Brian Stewart asked "What programs or software do you use to keep these events from happening and what would you say is the biggest way you keep track of the many, many files you work with day to day?"
Brian, the quick-and-dirty answer is "it depends" (quote shamelessly stolen from Larry Medina and others).
If you're talking about paper files stored on site by individual attorneys and/or paralegals, they are typically responsible for maintaining their own files, UNLESS there is a central file room to which the files are sent, in which case the File Room Clerk (AKA "The Dragon") is responsible for them.
If you're talking about paper files stored off-site (typically, at a commercial records center), you have two options. First, you can use the vendor's records storage application to inventory the files. Second, you can use your own records management application (there are many, and some specialise in law firm records management). These applications can today be purchased and installed in your own data center or provisioned from "the cloud".
If you're talking about electronic files, the question becomes "where are they stored "? On file shares (= network drives) in your data center; on some form of document management system or collaboration tool (e.g., SharePoint); on each employee/partner's desktop or laptop; in "the cloud"? it is not unusual to find the answer to be "all of the above", alas.
The bottom line for both paper and electronic files is have to have some means of rapidly and accurately identifying the existence, location, and applicable retention period for files, either at a global level ("record series"; boxes; Redwelds; folders) or at the electronic file level (unique file ID); tie them to specific case numbering and conflict systems; and determine whether they are "owned" by the firm or by its clients.
You might want to purchase the book "Records Management in the Legal Environment" from ARMA (see https://members.arma.org/eweb/browse.aspx?webcode=product&id=a42c8fb5-6771-4bf5-9592-9a68807f80af), as it will give you (1) lots of law firm-specific info, and (2) maybe some clout when you talk to Executive Management about buying stuff to make it work.
We at NYC EDC use HP Autonomy Records Manager for tracking records stored off-site. Records stored on-site are "at the risk of the owner".
Very best of luck!
Fred
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Frederic J. Grevin
Vice-President, Records Management
New York City Economic Development Corporation
www.nycedc.com
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