Overwhelmed? 
In the latest edition of Practice, Practice, we tackle document management and help you learn to tame the piles of paper that clutter your life.
Getting organized can help make your workspace work for you
Electronic records support clients’ needs
On one side is a lawyer sifting through boxes of files.
On the other side is a lawyer with a laptop.
When it comes to finding a document, whose search-and-retrieval system do you think will work best?
Jim Daley, partner with Overland Park, Kan., firm Daley & Fey, said converting records to an electronic form is essential not [...]
‘I really do know where everything is’
Here they rest. A miniature terra-cotta warrior, two empty pop cans, a two-hole punch, a pen holder that looks like two books, a pile of notes from phone calls, two computer monitors, a mouse, a spiral notebook with telephone messages, a pair of half-empty water bottles, a giant Arthur Bryant’s plastic cup, a few piles [...]
Ethics rules govern file storage, destruction
Cochran, Oswald & Roam has 42 years’ worth of client files.
Though the firm is lucky to have a big basement for storage at its office building in Blue Springs, it destroys 20-year-old closed client files regularly.
Every year, the firm’s administrator gives lawyers a list of files scheduled to be destroyed, said Jack Cochran, a founder [...]
Dos, don’ts of file storage, destruction
DO
Include file retention and destruction in fee agreements or engagement letters
Remind clients of destruction arrangements when a case ends
Get certification that a file was secure until it was destroyed
Keep a list of closed files
Send irreplaceable items such as original stock certificates to clients when a file is closed
Create guidelines for what should be saved
Go through [...]
All those files take up space
As firms look for ways to cut expenses, file storage is an issue in search of a cost-effective solution. Of course, the simplest option may also be the most obvious.
“If you’re a firm just starting out and you’ve got some extra space for the future, then you could look at it and say, ‘Well, why [...]
How to manage e-mail, fight inbox overload
Do you receive more e-mails a day than you have time to deal with? Does constantly checking your inbox interrupt your work? Are important messages getting buried?
Dealing with too much incoming e-mail leads to distraction from work, unproductive use of time and undue frustration. An influx of spam, junk and otherwise unnecessary e-mails can create [...]
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