Organizing Your Digital Law School Life
Given that our North American friends are just settling back into law school, I thought I would pull together a quick post to help you stay on top of all the information and material that will be bombarding you.
Fortunately we can get most of our material in a digital format. Cases and legislation are available in PDF; we can type up notes, case briefs and essays in nifty programs such as OmniOutliner and WriteRoom; and draw mind-maps in OmniGraffle.
But how can we organize all this information so that when exam time rolls around you can find that PDF handout your professor gave you in week three explaining the obiter comments in that bewildering High Court decision?
Say ‘No’ to Folders
Folders are inflexible. Sorting items into folders and sub-folders is time consuming - as is drilling through those folders to find stuff when you need it. A lot of software developers (BareBones’ Yojimbo being a notable example) and even Apple itself (with Spotlight, iPhoto and iTunes) have picked up on the inherent problems with folders and the Finder.
We want to develop a system where having a bunch of folders and sub-folders isn’t necessary. I use my file naming structure as a substitute for folders and sub-folders. I still retain a folder structure but I keep it minimal. I have a folder called _Law School 2007 Sem 2 which sits in my Home directory and contains sub-folders for each subject I am studying: _Corp Law, _Equity, and _Litigation. But I don’t have any sub-folders within those “subject” folders. I probably don’t even need these “subject” folders, as will be explained below.
Develop A Filing Habit
Whenever you download or save something you want to develop a habit of naming it in a particular way. No more saving files as “untitled” or “stuff”. Here is my habit:
Date & Time
I have a TypeIt4Me abbreviation - ‘fdate’ - which generates the date and time in format ‘yymmdd_hh-mm-ss’ (e.g. 070831_21-07-22). I am getting into the habit of stamping everything (e-v-e-r-y–t-h-i-n-g) with an fdate after reading Merlin Mann’s post on the subject. This is especially helpful when sorting different versions of files in the Finder.
Structure
All files are named so that they can be automatically grouped together in a logical structure in the Finder. Each file gets assigned a subject name (e.g. CorpLaw, Equity or Litigation) followed by the type of file (e.g. diagram, lecture slide, case or legislation) followed by the fdate time stamp. If necessary I follow the time stamp with a short description of the file. For example,
- CorpLaw Slides 070831_13-44-46 class1a.pdf
- CorpLaw Slides 070831_13-50-52 class7a.pdf
- Equity Case 070808_20-25-51 CCSD v ISPT [1998] NSWSC 783.pdf
- Equity Diagram 070811_20-30-38 Assignment of Future Property.graffle
- Equity Diagram 070823_21-50-57 Dissenting judges in Oughtred.graffle
- Equity Slides 070831_20-51-45 Topic 2.pdf
- Litigation Diagram 070729_21-45-41 Freezing Order.graffle
Let the Finder Do the Rest
In the Finder sort your files by Name (descending or ascending). Your files then will be automatically grouped by the subject name, followed by the type of file and followed by the date. For example, all my Equity OmniGraffle diagrams are automatically grouped together and sorted by date.
As you can see above I probably don’t need my “subject” folders. As a result of my filing method all the files for each subject are automatically grouped together.
You can apply this methodology not just to law school but also to the rest of your digital life. Used in conjunction with “digital junk drawer” applications such as Yojimbo this can be particularly powerful.
So how do you organize your digital life?
Drew wrote,
So how do you create a snippet like that, what with percentage signs and all?
And while I’m at it, how does one use OmniGraffle with law school?
Ah, so many questions…
Link | September 3rd, 2007 at 1:56 am
Mark Fisher wrote,
Hi Drew,
Yes that is correct. The one that I use (as above) is %y%m%d_%H-%M-%S%-
TypeIt4Me makes it really easy to create dates. There are a whole bunch of pre-set dates that you can use.
Re OmniGraffle: I use it to create diagrams and flow-charts. I find it helps me see how the law branches off in different directions and how those separate strands interact with one another. Its often very helpful when answering problem questions.
Hope that helps.
