Many times similar articles only talk about what to do and not how to do it, I think these tips are very specific and shall really help you. Feel free to contribute yours in the comments section!
Recently, I have been receiving various queries regarding how to increase one’s efficiency while working. As a lawyer providing civil litigation and corporate services, the management and fetching of documents surely becomes a headache. However apart from general tips, here are some specific tips that I follow: –
1. Colour-coding while highlighting really helps while referring to judgments. Make it a point to identify with certain colours subconsciously. For example, I use a green highlighter for the paragraphs that I shall quote; and a yellow one for important facts.
2. In my work files, I have 3 main folders – Litigation; Corporate; and Non-Matured work. I keep everything remotely related to the cases in them. Trust me, some documents may not be of use now but shall be very relevant later on. These also include related judgments and highlighted versions of those judgments.
3.Till the time a client has not matured, there might be a brief legal opinion that you have drafted; or a judgment that you have highlighted. Keep all of those in a separate folder titled by the client’s name; inside a parent folder called non-matured work. Thereafter, as soon as the client has matured, shift it to litigation/corporate.
4.Use One-drive/appropriate services to share documents from your laptop and phone. Clients find this very impressive as while editing drafts in front of them, it is being updated in real-time on the cloud and even shareable to them on Whatsapp instantly.
5.Create an excel sheet where you keep track of fees paid, fees outstanding and fee invoices yet to be sent.
6.Start creating a word file wherein you have one line summaries to judgements that can be fetched asap. Just today morning, a lawyer had messaged me regarding an issue related to service law and writs. Because I have that ready-reckoner, I was able to fetch the appropriate citation and send it to her on the spot.
7. Whatever handwritten notes that you have, they are bound to get lost. Scan them and keep them in the appropriate folder.
I hope these help. Feel free to share your tips with me personally, as well. Let us keep them specific and not just say, be organized.
