Organization Tips For Lawyers And New Firms

The legal profession is one of the most high-stress and high-performing environments. Now, you might be a legal student, new to the field, or considering starting your own practice. 

Here are a couple of the things that you are going to want to consider.

Offload

While you will have a huge index of information in your mind – after all, that was what the study and work experience was for – you shouldn’t be trying to overload it. Instead, always take the offloading approach. 

Start making excellent notes, start using a dictaphone, and look at apps that can help organize thoughts. A couple of options that have integrations are: 

• OneNote
• Trello, Microsoft Planner
• Apple Reminders, Todoit
• Any mobile calendar that works with your computer, too (Apple or Microsoft)

A plain old pad and pen and a diary will work too. Try to keep your thoughts written down. 

Assistant 

Where budget allows, an assistant can make a huge impact on how efficient you are. If you’re lucky, you will get someone like Donna from Suits—hand over meal booking, email follow-ups, call-backs and taking calls, and more to your assistant. 

Software

The software serves many purposes, and in most cases, it will make the daily running of your business so much easier. Legal case management software simplified can mean that everything you need is at your fingertips. 

When building, you’re, of course, going to have plenty of paperwork too, but being able to load them into software gives you access anywhere you need. 

This can be incredibly helpful for new firms in particular because your system can grow with you and be second nature from the start. 

Notifications

No matter what industry you might be in, notifications on the mobile phone are one of the biggest distractions. If you work in an all-Apple environment, then those notifications ring across all devices. 

Make a firm decision about who can access you, where, and when – and then set up call forwarding, notifications, and focus times to help. 

If you cannot stay away from notifications when you are trying to focus, it might be time to look at an alternative phone. They used to just be called mobile phones, but now they are referred to as dumb phones. These can take away all of the distractions, leaving you to get on with what matters. 

Even high achievers spend too much time scrolling and consuming content – you’re not alone! 

One thing at a time

You should tackle everything at once, but that will get you in more trouble. Usually, before things are tidied up, they become messier. If all of your processes (and you) are messy at the same time, it is unlikely that you’re going to see your way through it all. 

Look for one problem area at a time and tackle it. Why? Because doing it bit by bit will lead to incremental improvements, and that will lead to a singular big improvement. 

For law firms in the start-up phase, here are some more useful tips: Navigating the Economic Landscape: Essential Knowledge for Small Law Firms.