For legal teams

A coverage handoff
your team can use.

Before hiring leave coverage, decide what will keep moving while someone is out. A replacement may inherit their queue, but the decisions that sit around that queue still need owners.

Start with three lists: work that must continue, work another team member can own, and work that can wait. Assign an owner to each active item. If the remaining team is already at capacity, redistributing the list does not create more time.

Give the covering lawyer decisions, not just documents

For each workstream, write down what the covering lawyer can handle independently and what needs approval. “Follow our playbook” is useful only if the playbook is current and someone owns exceptions.

For commercial contracts, that might mean identifying who can approve a departure from standard terms, who decides whether a deal deadline takes priority, and who can accept a business tradeoff. Name a backup for each decision owner. The person on leave should not be the default escalation route.

A folder of agreements provides background. This table tells someone what to do next:

Example coverage handoff tracker
Matter	Where it stands	Next action and timing	Decision owner	Working material
Customer renewal	Counterparty has returned changes	Review the changes before the agreed sales check-in	Commercial legal lead; named backup	Latest redline, playbook and negotiation notes
Supplier agreement	Business terms are still being agreed	Confirm the scope with procurement before revising	Procurement owner for business terms; legal owner for exceptions	Current draft and open-issues list
Template update	No active deal depends on it	Pause until the legal operations lead reprioritizes it	Legal operations lead	Draft changes and reason for the update

Illustrative entries. Replace the roles, documents and timing with your team's actual details.

Use one shared tracker and link to the current working documents. Agree where new requests will arrive so the covering lawyer does not have to reconstruct the queue from several inboxes.

Write a brief someone can assess

Copy these prompts into your hiring brief:

Coverage period: expected start and end dates, working hours and time-zone overlap. State what happens if the end date changes. You do not need to explain why the colleague is away.
Work to own: agreement types, current queue and incoming workload. Separate work that must continue from projects that can wait.
Experience needed: the negotiations, business relationships and systems the person should be able to handle. Include relevant jurisdictional requirements.
Decisions and escalation: what the professional can decide, what needs approval, and who responds when the primary owner is unavailable.
Working arrangement: reporting contact, meeting expectations, proposed fee structure and how additional work will be agreed.
Handoff: available overlap, required access and what should be documented at the end.

If the workload is uncertain, say so. Share what you know about the current queue and agree when to review the scope. A guessed weekly commitment makes proposals look comparable without making the underlying work clear.

Use the overlap to test the handoff

If an overlap period is possible, work through one ordinary matter and one exception together. Can the covering lawyer find the current document, identify the next action and reach the right decision owner? Fix the missing access or unclear approval path before the handoff ends.

For an unexpected vacancy, have an internal owner reconstruct the active queue from the systems and colleagues that hold it. Flag missing history rather than presenting assumptions as settled decisions.

Plan the return before the coverage ends

Keep the same tracker current throughout the engagement. The closing handoff should show what finished, what remains open, the next deadline, and any decision still needed. Record changes to templates or working practices so the returning colleague can see what changed and why.

Agree who will accept the handoff and arrange the appropriate access changes. Do not make a final meeting the only place unfinished work gets explained.

Find counsel for the work that needs coverage

Lawtrades connects legal teams with professionals for project and ongoing work. Use your coverage brief to discuss relevant experience and availability, then agree responsibilities, scope and fees with the professional.

Discuss coverage with Lawtrades

For a contract backlog without a leave or vacancy, use the commercial work brief instead.