Four weeks' notice and sixty open matters
A solicitor hands in their notice. They have sixty open matters, and the department head needs to decide who takes each one. The solicitor is asked to write a handover note for every file. In their last month, still running their caseload, they manage a line or two on most and a proper note on a few.
On the Monday after they leave, their colleagues discover a hearing date that was only in the leaver's Outlook, a client who had been promised a call, and an inbox full of correspondence that was never filed.
Why handovers leak
The information a new fee earner needs is scattered: key dates in the practice management system and personal calendars, undertakings in a register or not, correspondence partly filed, WIP and client money in the accounts system, and the actual state of play in the leaver's head.
Asking the leaver to write it all down duplicates what the systems already know, and uses up the time they should spend on the part only they can explain: where negotiations stand and what the client is worried about.
| What the new fee earner needs | Where it usually lives |
|---|---|
| Upcoming dates and deadlines | PMS key dates and a personal calendar |
| Open undertakings | A register, if they were logged |
| Latest correspondence | Partly filed, partly in the leaver's inbox |
| WIP, bills and client money | Accounts and billing records |
| Where things really stand | The leaver's head |
What a leaky handover costs
Missed dates and forgotten promises are the serious risks. Clients who have to explain their matter again to a new person, or who hear about the change by accident, may follow the leaver or go elsewhere. The new fee earner loses days reading files to reconstruct what could have been handed to them.
Unbilled WIP on the leaver's matters is also easily forgotten in the shuffle.
How we build a caseload handover
- Matter list: the tool lists every open matter held by the departing fee earner, with a summary of recent activity, stage and value.
- Handover pack per matter: for each one it pulls together upcoming key dates, open undertakings, open tasks, WIP and unbilled disbursements, client account balance, the last few items of correspondence and any emails still unfiled in the leaver's mailbox.
- Leaver's note: the departing fee earner adds a short note to each pack on the things only they know, with prompts so the important questions get answered.
- Reallocation: the supervisor assigns each matter to a new fee earner on one screen, seeing current caseloads. Reassignment updates your practice management system.
- Notifications: letters or emails to clients and, where appropriate, the other side are drafted from your templates for the supervisor to approve.
- Calendar sweep: dates found in the leaver's personal calendar that are not in the matter's key dates are flagged for someone to check.
What the handover becomes
The departing fee earner spends their notice period writing the notes that matter rather than copying dates. Colleagues inherit a pack for each matter with the facts gathered and the leaver's view added. Clients hear about the change properly. Supervisors can see that every matter has a new owner and that nothing is left in a personal calendar or inbox.
The same pack works for long-term absence such as parental leave or illness, where the matters need cover rather than a permanent move.
Signs your handovers need this
- Leavers write handover notes from memory.
- Dates have been found only in a leaver's personal calendar.
- Colleagues read whole files to work out where things stand.
- Clients have heard about a change of fee earner late or by accident.
- Leavers' inboxes are kept because they hold unfiled correspondence.