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It was November 2022, and the University of York’s complaints team were facing an increased workload. Tom Richens (Deputy Head of Student Administration - Student and Academic Services) and Kathryn Lucas (Student Administration Manager – Complaints) were new to their roles, and found themselves inheriting a substantial backlog of complaints to process and resolve. Additionally the sector was facing strike action, with university staff [engaged in industrial action](https://thetab.com/uk/york/2023/01/13/university-of-york-staff-set-to-strike-for-18-days-this-term-29730) prompting yet more student complaints.

The complaints backlog was already a big problem, and it was still growing. The implications for not addressing the issue were significant. Effective complaint handling is vital to the student experience at university. It provides organisational accountability and introspective prompts to review processes that perhaps aren’t working as well as they should. Without good complaints handling, a university suffers.

With a mounting caseload and an urgent need to get on top of the situation, Tom and Kathryn decided to temporarily increase the capacity of their team. Their hope was that by delegating high-volume casework investigation work away to interim staff, they could thereby free up their time to focus on compliance aspects of the backlog. To that end, they reached out to Flex Legal.

## **Why paralegals are perfect for complaints handling**

Complaints handling is difficult. Really difficult. Even its most basic level, it involves analysing cases, triaging them, conducting in-depth research into the factual merits of the case, liaising with concerned parties on both sides of the complaint, compiling and analysing information, and finally making well informed outcome recommendations. All of this must be carefully balanced alongside many other cases, and whilst empathetically and effectively engaging with potentially aggrieved parties.

If you are a legal professional reading through that list, there’s a good chance you will identify with the work involved in complaints handling. There is a *very* clear overlap with the skills involved in legal casework and complaints casework. This is precisely why the University of York decided to contact Flex, and employ the services of interim paralegals as opposed to more generalist admin professionals.

It takes 6 months on average for a complaints officer to become fully trained on all aspects of an organisation’s complaints process. Given the urgency of the problem they had inherited, fully training new junior colleagues was simply not an option for Tom and Kathryn. Recruiting paralegals with existing transferable skills, however, very much was. On the morning of November 4th, Tom filled out [the Contact Form](/contact) on Flex Legal’s website. A few hours later, he was on a Zoom call and speaking with Flex’s Client Services Team about the nature of the task at hand. The wheels were in motion.

## **Finding the perfect paralegals for job**

Once Tom had explained the problems his team was facing, we immediately got to work searching our platform for available paralegals with suitable experience. Flex has always sought to facilitate *perfect* pairings of organisations and interim legal professionals, which is why we pre-vet every single platform user with onboarding interviews and tests.

 We compiled a bespoke candidate shortlist and sent it Tom and Kathryn. The shortlist contained comprehensive online profiles of each paralegal, complete with CVs and self-filmed videos explaining a bit more about who they were and what kind of experience they were looking for. Tom and Kathryn decided to conduct their own interviews with each candidate, which was by no means a requirement but we were more than happy for them to do so.  
  
After interviewing each paralegal, they were decidedly impressed with [Susan Mobolaji](https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-mobolaji/) and [Cristina Boaghi](https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-boaghi-5416a4149/), and felt they were the right fit for their team. Susan had previously qualified as a lawyer in Nigeria, before moving to the UK an obtaining a Master’s Degree in Law from the [University of Hull](https://www.hull.ac.uk/). Cristina had previously worked as a Senior Legal Advisor in the [Moldovan Parliament](https://moldova.md/en/content/parliament), a Deputy Minister in the [Moldovan Ministry of Education](https://mec.gov.md/en), and earned her Master’s Degree in International and Institutional Law from the [Free International University of Moldova](https://www.masterstudies.co.uk/institutions/free-international-university-of-moldova) before moving to the UK. Both were seasoned legal experts, who were drawn to Flex Legal by their shared interest in accruing more UK legal work experience.

## **How Susan and Cristina helped the University of York**

Susan and Cristina began to work with the University of York on a hybrid basis, working partly from home and partly on campus. Their initial onboarding covered some University of York-specific GDPR training and a brief on how the department and its processes work. It was also important that they were trained in how to work with students with Special Education Needs, which was new to both Susan and Cristina. During the onboarding, Kathryn noted how willing to learn the paralegals were, and they in turn found the in-house University of York team to be incredibly supportive. Things were off to a flying start!  
  
Once Susan and Cristina had settled in, they got to work on the student complaints backlog. Each case was entirely unique and needed to be approached with nuance and consideration. One moment they could be contacting the originating department of a complaint for more information, the next they could be liaising with a student to keep them updated and provide them with timeframes for their complaint. It was a mixed bag of administrative and communication tasks, all falling under the overarching umbrella of their responsibility to take on time-consuming, high-volume tasks.   
  
With the paralegals moving cases on at speed, the permanent complaints team were free to focus on more intricate and detailed work. Susan and Cristina also helped the team to prepare case summaries for when complaints needed to be escalated and considered by an academic registrar. As the paralegals continued to work in the complaints department, their skills developed and their relationship with the complaints team matured and their skills in research and dispute resolution blossomed.

In time, the complaints backlog was all but cleared. Susan and Cristina have now finished their placements, and the time of writing find themselves in new roles. Cristina is utilising the skills she refined at the University of York with her new position at [the UK Home Office](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office), and Susan is working with the renowned law firm [Leigh Day](https://www.leighday.co.uk/).

**Additional resources:**

* [Hire a Flex paralegal](/hire/paralegals) - If reading this case study has you scratching your chin, wondering if hiring a Flex paralegal is a good idea, then why not learn more? Click the link to get the ball rolling.
* [How Saad went from Flex Paralegal to Flex Trainee](/blog/how-saad-went-from-flex-paralegal-to-flex-trainee) - Paralegals working through Flex don’t stay that way forever. Some of them graduate onto the Flex Trainee scheme, just like Saad did. Read more!
* [Apply to be a Flex paralegal](/apply/) - Are you interested in interim paralegal opportunities? Flex Legal is here for you! Submit your CV today and apply to the platform.

