New Tips For Using 'Out of Sight, Out Of Mind' Cards

This week we will continue to talk about “tips” that create a “fail-safe” set of circumstances to be sure that all of the important things in the administration of the day-to-day work in your law firm are done, when they need to be done, and in the proper .

Setting up “fail-safe” systems ensures the things that need to be done in order to keep your law firm running smoothly are done automatically.

As you know from your review of these ongoing articles, “administration” is the second part that makes up every business in the world.

The question here is, now that you have a client, how do you handle their matter from an administrative point of view in order to ensure everything the client has hired you to do is being done on a timely basis? The answer is to set up “fail-safe” systems in your office that forces everyone to comply with the “fail-safe” systems.

So far we have discussed nine “fail-safe tips” for setting up the administrative part of your law firm. These “fail-safe” systems are as follows:
1. Phone message system;
2. Prospective New Matter Reports;
3. Non-engagement letters;
4. New Matter Reports;
5. Two people signing off on each New Matter Report;
6. A new file for each client matter;
7. A separate billing file for each matter for each client;
8. “Thank you for referral” letters; and
9. Tickler cards (blue cards) as a condition precedent for opening a file.

This week's “fail-safe” system is the absolute necessity of having some type of “out of sight, out of mind” system in place that provides for a monthly reminder to tell you the name of the client and each client's matter for every single matter, for every single client in your office every month.

We have previously discussed the New Matter Report forms that we use to open up a file in our office. We have also discussed the fact that until these New Matter Reports are signed off in four areas by two people, the file may not be opened in our office. If the file is not opened, there is no file jacket, no filing backboards, no client and matter number, and hence no place for the lawyer and the staff to put the time that they are billing, and thus the office system fairly well shuts down and should frustrate anybody trying to do any work on the file.

This frustration is built into the New Matter Report system in order to prompt everyone to press for the file to be properly opened.

In addition to the “New Matter Report,” we previously talked about the “new matter index set.” You will remember that the last piece of paper in this index set was a hard manila cardboard 3x5 card that we use as the “out of sight, out of mind” card in our office.

You will also remember that when the “new matter index set” is typed, it makes up multiple different copies when it is typed one time.

Every time a new file is opened in our office, this “out of sight, out of mind” card is attached to the file and the lawyer who is working on the file is supposed to put a date on this card that will make this card come back across that lawyer's desk in the following month.

The way I normally do it is to split the cards in half and have half the cards come back across my desk on the tenth of the month and the other half come back across my desk on the twentieth of the month. This way I don't have too many cards to look at, at one time, and it is more likely that I will get through them and put new dates on them for the following month.

Once a date is put on these cards, they are filed in a 3x5 index card box and are then pulled out of that box when the due date comes up and they are sorted and placed on the desk of the person who has put the date and their initials on the card.

I suggest that the person who gets these “out of sight, out of mind” cards should be the attorney responsible for bringing the matter into the office, as that lawyer is usually the most conscientious person to be sure that the client matters are being handled on a timely basis.

When you get a “out of sight, out of mind” card on your desk, you should instantaneously be able to look at that card and tell yourself that you know exactly where that matter is in your office and that it is being handled on a timely basis. Only then can you put a date on it for the next month. If you are not absolutely sure as to the status of that matter, you should make a carbon copy of the “out of sight, out of mind” card and route it to the person in the office who is responsible for the work on that case, asking them to tell you exactly what the status of that matter is.

Sometimes I will take and put a date that is more than thirty days out on an “out of sight, out of mind” card. Sometimes it is appropriate for a matter to come up every quarter, sometimes it is appropriate to have a matter come across your desk twice a year.

For the most part though, I have these “out of sight, out of mind” cards come across my desk on a monthly basis to be absolutely sure that I am on top of all the matters that my clients have entrusted to me.

It is amazing how much better you feel when you know that you have reviewed every single matter in your office at least once a month.

You could do this with a computer list, on your palm pilot, or with “out of sight, out of mind” cards. No matter what type of a system you use, you need to implement a system that absolutely forces you to review every matter in your office every month.

Again, I think you can see how all these systems fit together, and how knowing where every matter in your office is on a monthly basis will allow you to keep things organized and moving forward in order to get satisfaction for your client.

Often times, these cards will remind you of something that needs to be done, of some contact you need to make with your client, of the need to get an additional retainer, and various other things that are all part of the ongoing handling of legal matters in your office.

If you do not have an “out of sight, out of mind” system in your office for every matter for every client, set one up now! Remember, happy clients are your greatest advertisement!

Next week we will talk about “for your information” copies of all incoming and outgoing mail to clients as part of a “fail-safe” system. I think you will find these ongoing comments with regard to each of these “fail-safe” systems interesting and useful.

Talk to you next week!

Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group.