Topics for Non-Client Documents

Time Matters does a great job of tracking information on matters that you handle for your clients. It can also serve as a set of electronic three-ring notebooks subdivided into topics for material not directly related to clients. The materials and information you save here is immediately available to you and others in your firm right at your desks.

What kinds of information might you want to store in Time Matters that does not relate directly to clients? We have electronic 3-rings for such subjects as:

Administration
Marketing
Presentations
Reference
Research
Technology

We divide these subjects into topics. For example, Marketing could include:

Articles
Letters
Newsletters
Web Site Material

Create Subject Records

How do you do this in Time Matters? You add a new Contact to Time Matters for each major subject. Fill in the first field and the Last Name Field with the name of the subject, e.g.: Marketing. You will need a new classification code to make it easy to find your electronic 3-rings. In the Code field, click the Lookup button (on the right with the arrow pointing up) and create a new code, "SUBJ" for Subject, by pressing the Add Code button. Do this just once, then pick the SUBJ code whenever you create a Contact record for a new subject.

A Subject record is not really a Contact, but the Contact form is so useful for collecting Notes, Documents, E-mails, and Lexis or Web links that it is well worth making it serve double-duty. You can divide a Subject into narrower Topic records by creating related Matters.

Topics

Let's subdivide the Marketing subject into topics. Open the Marketing record by double-clicking on it. Now click on File --> New Record --> Matter. A new Matter record will open. It is already linked to its parent Subject since one of the fields is filled with "Marketing." In the first field, type in the name of this topic: Articles. Now you have a place to store references to articles written by members of the firm. You can even link Document records to electronic copies of the articles on your network and enter Web addresses for articles published on the Internet.

We created a SUBJ code for "Contacts" that are subjects. For Matters that are topics, we need a TOP code. The codes allow us to filter subjects and topics out of our listings of people and legal matters. They also let as create Quick Tabs for quickly finding the materials we have stored in these non-client matters.

Once you set up this system, you will find it is a time-saver and a valuable resource for serving clients and attracting new ones. There is nothing like having information right at your fingertips when fielding a client’s question or speaking to a prospective client on the phone. The ability to find and promptly E-mail a relevant article makes a great early impression.