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[00:00:07] Scott Benton: Hey, everyone. Scott Benton here. I am the host of the classroom to courtroom podcast where we help you easily transition from the law school environment as a student into your professional career as an attorney. And it’s where we make the practice of law fun. Now, today we’re gonna look at attorney’s notes and why they are the complete game changers that you need.
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[00:01:16] Scott Benton: Attorney notes are the complete game changers and you need those. In fact, attorney notes are so important that in many ways they’re going to not only improve your daily efficiency, they’re going to help you easily reach your minimum billable hourly requirement. They’re going to make the day at the office a lot more fun.
[00:01:35] Scott Benton: It’s also going to fill up your to do list, which is the key to the whole success cycle, and it’s why we’ve built this entire podcast. We’ve built it around the success cycle so that we can discuss that over and over again, because that’s your key to practicing law. It’s also going to reduce your stress levels, you’re going to be able to think more clearly, you’ll be happier, and you’re going to enjoy your time off, which includes nights and [00:02:00] weekends and vacations and much more.
[00:02:02] Scott Benton: you’re going to enjoy them far more than you probably have. So you can probably see why attorney notes are going to realize so many positive benefits for you overall and why it is a complete game changer. But first let’s talk about what attorney notes are so they become a normal and natural part of your everyday workflow.
[00:02:23] Scott Benton: Now whenever you start a case that means a client has hired you to help them reach their legal objectives. In which case you’re going to create a new file on your computer for that particular case where the case related documents are going to live. Next, you’re going to create another folder that you’re going to title attorney notes.
[00:02:42] Scott Benton: That’s where your attorney notes are going to live. And you’re going to start a specific attorney notes document for that specific case. In fact, each case that you have, it’s going to have its own attorney notes. It’s going to have its own document. And so by now in the process, the [00:03:00] client has likely given you a lot of information about their case.
[00:03:04] Scott Benton: They also probably gave you several documents, and you’ve probably met with them at least once or twice. So there’s an enormous amount of information that you are keeping in your head and it’s the last place in the world that you want all of that information like that, case facts, to live. So you want to essentially mind dump everything from your head onto a document that you can reference anytime you want.
[00:03:28] Scott Benton: That way, that information isn’t living in your mind, it’s living in a file somewhere. Now the problem with case facts, and any thoughts you have about a case, is that all that information builds up quickly and it can become overwhelming. Now imagine that you have 30 such cases and you’re trying to carry around all those details in your head while also trying to keep your mind clear, while trying to think effectively and maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle.
[00:03:55] Scott Benton: It’s just going to be impossible. You’ll never achieve a life without a [00:04:00] crushing amount of stress by keeping all of those case facts in your head. And then when you go to trial, you need your mind clear for thinking. So you’re bringing in a lot of stress into that courtroom at a time when you need 100 percent of your focus on arguing the case when it matters most.
[00:04:19] Scott Benton: And this is exactly why the minute you start in on a new case, you want to sit down, you want to create an attorney notes file for that case. You want to put everything you can regarding that case into that attorney notes document and it doesn’t have to be edited. You don’t have to worry about really the spelling.
[00:04:37] Scott Benton: It’s, good idea to spell your words correctly, but the point is you don’t have to worry about it.
[00:04:41] Scott Benton: You’re getting it all out of your head and onto a single document, and it’s a document that never ever goes to the client once the case is finally over. These are notes that stay with you about the case so that you can have a documented record of everything that happened. So it’s like a case journal. Now, when [00:05:00] something new comes along, such as an email from opposing counsel, you go to the attorney notes for that case, you create a new date entry and a time entry, because sometimes more than one thing happens in a day, so you want to have separate times.
[00:05:13] Scott Benton: You’re going to summarize the contents in that email. Then you’re going to prepare your response. So once you’ve responded, you’re going to go back to the attorney notes.
[00:05:21] Scott Benton: You’re going to record that event as well with a new date and time stamp. Now, when you go back to that case, you can quickly see everything that’s taken place and in what order. If your case ever transfers to another attorney, let’s say, or maybe there’s a paralegal or a law clerk that needs to get up to speed quickly, then all of your notes are there for them to look over.
[00:05:42] Scott Benton: They can read those notes in order. They can see how the case has progressed and where it stands at any given moment in time. Now, imagine dumping. everything for 30 cases into your attorney notes for those 30 cases. Remember, it’s one attorney note document for each [00:06:00] case. Think about how much information you are now not required.
[00:06:04] Scott Benton: to carry around in your head. When you’re working on any of these cases, you open up the attorney notes, you add in anything new, and you’re able to refresh yourself on where the case stands, but you’re not trying to memorize anything, and you’re not trying to remember a million little details and all the changes that come along, sometimes daily, that might redirect your case objectives or possibly even the case strategy.
[00:06:29] Scott Benton: Now, more importantly, these attorney notes are clearly going to show you what the next steps are that you need to take in all of your cases, and that alone is going to fill up your to do list. This is what’s going to make the day fly by. It’s going to allow you to reach and exceed your minimum billable hours without really even thinking about it. And more importantly, it’s going to almost always ensure that you enjoy your nights and your weekends to their absolute fullest.
[00:06:57] Scott Benton: That’s going to help you recharge [00:07:00] and have fun in life, and it’s going to replenish your energy so that come Monday morning you’re ready to go. So I hope that’s a helpful look at why attorney notes are the game changers that you need. I’m Scott Benton. I’m the host of the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast.
[00:07:13] Scott Benton: Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Now, if you like this material, if you like the Classroom 2 Courtroom podcast, you can always go over to our website. Our website is classroom two courtroom.com. That’s classroom the number two. courtroom dot com You can leave us your contact information and we’ll send out an alert whenever we drop a new episode for you to check out.
[00:07:33] Scott Benton: If you also like this material, you can share and subscribe on any of the platforms that our podcast lives on. That way it’s going to help you stay on top of all our newest episodes as well. And until next time, we hope you’ll join us in making the world a better place, one client at a time. Thank you so much.
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