Managing Legal Cases Digitally (When Case Management Software is not an Option)

This article is not intended for attorneys who practice law in first world countries or large firms equipped with case management software.  Instead, I write from the perspective of a practitioner in a third world/ developing country where subscriptions to case management software are simply unaffordable and most of my colleagues shy away from using the computer.  For attorneys in my country, Jamaica, and other Caribbean territories to obtain a good case management software they would have to pass on the cost to clients who already cannot afford, or would rather not pay, legal fees.  With a little computer knowledge and organisation skills, attorneys can save pockets of time that add up over time.

I began my legal career as a prosecutor.  There was no computer on my desk, cases were simply managed by the maintenance of a good old diary which was manually updated from the court sheet daily.  I owned my a computer but relied heavily on pens and paper to summarise the cases.  My most prized "tools of the trade" were a pencil box filled with a rainbow of highlighters, Pilot Precise and Uniball pens and my secret stash of new coloured pens that I kept in a shoe box at home.  It was a weird obsession but when I went to the Director of Public Prosecutions Department I soon realised that many of my female colleagues shared my pen/ stationery obsession.  My obsession cost me an average of US$150 on pens, highlighters and post-it note pads in Walmart each time I travelled.

After giving away the bulk of my prized stash of pens from those days, 

this is my current stash ... and I rarely use pens today.

When I started working in the private sector I was responsible for managing the Legal Department efficiently.  One of the biggest budget items was printing.  We generated a lot of paper and being the organiser that I innately am, I set about implementing systems to simplify my life as in-house counsel and reduce the printing budget.  I decided to digitise the office the way I wished the Director of Public Prosecutions Department would and the way I would if I was a sole practitioner.  The result was a reduced printing budget because only documents that needed to be printed were printed. All work files were saved on my laptop so I could work remotely.  [I am an advocate for attorneys working remotely, especially when they need to draft documents or conduct research because there are fewer interruptions. Unfortunately, very few employers seem to trust staff to work remotely.]  This is what I did to manage my cases without a sophisticated case management software.

YOU WILL NEED

1. A computer (I prefer laptops because of their portability)
2. A Scanner
3. An External Hard Drive

CREATE A SHARED DRIVE

I had the luxury of an Information Technology Manager so creating the shared drive was his job. A shared drive gives you and any other person with whom the drive is shared access to the files.

INVEST IN A SCANNER

I ordered a simple, reliable scanner from Appliance Traders Limited (ATL).  I choose this simple, easy to use and portable Canon scanner.  There are more sleek and portable scanners on the market now but this one proved reliable enough for me.  Today you can even use your cellphone as a document scanner but I somehow still prefer a flat bed scanner.

Source of Photograph: Amazon.com

I swear by this scanner.  I have had mine for over five years and it still works perfectly. It is powered by a USB cable so no electricity is required and you have one less cable to contend with and I hate clutter.  Additionally, I did not have to stand over it.  I could sit and scan away.

For those who have bulkier documents to scan, and who can afford it, there are scanners on the market that automatically feed the documents being scanned and emails the digital copy directly to your email account.  Some examples can be found here.

