Are You Tracking Your Phone Calls? Ten Minutes or Less

I track all incoming and outgoing calls for my law practice. I have a record of ALL phone inquires since 2004. I keep the two most current Voicemail and Phone Log Book book with me at all times. Each year I start with a new book. I always have the 2008 book with me and when I travel out of Cincinnati, I take the 2008 and 2007 books.

The Ohio Board of Nursing hired additional attorneys to address the backlog of pending cases. An attorney contacted a nurse who indicated she was retaining me to represent her. The attorney contacted me this month. I remember speaking with the nurse and I recalled her name. I assumed I probably had spoke with the nurse a few months ago.

I searched my Phone Log book (flipping through the pages) and I spoke with this nurse in May 2006. I then contacted the nurse.

Do you have a system where you (not your paralegal or secretary) can do the same in less than 10 minutes?

Comments

[Joe Flores, RN,MSN,JD]

I keep logs since 2004. I started doing this instead of the traditional messages since they could get lost. I also have them logged in as they call and have the call and the reason for the call with a return number emailed and faxed to me. This way I get it on my smartphone and on the fax. If my legal assistant is being bombarded with work and I'm in court we have a double message that tells us who's calling. Once I receive the message I may forward to her with a message like,
"call this person immediately and tell them I'm in court until 5pm"
We then review all calls at the end of the week and make sure everyone got called back. It's not perfect but its better than about 80% of my lawyer buddies out there who are not returning calls. WE then log the calls and if we need to find a name we hit find on our emailed messages in our server and the name pops out or we can look by phone mumber. Sounds more difficult then it is and has become our virtual buddy. We also often switch to an exchange to be the first line if the calls get to be more than 5-10 an hour in order to free up some time to "triage" the calls and "turf" the types of law we don't handle. This is a great blog.

[Latonia]

A like the checks and balances in your system, Joe.

You are right, there are alot of us as attorney who don't return phone calls. Sometimes I am able to return calls immediately or answer my phone directly. Communication whether its email, phone, fax, or text message works. Just communicate and return the communication in some fashion.