Clutter and disorganization is a productivity killer. Nothing wastes time and money more than spending hours searching for misplaced files or buying duplicate supplies. This is why taking the time to declutter and organize your office space is critical to improving your law firm’s productivity.

The Microscope

Before you can get organized, you must uncover what you already have. Start by clearing out the junk in your drawers, boxes, filing cabinets, and even your electronic folders. Feeling overwhelmed? Here are a few tips for putting all that junk under the microscope to figure how where you stand.

Divide and conquer. Divide your office into four or more zones. These zones are spaces that represent a area that you will declutter separate from everything else. For example, a single drawer could be considered a zone. You can also consider an entire file cabinet a single zone.

Schedule and focus. Organizing your space is so time-consuming that it can feel overwhelming. To avoid becoming paralyzed by the scope of it all, make an appointment with yourself to declutter one single zone a day. It doesn’t need to take all day to get it done, you can schedule an hour or two and still make a lot of progress.

Sort the junk first. As you go through each zone, sort like items together. For example, if you’re going through a file drawer, you might put “inactive” client files in one pile and “active” client files in another. Once you’re ready for the next step—the purge—it’ll be easier since like items are already grouped together.

Purge the excess junk. This is the difficult part—getting rid of things you don’t need. To make your life a little easier, consider temporarily storing offsite the things you’re not using at this time. If after six months you haven’t needed to access the junk, then you’re free to purge it. But you’ll need to ask the right questions to figure out the difference between junk that must be purged and reference materials you should store long-term.

Ask Hard Questions

As you begin to sort and purge your junk, you’ll need to ask yourself some important but difficult questions.

• When is the last time I used/referenced this item? In the case of client files, if you’re not currently working on the case, storing it in your office may contribute to clutter. Consider storing it offsite in a secure location.
• Is this information I can access elsewhere? May reference materials can be accessed online so keeping hard copies in your office isn’t necessary. If you can access and easily search databases for the information you need, feel free to purge old hard copies.
• Will this item advance the current goals of my law firm? As law firms grow and change, they become burdened with paperwork, books, supplies, and reference materials that may no longer pertain to their goals, vision, or practice area. Irrelevant items can be purged from your office.

Creating Structure

As you begin to go from purge to reintegration and organization of those items you consider essential, there are three things you should consider.

Organizing based on similarity. Try to put related items together. For example, put all of your files in the same one or two file drawers in the same part of your office. This makes organizing easier and saves you time when trying to retrieve or return files.

Get the right size tools. Sometimes your paperwork, books, supplies, and other items outgrow their assigned space. In the case of files, they may become too numerous to remain contained in the filing cabinet. It’s important that you get containers that will fit your items. Ill-fitted containers contribute to clutter.

Importance and frequency of use. Items that are important and frequently used by you should be stored close to your desk for easy access.

Don’t get buried by clutter, make organizing your law office a priority—your productivity depends on it.

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Chelsey Lambert is Vice President of Marketing & Communications at Smokeball, a provider of practice management software for small law firms, based in Chicago, IL. Her mission is to help attorneys, and legal professionals understand the technology that is available to them, how to use it, and the positive impacts it can have on their business. After leaving her role as a Practice Management Advisor for the Chicago Bar Association in 2014, she continues to speak and write for legal organizations across the US, on technology, hiring, marketing and small law firm best practices. In her spare time, she enjoys a good yoga class, volunteering, and taking in the sunshine on Chicago’s beautiful lakeshore.