Email management
for small law firms
Smokeball.com
1855 668 3206
Introduction
Email is ubiquitous. Not only does just about
For small law firms, the challenge is that email
everybody have access to email, the usage of email as
has changed expectations. Clients now want an
THE primary tool to communicate is on the rise.
immediate response and if they call, they expect
For law firms, email is a double-edged sword. The
benefits are many, and often so entrenched that we
hardly notice them anymore. We are able to access
whoever picks up the phone to be up-to-speed with
everything happening in their file, including of course,
any email correspondence with your firm.
written correspondence at any time, or fire off a short
Lawyers and firm staff often spend more time trying
note to someone on the other side of the country
to manage an overflowing email inbox than actually
within moments. Attorneys are able to send important
using email to improve productivity, collaboration,
documents rapidly, and to multiple parties.
communication and client service.
Why Email Management Is Vital For Small Law Firms
Email is potentially the biggest productivity roadblock
There are hundreds of ways that law firms try to
for small firms. Organizing emails sucks up time
work around this issue, the majority of which are
and creates stress. It also affects the way lawyers
cumbersome and ineffective.
communicate with clients and with each other.
With a great email management system, you’ll be able
Perhaps the biggest area where email falls down is
to seamlessly collaborate with staff, organize your
that it is intended for one-to-one conversations, yet
mail so that everything is easily accessible, reduce
the reality within law firms is far different. Often there
frustration and ultimately better service your clients.
are multiple people involved in a matter, and all staff
working on it need access to the same inbox.
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Smokeball.com
1855 668 3206
The Guide to Better
Email Management
1.
Time spent on emails
How much time do you spend reading emails every
file it until a later time which you have set aside to
day? According to a survey by McKinsey the average
respond to emails.
worker spends 28% of the working week reading,
writing or responding to emails. This adds up to
approximately 650 hours a year.
One popular theory is that if you can’t respond to an
Email should never be your number one priority, so to
manage your email workflow better, try setting aside
one block in the morning to process email, and one
block in the afternoon to respond to messages that
email in under two minutes, then you should flag and require more than two minutes.
2.
Organizing Your Inbox
File management is such a fundamental part of
systems take so much time and effort to maintain
legal practice, and yet the email component of file
that the productivity benefits are lost.
management is commonly neglected.
Think about the massive volume of important,
One of Smokeball’s key features is an email
management system that works within Outlook
matter-related emails you send and receive every day. to save every matter-related email to a digital file,
The power of having a well-organized filing system
along with other documents and notes relating
for email cannot be overstated in terms of saving
to that matter. That way every email you send or
time, increasing productivity and reducing the risk of
receive is filed correctly, and saved centrally so that
malpractice.
it is accessible to anyone within your firm. It totally
Everyone has their own system for managing
their emails, from using labels, to creating a folder
hierarchy within an email client. Most often these
simplifies email organization and prevents lost or
misplaced email correspondence.
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Smokeball.com
1855 668 3206
Mary’s computer:
Mary’s computer:
17
17 6
6
Emails Emails
Documents
Documents
MatterMatter
#A123#A123
Jack’s computer:
Jack’s computer:
51
Jason’s computer:
Jason’s computer:
51 20
20
Emails Emails
Documents
Documents
12
12 11
11
Emails Emails
Documents
Documents
22
22 3
3
Emails Emails
Documents
Documents
Without Smokeball, most law firms lack a centralized way
of sharing emails and documents for each matter.
3.
With Smokeball, important emails and documents get
stored automatically in a single, shared digital file.
Collaborating with other staff
Consider this common scenario; you and three
Smokeball enables your staff to save any email,
other staff within your firm are working on the
either sent or received, to the digital file. As these
same matter. There are emails going back and forth
emails are securely stored in the cloud, attorneys and
between your client and your colleagues. However
support staff with access to the file have full view of
each person who is working on the matter only has
every email related to the matter. Organizing emails
access to their own personal inbox, and therefore is
this way will save your firm countless hours trying
blind to potentially important emails that have been
to locate messages and document attachments,
sent to or from other staff within the firm.
and enable everyone working on the matter to
This scenario isn’t just inefficient for the firm, it’s also
frustrating for the client and potentially risky from a
malpractice point of view.
communicate and collaborate efficiently.
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Smokeball.com
4.
1855 668 3206
Reducing Clutter
Sometimes it pays to be liberal with the delete button.
There’s a great quote in this Huffington Post article
about email being the equivalent to a game of Tetris.
files incoming emails from the sender into an
archive. Even better, just unsubscribe to it.
• Send fewer emails. The fewer you send, the fewer
You can never keep your inbox at zero, and you can
you’ll receive (and sometimes a phone call is a
never truly win. However you can stay ahead by being
better option).
ruthless with clutter.
With the majority of all law firms using Microsoft
• Set aside some time to bulk delete emails which
are not important.
Outlook, additional steps can be taken to reduce clutter. • Use specialized email management software that
• If you don’t open a newsletter or promotional
email regularly, create a rule that automatically
automatically files important emails against the
relevant matter.
Contact
Get in touch with Smokeball today to see how we can help your small
law firm effectively manage emails and collaborate on your matters.
www.smokeball.com | 1855 668 3206 | [email protected]
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