A Few More Trial Outline Forms for You to Consider
We are currently talking about the area of "getting the work done" as one of the five parts of every business in the world. As you know, the other four parts are "clients or customers," "administration," "billing," and "collecting."
I made the comment to someone the other day that you might actually be able to limp along in your business if you do a spectacular job of "getting the work done."
These "tips" I am giving you with regard to each of the five areas of every business in the world are totally applicable, not only to the practice of law, but to any other business.
This week's "tip" for "getting the work done" is the last of the forms from the trial outline that lend themselves to being used in any kind of a legal matter you are handling to help you "get the work done." You will remember the list is as follows:
1. Form 1 - Table of Contents;
2. Form 2 - Directory;
3. Form 3 - Things to do;
4. Form 4 - Case Re-Cap/Settlement;
5. Form 16 - Chronology;
6. Form 17 - Witness Identification (Cast of Characters);
7. Form 18 - Exhibits (Documents); and
8. Form 25 - Legal Memoranda.
You will remember the reason that we are using these numbers is because those are the numbered forms in the Trial Outline. It is important to remember these numbers and y get used to using them whenever you are referring to the form.
Form 17 looks as follows:
Note that you put the person's last name first and then the first name, the plaintiff or defendant designation (the plaintiff or defendant designation would not necessarily apply), then that person's occupation, also whether or not you had a deposition/statement with regard to them.
The reason for utilizing such a witness identification listing in a non-litigation matter is to give yourself a handy reference to look up the people who are that are being mentioned in a particular case. Obviously, if there are only two parties involved in a matter, you do not need to use this form. This form only becomes helpful if there are lots of parties and lots of information about those parties that you are trying to keep track of.
The next form is Form 18 - Exhibits (Documents). This form looks like the following in the trial outline:
Obviously, this format would not be helpful in a non-litigation matter. I suggest you
go back to what Form 16 looked like in terms of a chronology and then realize that you can make a document chronology utilizing a combination of Form 18 - Exhibits (Documents) and Form 16 - Chronology. I would suggest the form look something like the following:
DATE DOCUMENT CONTENT OF DOCUMENT
If it is important for you to put together a list of all the documents in a particular matter, this format can lend itself to both an index to the forms as well as a quick recap of the forms without having to go to the actual form itself.
The last form Form 25 - Legal Memoranda, Citations of Decisions and Other Law. This form looks like the following:
You can see that you can put down each case or statute, and then you can put down what that particular case or statute stands for. This is a great way to recap information that you are going to be utilizing in the handling of a particular case. Additionally, you can make copies of the cases or statutes, highlight the same and put them in manila folders utilizing this form for legal memoranda as an index. Often times I will put together a file on the law for a particular case by utilizing a red roper expandable file, and then utilizing manila folders inside of the expandable folder that contain each of the pertinent parts of the law that apply to my particular matter.
The secret to staying organized with regard to the utilization of all of the above forms is to think of a better way to organize what you are trying to wrap your arms around rather than just double-hole punching everything and simply putting it on a backboard. You very quickly will find that information that is stored that way has additional information that gets put on top of it, and you quite simply can never find it when you need it. When you utilize the forms that I have been talking about that come from the Trial Outline in non-litigation matters, having each of these forms either be a separate backboard, a separate manila folder, or if need be even a separate expandable file with manila folders in it, simply lends itself to being able to be retrieved much quicker. Remember, the concept of a manual computer consisting of sheets of paper, manila folders, expandable files, and bankers boxes is only as good as its organizational system. Remember the old adage, "junk in, junk out."
Another technique in a particular file would be to take each of these and place them in a three ring binder. In a litigation setting, the binder becomes a trial outline. In a non-litigation matter, the binder becomes a working binder giving you easy access to information that you can simply pull out of the back of your file and don't have to spend a lot of time trying to dig through the file to locate the information.
No, I do not have any stock in a three ring binder company or in an office supply company.
Often times, if I get ready for a conference with my clients, I like to pull out my three ring notebooks and review them so I am on top of the specifics I may need for the particular meeting in question. Familiarity with the matter you are about ready to immerse yourself in puts you at a great advantage
You may be asking why I don't make up some forms for non-litigation matters instead of using the forms from the Trial Outline. The answer is that I try not to have more forms than I actually need, and try to follow the concept of the "KISS" method. You will remember that this means, "keep it simple stupid."
Next week we are going to be talking about a very interesting area which is case timelines or critical path method of organization. I first came across this concept in dealing with some construction clients who had both timelines and critical path methods of construction that needed to be followed. I was immediately struck by the concept that this may be available as a tool to help organize any number of legal matters including litigation. I think you will find the information quite interesting and you may have exactly the case in your office where you can apply this timeline or critical path method system.
Talk to you next week.
FORM 17 - WITNESS IDENTIFICATION
(Name, P/D, occupation, depo/statement, relationship, projected testimony)
1.
2.
3.
FORM 18 - EXHIBITS
OFFERED ACCEPTED NO. NATURE OF EXHIBIT
__________ _________ ____ ______________
FORM 25 - LEGAL MEMORANDA, CITATIONS OF
DECISIONS AND OTHER LAW
CASE: HOLDING:
Jim Wirken is a civil trial attorney and the Chairman of the Board of The Wirken Law Group in Kansas City.