by ymmv » Sat Sep 01, 2018 10:12 pm
Add all meetings and deadlines to your calendar the second you know about them. If your office uses Outlook I’d recommend dragging and dropping the email(s) containing the assignment onto the due date and/or the date you plan to start the work. Make sure to set advance (72 hours, 24 hours) reminders for filing deadlines in particular and to keep your paralegals and the managing attorney’s office apprised of them, assuming you have either.
Assuming you’re at a firm, track your billed time as you work using Carpe Diem or similar tools; reconstructing unrecorded time after the fact is a highly avoidable nightmare. Track all time you spend working even if it may be written off before client billing later.
If you’re using Outlook, be sure to store all your emails in categorized folders, especially if your firm has an automatic inbox deletion policy. Microsoft search tools are unfathomably awful so you’ll have a hard time finding anything without folders anyway. If you use Gmail this isn’t as necessary provided you’re good with search queries and remembering key names or terms. Speaking of, if you have a choice in the matter and aren’t locked into some hideous networked monstrosity like iManage, work on a Mac so you can actually search contents of files right from Finder. This will save you unbelievable amounts of time – the function doesn’t work properly in Windows and only barely works in iManage.
Keep all case files organized in matter-specific folders and subfolders. Be really really granular with the organization – you’ll thank yourself later.
If you’re the most junior attorney in the room, you’ll be expected to take notes at every meeting, so you’ll want to work on your shorthand efficiency (or bring a laptop if that’s not frowned upon). If it’s an important meeting (e.g. with the government or an adverse party) draft up a short memo afterward summarizing the keynotes of the meeting. Be sure to date all your notes.
A lot of that’s probably a bit far from what you’re actually asking about, but if I think of any more tech-related tips I’ll stop back by.
Add all meetings and deadlines to your calendar the second you know about them. If your office uses Outlook I’d recommend dragging and dropping the email(s) containing the assignment onto the due date and/or the date you plan to start the work. Make sure to set advance (72 hours, 24 hours) reminders for filing deadlines in particular and to keep your paralegals and the managing attorney’s office apprised of them, assuming you have either.
Assuming you’re at a firm, track your billed time as you work using Carpe Diem or similar tools; reconstructing unrecorded time after the fact is a highly avoidable nightmare. Track all time you spend working even if it may be written off before client billing later.
If you’re using Outlook, be sure to store all your emails in categorized folders, [i]especially[/i] if your firm has an automatic inbox deletion policy. Microsoft search tools are unfathomably awful so you’ll have a hard time finding anything without folders anyway. If you use Gmail this isn’t as necessary provided you’re good with search queries and remembering key names or terms. Speaking of, if you have a choice in the matter and aren’t locked into some hideous networked monstrosity like iManage, work on a Mac so you can actually search contents of files right from Finder. This will save you unbelievable amounts of time – the function doesn’t work properly in Windows and only barely works in iManage.
Keep all case files organized in matter-specific folders and subfolders. Be really really granular with the organization – you’ll thank yourself later.
If you’re the most junior attorney in the room, you’ll be expected to take notes at every meeting, so you’ll want to work on your shorthand efficiency (or bring a laptop if that’s not frowned upon). If it’s an important meeting (e.g. with the government or an adverse party) draft up a short memo afterward summarizing the keynotes of the meeting. Be sure to date all your notes.
A lot of that’s probably a bit far from what you’re actually asking about, but if I think of any more tech-related tips I’ll stop back by.