How To Stay Organized (And Sane) as a Family Lawyer

A family law practice has many components and requires deliberate organizing. Each lawyer runs their practice a bit differently, so take time to think about what works for you. This is a valuable exercise whether you've just become a family lawyer or are reevaluating how you work.

Arrange your workspace

You'll need confidential space for meetings. Whether you'll meet with clients in person or by videoconference, there shouldn't be other people in the room on your end.

Tidiness can help you maintain your focus. Don't allow sights and sounds that will distract you or your clients. In your office, home or co-working space (whether you practice law in-person or virtually), choose carefully where you set up your laptop or do paperwork.

Having an artfully designed workspace is important if clients will see it.

Arrange your time

Setting aside enough time for your work means including a cushion as it's impossible to predict exactly how long a task will take. How much time is "enough" varies by individual because it depends how quickly you like to work, whether you like to multitask and how much interruption you can tolerate.

Many people benefit from a quiet hour to read the news, listen to music, do something creative, or decide which project to work on. If that's part of your workday, plan a way to fit it in.

Stick to your branding

To be an organized lawyer, stick to your branding because it streamlines advertising, avoids unnecessary inquiries and helps you decide when to turn down cases. For example, if you decide to specialize in low- or high-conflict cases, stay in that niche. It will give you focus and clarity.

Look organized

To some extent, organization is about appearances. Seemingly superficial changes, like stepping up how you dress and removing stray papers from your desk, can make a big difference. When people perceive you as organized, they'll treat you as that version of yourself (even if you don't feel it's true). You'll be motivated to rise to the standard by which you're already treated, and you'll find yourself held accountable for staying that way.

Have a simple organizational system

Small changes, like organizing your inbox by priority level, can make a big difference. You could tag emails with "urgent" and "for a rainy day," for example, which (although simple) might be more helpful than having no prioritization at all. By developing the habit of taking care of items in order of their importance, you avoid having to work late to catch up on the things you should have done first.

Have a rich organizational system

A well designed system may speed up your work. Common approaches include:

• Using a customer relationship management system (known as CRM) to store your contacts and track relevant information, like your most recent outreach to each person
• Scanning all physical paperwork and indexing the digital files by keywords

Don't be merely performative

If stapling papers or moving digital files doesn't serve a real purpose, wasting time on it is the opposite of being organized. Don't photocopy and archive every piece of mail if it achieves nothing. Nor should you commit to organizational methods you're likely to forget or ignore, as a half-measure might leave you messier than before. Be insightful and honest about what you truly need to do and will realistically carry out.

Take care with your social media

You're aware that you must guard your statements and interactions, especially if they directly relate to your cases. On social media, some lawyers limit their interactions to family and friends, set their personal profiles to private, or use their professional profiles merely to share "explainer" material (like videos or blog posts). Others keep it even simpler by avoiding social media altogether.

Find out what other lawyers in your area do. Remember that professional expectations may change. Plan ahead to prevent mess later.

Take care of yourself

You're a human, and your needs matter. Remember to care for your own emotional wellbeing. There's mental health support for U.S. lawyers; your local program may be called "lawyer assistance" or "lawyers helping lawyers". Being grounded, calm and present starts with who you are, not just how you arrange your office.

Be someone who's easy to work with

Value and prioritize a good rapport with your colleagues, like custody evaluators, guardians ad litem and judges. When you're friendly and respond promptly, they'll give you their best effort too, and your clients will be happier with the outcome. This will streamline your work.

Collect feedback

Consider offering each client the opportunity to give you feedback about how the process went for them. This can generate hints about procedures you could improve, client attitudes you could encourage, as well as your own mindsets you may need to shift.

Teach others to stay organized

If you're an active participant in a professional association or advisory council, help the group stay organized so your volunteer work doesn't become a source of disorder for you and your colleagues.

Be ambitious: Help your organization strive to improve processes not only for you, but for family courts, lawyers and clients throughout your area.

Consult an entrepreneurship expert

If you're starting your own firm, seek expert advice that's customized for you. Topics can include:

• Working together as a firm
• Hiring and training junior lawyers and paralegals
• Billing (and following up) efficiently
• A content strategy, including subject matter and timing for your website, social media and newsletters
• Maintaining friendly professional connections
• Job coaching to determine your true talents

Use Custody X Change

Family law software tools can be useful. Many legal professionals use Custody X Change.

You can set up other legal professionals at your firm with Custody X Change so you can work on the same clients. Even if you anticipate you'll rarely need anyone to look at your clients' information, granting this access to a trusted person at your firm is a good backup plan for your vacation and sick days.

You can customize this with Custody X Change.

Custody X Change lets you quickly and easily create parenting plans with visual schedules. A schedule automatically calculates parenting time.

If your client subscribes, they can log their expenses and keep a parenting journal. If your client and their co-parent both subscribe, they'll be able to message each other.

You can view, search and print all this material for court.

Custody X Change keeps you organized, making your work easier and your clients happier.