Businesses live and die on the notice of research and good information. In fact many corporations and businesses will tell you that information itself is like a weapon. If you have it, you have a better chance at winning, but knowing how to use it will assure you victory. So what happens when a law and order firm, has so many cases backed up because you couldn’t find a link of evidence in your notes? Suddenly the cases that you were responsible don’t look like they will be finishing any time soon and your clients will become restless. Knowledge really is power in the legal system, and if you’re a prosecution specialist firm, then this needs to be taken incredibly seriously. No longer should you rely on just police reports alone and witness testimony. You need to know other similar cases that you have dealt with, and the noting of tactics that you used then too. What kind of procedures did you follow and could all your past knowledge be stored and accessed to help you in the future?
Build your own library
Almost every business of some kind needs to store it’s own knowledge that it has gathered all the years it has been open. Everything from the little things such as the industry jargon that you at first didn’t understand, to now the ins and outs of the law. Those that know the law and the past history of it, will be rewarded with ways to come out on top in future. Those that don’t take heed of history will always repeat it and make the same mistakes. Therefore, for your legal firm you should make your own library. It should be an entirely digital library in which all your former cases can be stored. However you can get creative and have folders and files that delve into previous tactics. Note the ones that were successful and use them in similar upcoming cases. Learn from your mistakes by listing those that didn’t work and the reasons. This can be done entirely on a cloud system but you may also need to use cutting edge online library software.
Don’t waste time searching
When a case is in full throw, time is certainly limited to both the prosecutor and the defence. However, the defence is just that, it’s the defence. Therefore the prosecutor should never waste time searching for papers, bits of information and doing research in the middle of the cross examination. Hence why criminal justice software is becoming the saving grace of many legal firms all around the world. You have an ability in the software that is called document retrieval. Now anything you’re looking for can be searched for in the search bar and you will have it in front of you within seconds. This is great for when you’re also searching for terms and phrases, so documents that might be named something different but have vital evidence in them, are found in among the hay.
Any legal firm that is still using a physical filing cabinet on it’s own and not utilizing software is essentially doubling the man hours needed. You should start to form your own library of knowledge and history to help you win cases in the future.