Employee Relations Checklist

Pull the attorney's record from each state bar where they will practice. Confirm active status, no pending discipline, and any reciprocity admissions. For paralegals and staff, skip this step. Inactive or suspended status blocks the start date until cured.

Have the new hire list every prior-firm client and matter they touched. Search the PMS conflicts database against current clients, opposing parties, and witnesses. Rule 1.10 imputation makes a missed lateral conflict a firm-wide disqualification risk.

Document the screen per the state's imputation rule: no access to the conflicted matter's files in the DMS, no fee sharing, written notice to the affected client. Have the new hire and the responsible partner sign the screening memo. Some jurisdictions require notice to the former client's counsel.

I-9 must be completed within three business days of the start date. Verify identity documents in person or via authorized agent for remote hires. File state withholding forms where the attorney will work, not just where they live.

Create accounts in Clio (or PMS of record), NetDocuments/iManage, email, and the docketing system. Apply matter-level access restrictions for any screened matters identified above. Issue MFA tokens before granting access to client data.

Cover the named cases: client funds always go to IOLTA never the operating account, time entries are recorded contemporaneously not reconstructed, and any communication with represented parties goes through their counsel. Reference the firm's last grievance or near-miss so the policies feel concrete.

The mentor partner handles career questions and Rule 5.1 supervisory check-ins. The peer buddy handles practical questions — billing codes, court-clerk relationships, the unwritten norms about asking partners for time. Avoid pairing the new hire with their direct billing supervisor.

Document the annual billable target (e.g., 1,800 for associates), realization expectation (post-write-down), and any non-billable expectations like pro bono hours or business development. Include rate progression for the year.

Review utilization, realization, and write-downs against target. Flag any pattern of pre-bill edits that suggests scope or time-entry issues. The mid-year is a course-correction conversation, not a compensation discussion.

Pull each attorney's CLE transcript from the state bar (or the firm tracker). Reconcile against the annual requirement — typically 12–15 hours total, with separate ethics and in some states diversity or mental-health hours. Missing the deadline triggers license suspension and a referral to disciplinary counsel.

Email the attorney with the specific hour gap, including ethics hours if those are the shortfall. Attach a list of pre-approved on-demand courses that satisfy the missing credit type. Copy the practice group leader so the make-up sessions get scheduled around matter deadlines.

Intake via the firm's reporting channel (firm administrator, ethics partner, or third-party hotline). Document who reported, when, and the substance — but keep the file separate from the personnel folder until the investigation closes. Do not route through the complainant's direct supervisor.

For complaints involving an equity partner or matters with potential bar-reporting exposure (Rule 8.3), use outside employment counsel. For lower-stakes disputes, the firm administrator or a non-supervising partner is appropriate. Memorialize the investigator's scope in writing.

Findings memo includes the complaint, witness interviews, factual conclusions, and the remedial action taken. Mark the file privileged-and-confidential. Retain per the state's employment-records minimum (commonly 4 years post-separation, longer in California and New York).

Cover client confidentiality, attorney-client privilege vs. work product, inadvertent disclosure and FRE 502 clawback, and reasonable safeguards for client data on personal devices. Use a real (anonymized) inadvertent-disclosure example from the firm or a recent reported case.

Any staff member who touches the trust account — bookkeeper, billing clerk, paralegal handling disbursements — must have current Rule 1.15 training and a signed handling protocol on file. A single commingling event triggers state-bar referral on the responsible attorney.

Pull the year's amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct in each state where the firm practices. Update handbook sections on advertising (Rule 7.x), supervisory obligations, technology competence (Rule 1.1 cmt 8), and any new mandatory CLE categories.