How Can Your Legal Team Benefit By Using The Tickler System?

Let’s paint a picture of how a law office might look. Suppose you have a desk that’s covered in folders, paperwork, sticky notes, and other documents that are taking up space. Does this scenario sound in any way familiar to you? If so, you’re definitely not alone.

Many firms in the legal community have yet to embrace technology. Managers of these firms are aware of concepts like legal entity management, but they haven’t necessarily invested in platforms like entity management software to help organize all of their entity data.

If your firm has yet to make an upgrade, this guide is definitely for you. You’re going to learn all about the tickler system and how it can help your legal professionals become more focused and more organized. A more organized office will help your entire team provide more productive services to clients.

What is the tickler system?

A tickler system is a reminder system that can help professionals remain organized. It’s an especially useful system in the legal profession as it reminds lawyers and paralegals of due dates, such as compliance deadlines, filing deadlines, and other important milestones.

In the old days, a tickler system would include notes or file tabs attached to minute books as written reminders about important deadlines. By integrating a tickler system with solutions like entity management platforms, you can create digital reminders sent directly to your inbox or your phone. Rather than manually searching for these reminders, the technology pushes notifications out to you so that you can plan out your day appropriately, according to the most important work that needs to be done.

Why is the tickler system important?

Kelly Lynn Anders is the author of The Organized Lawyer, a practical guide to help legal professionals understand what they need to do each day. In an excerpt from her writing, Anders describes how disorganization is often one of a lawyer’s greatest weaknesses and can be responsible for very serious consequences.

“On a regular basis, attorneys are sanctioned for many misdeeds that can be traced back to disorganization. Often, the sanctions are for actions that are inexcusable but not malicious. Rather, they are examples of how bad things can get when one is disorganized.”

By using a reminder system that helps remember important dates like compliance or filing deadlines, lawyers and paralegals can manage their own schedules more efficiently. A tickler system also includes what’s known as “a bring forward date,” which is a predetermined date set forth ahead of the actual deadline. Its purpose is to remind legal professionals about important dates so there’s enough lead time to complete the necessary tasks.

Having a system that helps manage your own time more effectively not only helps out at the office, but it can also help you maintain a healthy work life balance. Everyone needs time away from the office to spend with friends, family, and other loved ones. Solutions that help you get more organized are among the best ways to support both your professional and personal lives.

How does the tickler system benefit your day to day?

The most important benefit of an organized office environment is that it helps you get more of your own time back. When you can spend less time searching for minute books and other files, you have more time that can be used as billable hours for clients. That’s a massive ROI for such a solution!

When you’re more organized and have prompted reminders about upcoming key dates, you improve how you manage your entire team of paralegals. Get yourself organized so that you can get the whole team organized, which will improve productivity and even streamline workflows. Tasks that might have once been completed in sequential steps could be finished in parallel to each other so that your minute books are always up to date. You might even be able to complete the work by the bring forward date, leaving plenty of time for final reviews and approvals.

Interested in getting your legal team more organized and productive? Join the MinuteBox revolution, create a digitally structured environment, and improve efficiencies so that you deliver more value to your clients.