TIPS FOR SCANNING AND SAVING FILES

1. Scan ALL new documents entering the office.  After obtaining the scanner I instructed my assistant to scan all new documents entering the office while simultaneously working on scanning each file in the filing cabinets.  It took some time to scan all the open files but we (... rather he) did it.  In retrospect a scanner that has the capacity to feed documents would have saved us time but unfortunately only heavy duty ones were available at the time of our purchase and it was not my intention to invest heavily in a commercial grade scanner knowing that after we had scanned the open files we would have less documents to scan.
2. Save Scanned Documents as PDFs and MSWord Documents (When Necessary).  I found it useful to save the documents as PDFs unless I needed a working copy, then I would save both a PDF and a MsWord Copy of the same document.
3. Scan and Save Documents Individually. Avoid scanning and saving an entire file as one large PDF.  I found it easier to save each document as one file and if necessary I  would also save all the documents as one PDF using a PDF merger.
4. Create a System for Naming Files (File Path).  I tend to use systems that make it easier for people who may need to rely on my work after I have left (for any reason including death) to find what they need with ease.  I extended that approach to my assistant's work.  Assistants/ Paralegals come and go and you do not want to be left in a bind when an assistant suddenly leaves.  You could look on the Assistant's computer and discover you have to search through every single digital file to find one document.  What if your Assistant or Paralegal gave every Defence received the filename "Defence No 1, 2, 3 ... and so on"?  Finding the defence you needed would be a waste of time and you would end up having to pay the replacement to undo the mess.  In my opinion, assistants/ paralegals should be using a file path system that has either been set up by the Attorney or a system the Attorney can easily use on their own in the absence of the assistant/paralegal.  It would be best if the Attorney provides the assistant with the file path at the start of employment and insist that it is strictly followed unless the Attorney instructs otherwise.

In deciding how to name files you need to determine how you prefer to identify clients' files.  You can use the same system you use in your filing cabinets to help you to name each digital folder.  In fact, that will help you retrieve the hard copy of the file.

Each file in your filing cabinet is the equivalent of a folder on your desktop and each category of documents in each physical file is equivalent to a subfolder.  So look at how you organise the files in your filing cabinets to help you to decide how to save the documents digitally.  Do you use clients' names and/or an identification number to distinguish clients with the same names?  Do you prefer to have the most recent document at the top of the file or the bottom of the physical file?  I personally prefer to have the most recent document on the top so as I open the file I know what is the latest thing on it.

Including the numerical version of dates in each file name will also help to arrange each digital file in date order.  Depending on how you name your files all documents would be automatically saved in sequential order.  This also makes it easy to convert the individual files into one PDF if you ever need to.  It also makes it easy for a new attorney or paralegal to go through the digital file and be fully apprised of what has transpired.

Legal files generally contain several types of documents that can be broken down into sub-categories.  For example in criminal cases:

• Client Information and Minute Sheet
• Client Intake Form
• Client Identification
• Documents Received from Client
• Invoices
• Minute Sheets
• Correspondence
• Lawyer/Client
• Lawyer/Crown
• Lawyer/Others (Investigators, witnesses, experts etc.)
• Statements
• Prosecution Witness Statements
• Defence Witness Statements
• Documents Served
• Notices to Adduce
• Evidence (Audio, Video, Documentary)
• Research
• Authorities
• Legislation
• Sections from Books
• Working Documents
• Case for the Prosecution
• Case for the Defence
• Submissions

For Civil Cases, I usually create some of the subfolders above and:

• Documents - Mediation
• Documents - Filed in Court
• Documents - Exhibited or Disclosed
• Documents - Judgments
• Documents - Legal Research

5. Use Sub Folders.  I use these sub-categories to create sub-folders because I do not like wading through irrelevant files to get to the ones I need.  If you prefer to have all your files in one folder and no subfolders, the file path system I use keeps all files in each sub-category together in date order as well.  In my previous post, I explained that the file names on my computer tell me which folders and subfolders to search in order to find the document I need.

In deciding on the file path I usually start with the word I want to use to arrange all the files into an organised list. This way even if you are too lazy to create a folder for each client or matter and you dump all your digital files in My Documents they can still be sorted by client, type of matter or type of document.  Once the file is saved to its folder it will automatically be filed in date order or alphabetic order depending on where you place the date.

You can use abbreviated terms to shorten the file names particularly if you are using a system which limits the number of characters in filenames.  For instance, in the screenshot above I used CL/L to represent letters from the client to the lawyer and L/CL for letters from the lawyer to the Client. You will also notice that when the CL/L or L/CL is placed before the date you will have all letters from the lawyer/ client organised by date.  If you want to be able to read the correspondence between you and the client in sequential order then place the date before CL/L or L/CL.

