Law Firm Employee Onboarding Checklist

Send via DocuSign or Clio's e-signature. Confirm the offer reflects the negotiated comp, start date, classification (W-2 vs 1099), and any signing-bonus or relocation terms. Attach the countersigned PDF to the personnel file in NetDocuments — paper copies are not the system of record.

Two answers gate the rest of the workflow. Role determines whether bar admission, CLE tracking, and malpractice carrier setup apply. Lateral status determines whether a prior-firm conflicts screen and ethical wall are needed under Rule 1.10 imputation.

Pull the employment agreement, NDA, and conflicts-of-interest acknowledgment from the firm's HotDocs templates. For attorneys, include the trust-account compliance addendum referencing Rule 1.15. For laterals, include the prior-client-screening acknowledgment.

Walk the new hire through the partners, the responsible practice-group lead, the firm administrator, and the legal-assistant pool. Cover firm history, current practice mix, and who escalates what.

I-9 must be completed within three business days of start — federal deadline, no flexibility. Verify Section 2 documents in person and retain copies in the personnel file. Forward W-4 and direct-deposit ACH info to the bookkeeper for payroll setup.

Cover the records room, conference rooms, mail drop, kitchen, and the after-hours alarm code. Issue building badge, office key, and parking pass. Note any restricted-access areas (e.g., financial records, sealed matter files).

Create the firm.com mailbox, add to the appropriate distribution lists (all-firm, practice group, support staff), and apply the firm's email signature template with bar disclaimer language. Enable archive retention per the records schedule.

Provision DMS access scoped to the new hire's practice group — laterals should not get firm-wide access until conflicts are cleared. Set up Clio with role-appropriate permissions: timekeepers see billing, support staff do not see the trust ledger.

BitLocker or FileVault on the laptop, MFA enrolled on Microsoft 365 and the DMS, and VPN profile installed for remote access. Rule 1.6(c) requires reasonable safeguards — an unencrypted lost laptop is a reportable breach in most states.

Lateral hires bring imputed conflicts under Rule 1.10. Have the new attorney supply a redacted prior-matter list (clients, adverse parties, key witnesses) and run it against the firm's active and closed matters in Clio. Hits go to the managing partner before the start date — an ethical wall may be required, or the firm may need to decline a conflicting engagement.

Cover what counts as client information, the no-personal-email rule, the no-discussing-matters-in-public-spaces rule, and the inadvertent-disclosure clawback procedure. Reference any prior incidents the firm has had — abstract policy lectures don't stick.

Counter-signed acknowledgments go in the personnel file. These are the documents the firm produces to the disciplinary counsel if a confidentiality complaint surfaces — missing signatures are how firms lose those defenses.

Pick a mentor outside the new hire's direct reporting line so the relationship is for questions the new hire wouldn't ask their supervising partner. Schedule a recurring 30-minute weekly meeting through the 90-day mark.

Cover contemporaneous time entry (same day, not Friday catch-up), narrative standards ("draft motion to dismiss re: standing" not "work on case"), and the pre-bill edit cycle. Verbose or generic narratives that go to the client unedited drive fee disputes — pre-bill review by the responsible attorney is non-optional.

Cover Rule 1.15: client funds in IOLTA only, never commingled with operating, no disbursement until the deposit clears (7-10 banking days), three-way reconciliation monthly. State bars get notified of any IOLTA overdraft — automatic referral to disciplinary counsel. Even support staff handling deposits need to know the rule.

Pull a current good-standing certificate from each state bar where the attorney will practice. For multi-jurisdictional practice, confirm pro hac vice procedures for any state where the attorney is not admitted. File the certificate in the personnel record and re-pull annually.

Notify the malpractice carrier (ALPS, CNA, Hanover, etc.) of the new attorney and confirm prior-acts coverage for laterals. Coverage gaps from a lateral move are a standard malpractice fact pattern — get the carrier's confirmation in writing before the attorney handles a firm matter.

Add the attorney to the firm's CLE tracker with their state's annual hour requirement (commonly 12-15 hours, with separate ethics and sometimes diversity or mental-health hours). New admits in many states have a one-time bridge-the-gap requirement on a tighter deadline. Set the 60-day-before-deadline reminder.

Responsible partner meets with the new hire to confirm matter assignments are flowing, time-entry is contemporaneous, and there are no early friction points with assigned colleagues. This is the catch-it-early conversation — most onboarding failures are visible by Day 30.

Pull the new attorney's billable hours, realization rate, and any write-downs from Clio. For paralegals, pull billable hours and pre-bill quality flags. Material gaps versus target trigger a coaching conversation now — not at the 90-day review.

Formal review covering matter performance, client feedback, peer feedback, and the new hire's view of the firm. The decision is continue / coach / part ways. Signed review goes to the personnel file.