Self(ie) mapping the relevance of professional daily decision-making process by lawyers

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the activities requiring the most important decisions for lawyers during a typical professional day. The sample was composed of ten lawyers and ten non-legal professionals to compare different working groups. Daily journals (DDs) were used to gather behavioral information about the type of activities that require varying levels of relevance in terms of decision making and the time of day when professionals make these important decisions. Qualitative findings suggested decisions are mainly taken in relation to leisure, work and planning activities. For both groups, more relevant decisions were taken in the morning compared to afternoon and evening, and more in relation to work compared with leisure activities. Interestingly, the group of lawyers reported a greater relevance for decisions related to planning activities compared to work activities. At the practical level, this evidence could guide the organization of work activities made by the institutions, e.g. recommending that tasks requiring decision making are placed in strategic time slots. For lawyers, the moment in which they plan their activities consists in the phase in which the fate of their work is really played: meeting with counterparts, act/opinion/warning drafting, legal advice, and consulting are all legal actions that require important decisions for them.