Trial Magazine
Question of the Month
Whats Your Number One Tip for Working Efficiently at the Office?
January 2018“Establish time periods for uninterrupted work. We label these blocks of time on a master calendar so that everybody in the office knows when each attorney should not be disturbed. Equally important, block off periods of time in your calendar when staff can come by for some face time to discuss cases in-depth.”
Sam Coffey, Coffey Trial Law, Fort Lauderdale, FL
“Embrace technology! I use DropBox for electronic access to all files and documents from any location; Adobe Acrobat Pro for editing, combining, and Bates stamping pdfs; Doodle for scheduling depositions and meetings; and DocuSign for signing documents and fee agreements electronically.”
Devon M. Jacob, Jacob Litigation, Mechanicsburg, PA
“I use a powerful to-do list program called OmniFocus that organizes tasks by project and context—for example, tasks I can only do at the office, tasks I can do remotely, or tasks I can do when I’m meeting with a certain person. It filters out irrelevant tasks and brings the most important ones to the forefront. I can easily add new tasks from my computer or iPhone anywhere at any time.”
Jacob A. Walker, Block & Leviton, Boston, MA
“I try to handle a piece of paper—such as a letter—only once, rather than repeatedly putting it aside to handle later.”
Mary E. Alexander, Mary Alexander & Associates, San Francisco, CA
"Everyone in my office has at least two monitors to extend his or her visual workspace—allowing everyone, for example, to have a document open on one screen and email on the other. And we set our office scanners to include optical character recognition as the default, so all scans are automatically searchable."
David Roth, Roth & Roth, New York, NY
“Take a few minutes each day to list three “must-dos” for the next day, and assign a time and deadline for each. Be sure to identify the single most important “must-do” as well. I learned this tip from the book Organize Tomorrow Today—it helps on so many levels, including productivity, efficiency, and stress management.”
Laura V. Yaeger, Yaeger Law, St. Petersburg, FL