Including Dates in the File Path 

In deciding which date to use, I use the following:

• Correspondence - Date on the letter
• Documents filed in court - Date the court stamps the document as being received
• Witness Statements in Criminal Matters - Date the statement was recorded

You have to decide which method of representing the date you will include in the file path.  I personally moved from:

• Jan 1, 2000 (It annoyed me that the computer sorted the documents alphabetically using the first letter in the month.  So I ended up with all files dated January being grouped together by date and then year to;
• 20000101(I found this method too difficult to decipher while scanning lists of documents) to;
• 2000 - 01 - 01 (year-month-date) This style spreads out the date too much for my obsessive compulsive nature as it relates to the layout of words so I adjusted this style to the style I currently use which is 2000-01-01.  I insert one space before and after the words to make the file name easier to read in a list. Example: 2000-01-01 - File Number - File Name.  I personally prefer to use dashes instead of the underscore (2000_01_01) but that is my "layout obsession" speaking.  If you prefer the underscore method use it.

Including Case File Numbers in the File Path

In naming criminal practice files I recommend including the case number since a client can have several cases pending for the same offence.  If you practise in several parishes you can also include abbreviations for the relevant parish before the File Number.  By so doing the cases will be organised by the Parish Court.  When I practised Criminal Law one of my pet peeves was the file numbering system employed by the Director of Public Prosecution's Department (Jamaica) for Rural Circuit Court matters.  Every term the Court Administrator assigned new numbers to the cases in each Rural Circuit. So for example, Case 1/1990 can become Case 40/2017.  This used to be the case in the Home Circuit Court but that was eventually changed.  Apparently, the same reasoning cannot be applied to the Rural Circuits.  So today, ten years after I left the department, the DPPD fails to see how this number system contributes to cases being on the list for years without prosecutors realising just how long and the waste of manpower and resources involved.    The system allegedly works for them but in my opinion, it makes no sense when the only person who can track a Rural Circuit matter by its file number was the DPP's Office Administrator and that person has to read through a pile of notebooks in order to do so.  Whereas if each matter was assigned a Circuit Court number when the file is submitted to the DPP's office judges, prosecutors, lawyers and even the public could tell this matter was the first matter for the year 1990.  The file number alone would prompt prosecutors and judges to try to dispose of the matter because of its age ... but that's probably for another post.

For cases with fixed file numbers, you can include the file number in the file path.  By so doing you can conduct a general search of your computer for all files with that file number and even if you move all files related to one client into one folder they can still be organised by file number, depending on how you name the file. For civil matters that are not settled before a suit is filed, I usually rename the files after the suit is filed to include the Suit Number.  If you are using a Mac computer this task can be executed in seconds using Automator.

For Civil matters, I found it most efficient to sort the files by the dates documents were filed instead of the type of document.  By saving the documents by the date the file is organised sequentially.  You will be able to tell by looking at the documents you have in the folder which documents need to be prepared.  If there were amendments to the Statement of Case, Defence or several witnesses statements etc I would simply create sub-sub-folders and label them Statement of Case, Defence etc to keep all those documents together.

Locating Documents in a Thick Bundle

To be able to quickly locate documents in a thick bundle using the computer this is how I save the files.  I confess, it is time-consuming initially but it is well worth it at the trial stage.  

Create a folder for Exhibits or Documents Disclosed.  Create subfolders for each document filed in court with attachments. When creating the file path start by numbering the file path sequentially, and add the page number at the end of the file path, if the pages of the bundle are numbered for ease of reference.  By so doing you can simply use the file name to locate the physical document.  I also recommend adding the title of the document at the end of the file path if possible. This way you can search for the title of the document in the "Exhibits/Documents Disclosed" folder This is illustrated below.

BACKUP YOUR DOCUMENTS
It goes without saying when discussing managing digital files.  Backup your files.  Invest in an external hard drive.  I recommend something small and USB powered.

I know there are many of us who want to be more organised but we have no idea how to get started.  Sometimes all that is required is some inspiration from someone else.  Hopefully, this post provides some inspiration.