The Better Chancery Practice Blog

How do you keep track of the deadlines and scheduled matters that are ticking away among your client files?

Most grizzled veterans know that the answer lies in a reliable “tickler” systam — some call it a “diary” system — that will call your attention to those matters.

When I practiced, the secretaries would create a card for every case file. I would examine the file and note a date on the front cover, like “7-12-12,” and return it to the secretary. She would then note the date on the file card and deposit the card in an index-card box that contained monthly tabs with numbered sub-tabs 1-31 between them. That file card would go in the July 2012 tab, between the 7-11-12 cards and the 7-13-12 cards. The file itself was then filed in its proper, alphabetical place. Each morning, the secretary would extract the cards for that day, pull the corresponding files and place them on my desk. I would then examine the files and do the work that needed to be done to keep those files current, like prepare pleadings, write letters, schedule an event, or respond to discovery. Before I returned the file to the secretary I would notate it with a later tickler date, and the secretary would process it back into the file system as described above. Sometimes a tickler date was only to make me look at the file to check its status. In any event, no file went into the system without a current tickler date unless it was finally closed. Once a month the secratary was responsible to go through the tickler cards to ensure that no card was misfiled, or that a card had been overlooked. This was the system for handling files only. There were two separate, redundant calendaring systems for court appearances, appointments, and important deadlines.

That’s a rudimentary tickler and calendaring system, and I am sure that many attorneys out there have more elaborate or more effective systems or ways of doing things.

Not all lawyers are effective at organization. New lawyers are understandably helter-skelter as they discover the intricate pitfalls of practice that await the naive. Even veterans, however, who become complacent and careless, can fall into a snare.

The point is, if you are a young lawyer starting out, you have got to get yourself organized so that you do not miss deadlines and court appointments, or fail to do it at your peril. It’s not so hard when you first open your law office and have only three files leading to litigation among a dozen or so other miscellaneous matters that don’t require scheduling. As your practice grows, however, you have got to systematize or face the wrath of a judge or a client.

And if you are a more experienced lawyer who finds yourself chronically late or a no-show, or who misses deadlines, or who can’t keep track of your probate practice, you’d better come up with a way to do it. Or else.

There are law practice managament software programs available that can do the task for you in a more streamlined way than the 19th-century system described above. Here’s a link to an article that describes some of them.

When it comes to managing your time, workload and deadlines, don’t just sit there; do something. The success or failure of your career depends on it.