Law Office Filing System Example

Gabriela Díaz
Legal27
Published in
6 min readJul 21, 2023

Why are filing systems so essential for law firms?

The legal landscape is hasty and demanding, and lawyers are faced with an overwhelming number of papers, records, and documents to keep track of and file. Since paperwork can be one hell of a time-consuming task, law firms require an efficient legal filing system that allows them to keep all their client casework organized and easy to access.

An organized, well-implemented filing system is not only essential for maintaining order but can also significantly impact a law firm’s productivity and success.

Organized filing systems improve your business productivity and work

By applying a top-quality filing system to their law offices, lawyers can also benefit from:

  • Enhanced Access and Retrieval of Information — Ensuring that all their client casework is within easy reach, thus saving valuable time that could be well spent on some other, more urgent tasks.
  • Security — Maintaining client confidentiality and data security All sensitive information is preserved, properly protected, and stored, safeguarding both client data and the firm’s reputation.
  • Collaboration — Lawyers should have the advantage of easy collaboration among coworkers and staff, enabling them to work together seamlessly, share their knowledge, and access key documents in real-time.
  • Productivity — A top-notch filing system leads to minimized time waste since there should be no misplaced or lost documents, allowing lawyers to focus on other crucial legal work and delivering quality services.
  • Compliance with Legal Obligations — Ensuring that law firms meet their legal requirements, such as audits, investigations, or court proceedings
A legal filing system is the digital, more-efficient version of this old archiving tradition.

How are Filing Systems effective for Lawyers?

When your legal filings are not organized, lawyers and the rest of the law firm’s staff will waste time and resources trying to find the files associated with each client, hurting both your productivity and your reputation (and, as a result, also your cash flow).

Any business needs organization and order to function properly, and lawyers are no exception.

Filing Systems are effective as they have been upgraded according to the new digital world’s needs. As MyCase states, paper-only ways of filing (such as the old drawers full of papers that we showed above) can slow things down since each needs to be physically handed over, mailed…, scanned, and then emailed. Whatever the case, it is a slow, annoying process that results in a hassle for the clients, stakeholders, and your staff.

On the other hand, the Filing System that we are talking about consists of cloud-based storage and sharing. These systems allow you to submit, locate, maintain, and safeguard all your client’s data on a cloud, which benefits all your work team by allowing them to easily access and share documents at the exact moment they are required. There also exist secure ways to sign online, applying eSignature functionalities to handle signed documents in a matter of seconds.

How could Filing Systems NOT make a Lawyer’s job easier?

Law Office Filing System Example

Since MyCase was cited above, we will follow suit, showing their self-published filing system example of how all of this works.

MyCase is a legal case management software for lawyers and law firms. They offer cloud-based storage and filing, just as advised, allowing lawyers to run their practices with more efficiency and keep all the data they need within easy reach.

What’s pictured above is an example of the user locating the document they need using Full Text Search. In this case, the name of the file stored is “Retainer Agreement.”

Once you are ready to file, MyCase software enables you to integrate existing documents of yours that are resting on systems like Office or Adobe Acrobat. This way, all your documents will be stored under the same roof: the cloud.

Pictures of the process are lended by MyCase itself; https://www.mycase.com/blog/law-firm-operations/law-office-filing-system-example/

Additionally, by keeping all related documents (data that applies to the same topics) in one file, you will have easy access in case you need to update a specific document. If you keep your “digital drawers” organized enough, you will know which file belongs to what case, when it was assigned, and the latest updates you or your staff have done to them.

See how everything is properly listed and stored in the picture above? That is how an efficient filing system works and can help your law firm.

MyCase finishes the example by stating that, when it is time to onboard a new client, you could easily finalize initial paperwork by drafting fee agreements and utilizing eSignature capabilities.

This way you can also easily and quickly sign documents

Overall, an efficient filing system allows you and other lawyers to wrap up a task that could have taken hours in a matter of minutes.

Therefore, filing systems are an absolutely recommendable way of keeping your work organized, easy to access, and allowing for collaboration within your team.
In addition, though it is not mandatory for your business, upgrading and modernizing your working methods will never hurt, and by implementing them at your office, you will see that it was all worth it, as it will reflect upon your law firm’s productivity, efficiency, and client satisfaction.

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Gabriela Díaz
Legal27
Writer for

✍🏻 Hey! I'm a Freelance writer and SEO. Spanish-English translator and teacher. Contact me if you want to work with me: gabdlatorre@gmail.com