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MEMORANDUMTo: Mr. McMasters [mailto:mcmasters@] From: A. Paralegal [mailto:aparalegal@]Date: July 30, 2017Subject: New office proceduresDear Mr. McMasters:At this week’s employee meeting, you had requested me to research and inform you of current legal office trends to increase efficiency in the workplace. I am excited to inform you of my findings and hope you consider these new improvements within our firm.Case Management SystemThe first improvement our firm could benefit from is a case management system. (Reach, 2011) A case management system can save a lot of time and money for our firm. This system is a computer based software program that organizes everything needed for each case. The case management system is like a virtual filing cabinet. A folder is created for each client. In each folder, there are tabs. Each tab is for a different section of the client’s file. There are tabs for contact information, docket information, time records, emails, and this software even offers calendaring. This can help our firm because it also shows notifications to warn us of upcoming court dates and deadlines we need to act upon. The contact information we enter checks within the system for conflicts of interest as well, which as you know is an ethical concern. I feel this would be an excellent choice in updating our office to become more efficient. This system would allow our current way of file folders and numerous papers to sort and sift through to become more organized, it is quicker and easier to access, plus it would keep our firm aware of important dates and deadlines we might possibly overlook.E-DiscoveryAnother improvement our firm would benefit from would be an online legal database for legal research. (Henderson, 2017) A great program for this is called Lexis. Instead of going to courthouse or the law library and searching through countless reporters looking for relevant law, we could quickly research different cases or relevant laws and statutes in a fraction of the time. Another great feature of this database is the ability to print the cases or save a copy to keep handy in the client file. This would save a lot of billable hours for our firm to address more clients and make our work more efficient as well. E-FilingAnother discovery I encountered that could make for more efficiency in the law office is the use of E-filing. (Baker & Sword, 2017) E-filing is the process of scanning in documents and filing online. This could benefit the firm by avoiding the time spent going to the court house and standing in a long line waiting to file documents. This would save billable hours for our clients, and would eliminate the need for paying for costly copies that is required under court rules which requires multiple copies. ContractingOur office could benefit from contracting outside help. This is the process of hiring independent legal assistants to draft various documents or perform different tasks on behalf of our firm. (Henderson, 2017) This process would afford our firm to have more time to work on more important matters, or to relieve some of our burden when we have an overwhelming caseload of work to complete. Did I also mention this is generally less in cost than paying in-house legal professionals? (Baker & Sword, 2017).Preventing BurnoutI discovered that preventing employee burnout is also very important for efficiency in the legal profession. It is important to be sure to legal professionals have an amount of work that is manageable. Employees work at their best when they have adequate sleep, and reasonable breaks.In the legal field, it is also said that numerous employees suffer from vicarious trauma, (Otey, 2014) which is caused by being exposed to gruesome crimes through the course of their employment, so it is best to be sure that employees also maintain their mental health in peak performance. Employee burnout is responsible for absentees, depression and other serious health related issues. Soft SkillsProper training is additionally important. The most common skill that is overlooked in employment training, college and other training is the importance of soft skills. These skills assist an employee with how to handle stressful situations and how to work better with people, have better communication, better teamwork and a great mindset just to name a few soft skills that are needed in this line of work. (Otey, 2014) People who possess soft skills can tolerate stress much better than one who does not possess these skills. I thank you for your time to read my memorandum about my findings of different procedures and practices our firm can implement to become more up-to-date and more efficient. I am confident you will make the best choices for our firm. I am excited to see how our office can better serve our clients. If you have any additional questions, do not hesitate to contact me.Sincerely,Amy ParalegalReferencesBaker, L., & Sword, K. (2017). Lawyers Are Back. Oregon Business Magazine, 40(5), 32 Retrieved from: , W. D. (2017). Efficiency Engines. ABA Journal, 103(6), 38-45 Retrieved from: , B. S. (2014). Buffering Burnout: Preparing The Online Generation For The Occupational Hazards Of The Legal Profession. Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 24(1), 147-201. Retrieved from : , C. S. (2011). Government Law Office Document Management Solutions to Suit Any Budget. Public Lawyer, 19(2), 14-17. Retrieved from: ................
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