I have heard a lot of strong opinions within my law firm regarding just
what is considered and is not considered a part of a file clerk's job
responsibility.   I would appreciate hearing from others regarding what
is and is not part of the responsibility of the file clerks and
secretaries within their firms.  
 
To give you a background to my firm there are about 66-70 attorneys, 42
secretaries, and 5 file clerks.  Of the 5 file clerks, I am included as
the supervisor to the Records department, the 4 other clerks handle
filing for about 7-11 attorneys.  Overall, the Records department files
for only 37 attorneys within the firm (assigning attorneys file clerks
ended on 2/1/06).   The average ratio of attorneys to secretaries to
between 3:1 and 2:1, with some partners having their own secretary.
Files are mostly decentralized and housed in the attorney's office and
or file cabinets.  There are some files which are kept in the main file
room but only a small percentage of the active cases.  
 
Currently, the file clerks are responsible for the following: 
 
    - file documents into the files
    - box and index closed files
    - retrieve/deliver documents and files as requested (Note: Often
these requests are answered not be finding the file and delivering as
requested but indicating where the file may be) 
    - retrieve/deliver boxes as requested (Note: These requests tend to
be ignored and/or deferred to the mailroom)
 
The tasks of the files clerks which have produced strong opinions
include the following: 
 
    - Creation/Update of Pleadings indexes (the file clerks believe it
is the responsibility of the secretary and vice versa)
    - Organization of files
    - Moving of Boxes 
    - Filing documents they have already filed
 
In addition, some of the attorneys the clerks file for have extremely
messy offices which make it next to impossible to file into the file in
their offices.  I understand that it is difficult and move in these
office, but we don't have much power in forcing an attorney to keep
their office clean and neat.  What do you think? 
 
It has also been suggested to possibly begin again to assign attorneys a
file clerks to assist with their filing.  This also has been met with
strong opposition by some of the clerks who feel they are just now being
able to keep up with what they have.  It has also been found through
observation that these same clerks are also on the Internet a good
amount of time.  Again, what do you think? 
 
Irene Eklund
Records Specialist
Donovan Hatem LLP
617.406.4607 (direct)
617.406.4501 (fax)


 

 

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