Did you know that 3/4 of small business owners who are struggling or failing say that not being organized has affected their productivity level?
When you fail to organize your business, you spend more time searching for what you need instead of the tasks at hand. For law firms, staying organized is even more serious.
If you have legal files that you can’t locate or don’t have space for new ones, it’s time to learn some organization tips. Keep reading to learn how to organize your legal files.
Declutter and Sort
A basic start to legal files organization is decluttering and sorting. If you are surrounded by clutter, you won’t be able to effectively organize.
Figure out your rough inventory and start sorting your files from there. This step will make it easier to develop your legal filing system from scratch.
If you have duplicate copies, throw them out and keep the originals. You can work through each area and declutter one section at a time. Divide your files into different categories based on pleadings, motions, correspondence, or client names.
Purge Unnecessary Documents
Not every file in the law office needs to be kept. If you fail to dispose of the unnecessary files, you won’t be able to declutter and organize. When you dispose of what you don’t need, you are freeing up additional space for what you do need.
There are some files that lawyers need to keep indefinitely so brush up on the laws in your area as a reminder. Any files you dispose of should be cleared of all loose ends.
Organize Your Current Filing System
If you want to organize an office completely, every person must use the same filing procedures. Create a standard set of rules for handling documents that every person must follow.
The following are tasks that must have standardized policies if they don’t already:
- Opening new client files
- Payment and billing acceptance
- Office supply orders
- Archiving, closing, and purging client files
- Client consultation scheduling
- Trial document preparation
- Daily filing system
These standard procedures will depend on how your law firm operates.
Create a New Filing System
If you had to look up how to organize legal files, you probably didn’t have the best system in place. For this reason, you should create a new filing system or edit your current one.
To operate efficiently, you have to have a system for both paper files and online files. An easy way to organize paper files is by creating physical tabs. You can do this at Tabshop.com.
The same goes for digital files except you will create digital tabs instead of physical ones. Your filing system should make it easy for employees to find any file that they are looking for.
Are You Ready to Organize Your Legal Files?
Without the right legal filing tips, your law firm could get into some legal trouble itself. So, are you ready to organize your legal files? We hope the answer is yes!
If you have trouble tracking down current files, start by decluttering and organizing the files you do have. From there, you can free up storage space and create a simple filing system for each employee to benefit from.
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