Link | September 3rd, 2007 at 10:53 am
Drew wrote,
Absolutely. I’m off to investigate…
Link | September 3rd, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Erik Schmidt wrote,
Drew,
If you’d like to see examples of how I use OmniGraffle, let me know via email (erik@maclawstudents.com) and I’ll send you a couple of files. I suppose this would be a good topic for Mac Law Students post in the future.
Link | September 3rd, 2007 at 6:46 pm
Erik Schmidt wrote,
I’ve pulled together some OmniGraffle examples and posted them on the Templates & Example Files page
Link | September 6th, 2007 at 1:22 am
AER wrote,
I use Hazel (http://tinyurl.com/yqql62), which will automatically sort files into folders based on any criteria you set.
My folder structure is this:
~/Documents/Written Documents/School/07-08/L2S1/L2S1T/
Pretty self explanatory, except “L2S1″ stands for 2nd year, 1st semester. “L2S1T” means 2nd year, 1st semester, Tax. I’ve used it for each semester I’ve attended so far, and it is pretty nice.
I usually save everything on the desktop initially, and put the code for the class at the front of the name - i.e., “L2S1T - Notes 9-06-2007.rtf.” Like you guys mentioned, I use TypeIt4Me to do the dates in the file names. Then, when I want to clean up the desktop, I drop everything in my “Auto File” folder, and it Hazel sorts into the correct folder in the folder structure based on the name. It also pops up a Growl notification for each file, and if I click the notification it will open up the folder that the file was sorted in to.
If I want to open something later, I use quicksilver to bring up the folder for that class based on the code (activate Quicksilver, type “L2S1T”, hit enter, and I get all the Tax documents). I use the same system, with different codes, for non-school activities. “WRS” stands for “Work, Rick S.” (an employer name), “TMC” stands for Temple Moot Court, etc.
This is especially handy when combined with sub-folders for individual projects. If I am working on research for an article called “Bob” for the professor I RA for, I can name downloaded PDFs “WRS - Bob - Whatever.pdf” and Hazel will sort them straight into the “Bob” subfolder of ~/Documents/Written Documents/WRS/.
This way, I have all my files at my fingertips, neatly organized, and ready to be backed up. I can call up files very quickly in the middle of class, etc. I also keep my notes (one big OmniOutliner file) organized with the same class codes.
Hazel is also handy for automatically sorting your downloads, emptying your trash, keeping old files off of your desktop, and so on. It’s a great little app.
Link | September 6th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Erik Schmidt wrote,
AER,
That sounds like a pretty slick solution. I’ve seen Hazel v. Quicksilver debates, but based on your note, the two can work together quite well, each fulfilling a different function.
Thanks for the info!
Link | September 7th, 2007 at 1:35 am
Mark Fisher wrote,
Thanks AER!
Ethan Schoonover has some great
screencast tutorials on how he unclutters his Desktop. In one such screencast he discusses how he uses Hazel to help him do this.
But I had never of thought of using Hazel the way you have.
This is a great tip AER, and something I will definitely be investigating.
Thanks again!
Link | September 7th, 2007 at 3:02 am
Mark Fisher wrote,
Well I’m back after having tested out Hazel as a result of AER’s suggestion. And it is a great little app. I am very impressed.
I have set up the same system as AER does but mine only has 3 ‘rules.’
1) I created a folder on my Desktop called ‘Auto Filer’
2) I have 3 Hazel rules for that folder.
a) “File Litigation Files” -> if File starts with “Litigation” send to users/me/_Law School 2007 Sem 2/_Litigation
b) “File CorpLaw Files” -> if File starts with “CorpLaw” send to users/me/_Law School 2007 Sem 2/_CorpLaw
c) “File Equity Files” -> if File starts with “Equity” send to users/me/_Law School 2007 Sem 2/_Equity
I move any files that need to be sorted in the ‘Auto Filer’ folder (using Quicksilver because it is faster than dragging and dropping) and Hazel does the rest.
Very cool. Thanks again AER!
Link | September 21st, 2007 at 9:30 am