Operational Mismatch: When Growth Outpaces Support Services

Mattern Associates
Oct 7
2 min read

Law firms are growing again. New attorneys are joining, lateral groups are onboarding, and office footprints are expanding. But in many firms, operational support hasn’t kept up, and it’s starting to show.

Whether it’s delayed mail delivery, underperforming equipment, or overworked admin teams, growth without realignment creates strain across the firm.

Growing Pains Aren’t Just Cultural

As firms expand by adding attorneys, opening offices, or launching new practices, support services are often left in “catch-up” mode. Core functions like mail, print, and administration are expected to absorb more work without a clear plan to scale.

This disconnect leads to predictable consequences: attorneys stepping into admin roles just to move work forward, bottlenecks in document services that delay client deliverables, and vendors operating beyond scope with no updated terms or accountability. Left unchecked, these issues drag down morale, slow workflows, and impact service quality.

Recognize the Signs of Operational Lag

Operational strain rarely starts with a crisis. More often, it shows up in small but persistent patterns. Attorneys begin bypassing established processes. Staff create informal workarounds. Issues are discussed more often than they’re tracked.

You might also notice rising internal complaints, increased error rates, or vendors requesting more resources or contract renegotiation. These are early signals that infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with the business. If ignored, they can snowball into more costly disruptions.

Growth Requires Operational Readiness

Scalable support systems aren’t a luxury. They are a prerequisite for sustainable growth. This means:

Revisiting vendor contracts and scopes to reflect current and projected demand
Auditing workflows to identify and eliminate manual delays
Cross-training staff to enable flexible resource allocation across departments or locations

Support services must keep pace with the firm, not trail behind it.

A West Coast Am Law 100 firm brought in Mattern to evaluate its support services model after recognizing growing strain on back-office operations. As the attorney headcount increased, core functions like mail, print, and admin had not been adjusted accordingly. Mattern conducted a detailed operational review, uncovering mismatches in staffing, outdated vendor scopes, and inefficiencies in key workflows. With a set of targeted recommendations, the firm realigned its support model, refreshed vendor agreements, and introduced new protocols that restored balance between attorney productivity and service delivery.

The Mattern Perspective

Operations should scale with the business, not scramble to keep up after the fact. Whether your firm is expanding space, launching new practice areas, or hiring aggressively, your infrastructure must grow in step.

Mattern helps firms evaluate support functions, vendor capacity, and internal workflows to ensure growth is sustainable and efficient.