This week we are starting a series of must-haves for every attorney but what separate this list from the many others is that it will be solely focused on actionable and practical must haves as opposed to the standard subjective material. Similar to any other profession, there is a list of must haves for attorneys. We are going to continue the series with touching on a tool that has been deemed a necessity over time: practice management software.

Practice Management Software:  

The stereotypical visual of an office being swamped in papers filling every nook and cranny is typically used to depict the lifestyle of an attorney. Now whether or not this stereotype holds true to your office, there is always room for improvement! Improvement can mean many things for many different people however there is an overwhelming consensus on the need for optimized organizational practices when it comes to practice management.

Similar to any landscape, there is plenty of competition when it comes to platforms that offer cloud based organization tools. Clio, CosmoLex and Practice Panther are among the highest rated options. From legal practice management to client intake and client relationship management, these platforms offer an incredible variety of methods for organizing your practice. No matter the size of the firm, organization will always be a key in ensuring the success of a growing practice.

At first, it can seem a little overwhelming integrating a new platform into your daily routine as an attorney. But the initial lift of transferring everything to one of these platforms increases your efficiency exponentially in the long run. Before you decide whether or not this is something you’re interested in, take a moment to analyze your current workflow. Use this time to discern what works for you and what doesn’t then remain conscious of these factors when selecting a platform.

Now you can say your last goodbyes to offices drowning in paper work and endless walls of filing cabinets!

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Email is by far one of the biggest time sucks for the modern professional. Hours can swiftly pass by while trying to catch up on an ever growing inbox. As an attorney, you are often sifting through emails from clients in conjunction with correspondence from other audiences aiding you in your case related pursuits. It can take hours just trying to decide what requires your immediate attention and what can wait. The common nature of this time suck has inspired the creation of the following list of tips to help you avoid giving half your work day to checking and responding to emails!

Prioritize before you log in:

What are the most pressing responsibilities on your list of to-dos? Organize them in order of priority and focus on the top 3 subjects. When you first jump into your email, be sure to read and respond to emails only related to them. This can be difficult to do when you’re scrolling through and scanning for the topic so make it easier on yourself by searching within your inbox. Searching and pulling up emails solely related to the topics on your list will keep your efforts laser focused and optimize the use of your time. Searching the topic in your inbox also removes all potential sidetracking emails related to “exclusive deals” and/or any other form of content completely unrelated to your professional line of work.

Put a time block in your schedule to check your email:

Constantly checking your email while on the go maintains constant professional pressure. While this may be motivation in many cases, it can also significantly contribute to burn out. So instead put time on your calendar daily to check your email, take control of your response time and interactions of this nature. The amount of time you block off is completely up to you, some people do one hour while others commit to two and a half hours. The point of this tip is to build the act of checking your email into a workflow that makes things less overwhelming.

Use an email scheduling plug-in:

Okay, scheduling emails has changed the game for everyone that does it. There is a large possibility that you’re never going to go back once you begin to use this practice. Now bear with me when I make this next suggestion: what if you didn’t check your email at all during the day? I know, it sounds insane but get this, we all know there are some emails that don’t require immediate response and attention, things that require thoughtful responses and pondering. Save these emails for later, respond to them at a later time. Now I am not saying you should be responding to emails at 7:00pm, but I am saying you could draft your responses to emails at 7:00pm and schedule them to be automatically sent at 8:00am. The most famous tool for scheduling emails is the Boomerang plug-in for Gmail. Let’s not also confuse this with the idea of extending your work day, it’s more so rearranging your work hours in a sense.

All of these tips were written with the theme of increasing the efficiency seen in an average work day. Of course these aren’t the only options, but they are definitely among the best!

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