Chapter 10 Document Management

There are is only one thing to keep in mind concerning document management:

TIDINESS.

And tidiness arises in two forms: paper and digital.

A good advocate has her paperwork in order - at all times.

And this takes time. And effort. And you have to keep on it.

It is very easy to let things go. And go they will.

Let's talk first about PAPER.

When you start out, the paperwork is usually little. And this can lead to bad habits forming early on. Papers get lumped together, and kept in a mess - but you think it does not matter much, as there are perhaps only 20 pieces of paper in the brief.

But this will change. In little time, as your cases become more sophisticated, the number of pages will grow to 50, to 100, to 500, to more.

At the independent Bar, often there is no one overseeing your practice, which means no one calls you out for slovenly paper management.

Yet work is often returned, as you may be unavailable to deal with a matter, so someone else does it. And it is irksome to pick up another's slovenly paper-mess.

But more importantly, TIDY PAPERS MEAN A FOCUSED MIND.

If your papers are a mess, then usually so is your case, and so are you.

So start early, and get used to good paper management.

At the Bar of England and Wales, papers often arrive loose, tied in red or white ribbon.

I suggest every brief should go in a ringbinder.

Buy one.

This may mean punching the paperwork - so just do it.

Start with your first page as the backsheet which identifies the parties and court.

Then the indictment or pleadings.

Then the instructions.

Then the proof from the client.

Then the witness statements.

Then the unused materials.

Then the correspondence.

Then the advices you have written.

You should know where every piece of paper is - every one, no kidding - and how to find it within 10 seconds - that is not a bad rule of thumb -10 SECONDS.

And the act of assembling the brief in this way leads to 3 things:

1 you will naturally see how the case fits together,

2 you will know where to place further materials as they arrive,

3 you will feel on top of the case.

Never fails.

This is easy stuff - but there are many who do not do it - and I like to think they are easier to beat in court, because their messiness usually means messy advocacy.

Once in the habit, you will find that assembling the paperwork becomes your act of ‘owning the case', and it becomes a professional pleasure.

As for DIGITAL material, there is more and more of this.

You have really got to develop a system for keeping on top of it.

It comes in as ‘attachments', which have to be opened, and somehow on a computer, for me I find I read it less thoroughly - as I think I can always return to it later, as it is on my computer which goes everywhere with me, and it is less readily easily marked up and highlighted.

Also, though maybe it is just my age, it does not feel so intimate on a screen as paper between my fingers.

Emails are correspondence, yet it is easy to fail as a matter of discipline to gather them into the brief.

The attachments and the emails become separated in cyberspace. And the attachments simply lie about in a folder, separate and unintegrated. So the brief lacks cohesion.

So here is my suggestion, which in our computer age I hope is not luddite - if you are a courtroom advocate, print everything out!

Printing should be part of your daily routine.

No matter how big the attachment.

Get used to it.

TURN DIGITAL MATERIAL INTO PAPER.

And go get a ring binder.