Field notes
Writing from the codebook, not from a slogan
Short pieces on matter ageing, utilisation, exports, briefings, and in-house panel load — the same subjects as the paid work.
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What a matter ageing chart should actually show
Ageing is not a traffic light. It is a conversation about last chargeable hour, last client letter, and whether the file is waiting on the other side.
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Reading utilisation without turning the room into a league table
Chargeable hours matter. So do supervision, duty, and the week someone covered a trial at short notice. Here is how we keep those hours visible.
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Working from the export you already run
We do not ask a firm to change its practice-management product. We ask for a repeatable extract and a codebook for status and hour types.
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Briefing a partnership in ninety minutes
Partners will challenge a chart. Prepare the period, the exclusions, and the one thing the export cannot tell you.
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In-house teams and the shape of panel load
A legal department's 'matters' often include panel instructions, not only files opened on a private-practice screen. The pictures have to admit that.