The Answer Key

The question is not difficult.

A client wants to know whether the next step has happened. The paralegal knows the file. The attorney knows the matter. The answer is probably somewhere in the notes, the calendar, or the last email chain.

But instead of looking for it, someone asks you.

Not because they are avoiding work. Not because they cannot think.

Because you have answered questions like this before.

You know which update counts as complete. You know whether the client needs a call or an email. You know the difference between something that can wait until tomorrow and something that needs to be addressed before five. You know what the last attorney meant when she said, "Keep me posted."

So they come to you.

Then someone else does too.

One needs approval before an email goes out. One needs to know who can make a decision that affects two teams. One has a problem that has not happened before and does not know whether it is theirs to solve or yours to see.

None of the questions are unreasonable.

But every answer comes from the same place.

You are the answer key.

The firm has information. It has people with experience. It has work that has been done before. What it does not have is a shared place for the judgment behind the work to live.

So every exception becomes personal. Every unclear expectation becomes a question for the owner. Every decision that crosses a role waits until the person who knows how the firm usually handles it is available to say so.

You answer because you can. The work moves because you answered. And nothing changes for the next person who reaches the same question.

That is the part that makes the pattern so expensive.

Your answer solves the immediate problem. It does not leave the answer behind.

The firm keeps learning that uncertainty has one destination: you.

Over time, people stop looking for the decision they can make. They look for the answer you would give. The work gets narrower. Your calendar gets fuller. And the firm becomes more dependent on your availability every time you are helpful.

The problem is not that your team asks questions.

A good firm should surface risk. People should ask when legal judgment is required. They should bring forward the issue that does not fit the rule.

But not every question is legal judgment. Not every question needs the owner. And not every answer should disappear when the conversation ends.

What questions can your team answer without waiting for you?