Tips for Organizing Your Law Firm's Recordkeeping
If you are trying to get your law firm more organized, there are a lot of steps you can take that will make it more productive and successful. Since legal work gets so advanced and requires hours of study, the last thing you would want is the added stress of poor record-keeping or messy processes. If you follow the tips below, you'll be better able to run a law firm that is organized and a good steward over all legal records.
Build and secure your physical library
Though the world is becoming increasingly digital, don't abandon your physical records just yet. There's something to be said for having information in your hands as you spread it out on a table and brainstorm. Plus, servers go down all the time, so it's unwise to put your entire operation at the whim of downtime and other issues. As such, you should develop a strict system for your in-house law library, and make sure that you stick to it.
Keep your legal records neatly filed away in attorney's case file jackets, and set up a process that helps you sort and retrieve them whenever you need to. You can go deeper with these systems, using things like color coding and other matters to make your law library productive. Keep the physical space clean and always make backups of all your physical records.
Create several backups and get high-tech with the way you handle your legal records
Success with your legal records isn't just about creating backups but making sure that you create backups in multiple locations and formats. For instance, everything is moving to the cloud, so while you should backup your legal documents to these file sharing spaces, but you should also keep copies on your in-house hard drives.
Make sure that you have your own private server space so that you are getting the best from your resources, and so that you have more of a handle on your cybersecurity. There are several Software as a Service (SaaS) programs you can invest in to automate your law firm's recordkeeping processes. By taking the time to try out a few different systems, you will get to know which is the best fit for your company.
Above all, be sure that everyone in your firm is trained in the recordkeeping processes. This way, you'll be productive and make better use of your legal documents. Contact services such as American Legal Forms to learn more.