University of York Logo

How paralegals helped the University of York complaints team

<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mooreje/">James Moore</a>, <a href="https://flex.legal/">F-LEX’s</a> Co-Founder and CTO, recently ran a webinar in collaboration with <a href="https://www.lawnet.co.uk/">LawNet</a> where he shared his top tips on effectively managing a remote team.&nbsp;James has been managing remote teams for 15 years. These have incorporated different time zones, geographies and cultures, and have made James well-accustomed with the different obstacles which may hinder remote workers. Now managing an entirely remote team, James has found the adjustment to current conditions relatively seamless.The biggest question a remote manager must ask themselves is ‘how can the project progress?’ Fortunately for readers, James has found a few key strategies which help to answer this.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Distinguish between co-located and remote teams</h1>When everyone works remotely, there are fewer communication issues because everyone is in the same working environment. However, problems can arise when a team is split, with some working together in the office and some working remotely. This is because the team in the office could agree something verbally which doesn’t get relayed to those working remotely, for instance. Team integration is another big concern. An office environment often leads to lots of informal interactions between team members throughout the day, for instance having a quick chat as you make a coffee or going out together to grab lunch. This strengthens team cohesion and collegiality, however for remote workers it can lead to feelings of isolation and detachment from the rest of the team, which ultimately impacts on efficiency and the quality of work being produced.So what is the solution? If it is possible, try to separate teams into those working together in-person and those working remotely. By doing so, remote workers are less likely to feel that they are missing out on the office environment because the rest of their team is also working remotely. If this distinction isn’t feasible, it is important to address the unequal footing of remote workers. Team meetings play a huge part here because they offer a platform for everyone’s thoughts and problems to be heard and considered equally. Further, regular informal catch-ups between team members and supervisors helps to make remote workers feel included and engaged with the team.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Encourage asynchronous communication</h1>In an effective team, everyone is communicating constantly. However not all communication is equal, and it is important to understand the nuances of its different forms. Asynchronous communication means that you don’t expect a response to a message or query straight away, but instead within a reasonable timeframe. Conversely, synchronous communication means that a response is expected almost instantly, and can leave you sitting at your screen waiting for it to appear.James has found that encouraging asynchronous communication and work practices to be the best approach for workflows and enhanced productivity. This is because the stress levels and pressure felt by employees increase when they feel the need to respond instantly to every question they are sent. This can often mean they are ‘firefighting’ by responding to these messages instead of completing more productive work. Asynchronous communication removes this pressure, and means that their thought processes aren’t interrupted by every new notification. As a remote manager, encouraging this communication style is a great way to increase team productivity.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">But synchronous communication still has its place!</h1>Despite the above, synchronous communication should still be used where appropriate. An example may be daily update meetings with your team. Here, James asks team members what they did the day before, what they are planning to do that day, and what may be preventing them from completing it. This helps people to feel supported, and ensures that work-quality is high and that resources are being properly allocated. James also has 1-to-1 catch ups with his team every two weeks, where he has a wider chat about work and how they are getting on generally. This helps to set goals for each team member, and shows an investment into personal relationships which helps with team cohesion and wellbeing.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Deconstruct large tasks</h1>James’s final tip is to break down large pieces of work into smaller tasks which can be more effectively allocated without overwhelming individuals. By doing so, tasks are also more easily reviewed by peers. This contributes to a rigorous quality-checking system, and allows for accountability to be shared between a team for a large project, instead of one person having to carry complete responsibility.<h1 style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Some FAQs about remote management</h1>How do we ensure junior people have enough supervision and are keeping their profile up?&nbsp;It can be tricky for more junior team members to work remotely. James has found the peer-review mechanism useful for collegiate work because it allows junior members to constantly learn, and also for their individual wins to be celebrated. By doing so, confidence within the team also increases, meaning junior members are more likely to reach out for help when they need it.How do you deal with huge email traffic and highlight important messages?&nbsp;We can all be captive to our emails. A simple way to manage emails is to set up labels and tags in your inbox, which help to automatically file away unimportant messages. This leaves your inbox as a ‘to-do’ list, which only contains messages which need actioning and helps avoid distractions.Further, James recommends the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport (2016). This book helps to break down some of concepts discussed in this post, and highlights the difficulty of returning to a task once your focus has been broken.Do any of you have examples of good practice you have adopted around supervising junior team members?<ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Open door policy: It is important to be approachable and make time for team members, particularly junior members who may have more questions compared to more established colleagues. Making the effort to reach out to your team on an individual basis also helps to create a supportive and collegiate working environment, and stops junior members from ‘suffering in silence’.</li></ul><ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Technology: Zoom, Slack, and OfficeVibe are all pieces of technology that F-LEX uses on a daily basis to stay connected and ensure that an accurate understanding of team morale is being gauged.</li></ul><ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Retrospective meetings: These are held every two months, and allow the team to break down what has gone well recently and what can be improved on going forwards.</li></ul><ul data-rte-list="default"><li>Elevensies: F-LEX has implemented ‘Elevensies’ since the start of lockdown which allows the whole company to catch up informally over a coffee at 11am every Friday. We hold this over Zoom for around 30 minutes, and each week someone sets a trivia quiz. This has been great because it means everyone gets to chat to people in different teams that we may not be working with on a daily basis! </li></ul>

How paralegals helped the University of York complaints team

Check Your Distance: How to Effectively Manage Remote Teams