What the Norwegian Inspections Mean for Law Firm Staffing

This winter, Arbeidstilsynet, the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, inspected 12 of the largest law firms in Norway. In May the Authority published its findings: all 12 firms received formal notices requiring them to fix one or more violations of the Working Environment Act, with a compliance deadline in September. As the Authority put it plainly: the industry must get control of its employees' working hours.

The findings, reviewed in detail by Advokatbladet, point to a need for better visibility into how working time is registered and assessed across the industry.

Wemble works with several of Norway's leading law firms.

Tracking hours is necessary, but it is not the answer

Accurately tracking how much people have worked is a necessary first step. But the bigger question is how firms make staffing assignments in the first place.

With real-time visibility into availability and experience, partners and practice group leaders can assign work so that nobody is overworked and nobody is underutilized.

Leading and lagging indicators

Time entries capture what happened days ago. They are essential, but they are a lagging indicator, primarily used for billing and financial reporting.

To make good staffing decisions, partners need a leading indicator too. Who is busy now. Who will be busy this week. What it means if you assign another matter to someone today. That is what Wemble was built for. Wemble combines this forward-looking view with time entries and other data sources.