations involved, the Insurance Commissioner is typically an attorney. Several years later, when my husband and I relocated to Denver, my connections in Colorado all seemed to be in the legal industry! I accepted a position as a Legal Assistant to a Partner of one of the largest and oldest law firms in the state. That Partner, along with several other Partners with whom I had been closely working, later opened their own firm, and took me along for the ride. I became their Legal Administrator and, fifteen years later, I accepted a position with my current Firm. Working with and for attorneys has been the focus of my management career now for 25 years.

Has it been a smooth road?
I’m reminded of the book title, “The First Great Myth of Legal Management is that It Exists” –that always makes me laugh. There have certainly been times when I feel like I’m chasing my tail (or other people’s tails), and the road has certainly not been smooth. But, smooth roads rarely get you to a memorable and worthwhile destination. Such is legal management. The rough roads make me stronger so I can achieve farther destinations and higher altitudes in the future.

The road to get to where I am has been filled with challenges, but it has also been filled with milestones which have followed each challenge. People have disappointed me. But, more often, people have exceeded my expectations. Attorneys and staff have frustrated me. But, more often, attorneys and staff have become better versions of themselves along the way because we have worked together to achieve more.

My advice to young professionals starting their career in legal management is to be strong in your core beliefs, do something that scares you every day, be a life-long student, and commit yourself to be a life-long teacher. The journey is difficult but incredibly rewarding. You will become a better version of yourself than you ever imagined.

What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of as a company? What sets you apart from others?
As a Legal Administrator, I am responsible for law firm operations as a business. The providing of legal services to clients is the specialty of our Firm’s legal professionals. But, the operations as a business are my area. Finances are a huge component of my job, as are human resources, IT, risk management, and day-to-day workflow throughout the Firm. What I love about law firm administration is how each of the components of my job flows into the other. Finances are behind everything we do but, since we don’t sell widgets and are “selling” the abilities and expertise of our attorneys and para-professionals, a huge portion of our Firm’s finances involve the proper recruitment and retention of legal professionals to drive our revenue generation. This requires bleeds over into the IT size, as we must invest heavily and wisely in IT initiatives, and risk management is a constant underlying theme of any smart business using today’s technology. The day-to-day workflow is what keeps me hopping.

I’m most proud of my history in being innovative with technology and client servicing mechanisms which complement and enhance our Firm’s legal professionals and enhance the culture we have at our Firm. I don’t just have an open-door policy, I have a glass door to my office (and glass walls), as do all of our attorneys. There are no window offices. All windows are for our support staff. All offices are the same size — my Managing Partner has the same size office as I do and as does our newest attorney who was admitted to practice law two months ago. While certainly, these facility decisions impact our finances, the lasting impact is on our workplace culture.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
While all leaders today face a challenge in attaining and maintaining a work/life balance regardless of their gender identification, I think this is an especially difficult challenge for those in the legal industry. Expectations in the legal industry are incredibly high, and meeting (let alone exceeding) those professional expectations can be daunting while trying to start a family, manage young children and teenagers, care for elderly relatives, and manage one or more households.

Also, because the legal industry is one of the oldest professions, there are long-standing stereotypes ingrained in our industry which are taking longer to root out than in other industries. The biggest barriers today to legal leadership are:
* providing flexibility to a workforce who expects it, while the industry still believes you have to see the whites of someone’s eyes in order to believe they are working
* improving upon customer service in a world where our clients have grown accustomed to instant gratification everywhere else, so why not from their lawyer
* attaining and maintaining excellent legal communication, which judges expect while staffing a firm with a workforce who doesn’t use perfect grammar, punctuation, or complete sentences in any other aspect of their life

Overall, I believe the biggest barrier to leadership today is marrying expectations with available resources.

Contact Info:

• Address: 555 Zang Street, Suite 100, Lakewood, Colorado 80228-1011
• Website: www.altitude.law
• Phone: 303.991.2016
• Email: mhirst@altitude.law
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.hirst.5

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