Memory of Lawyer

Memory, one of humanity's oldest abilities and the closest ally of lawyers, serves as the sole internal mechanism for encoding, storing, and retrieving information without the aid of external devices or tools. It plays a pivotal role in not just understanding our surroundings but also acts as our primary, data-informed decision-making system. This ability enables us to base our choices on past experiences and accumulated knowledge, often influencing our future actions.

The role of memory in our daily lives is more complex, than it may initially appear. Utilization of memory encompasses various types of it, each with its distinct purpose and accompanying effects. They are instrumental in everything from structuring our daily routines to inadvertently inducing stress and consuming energy for the mere retrieval of information.

There are three primary types of memory - sensory memory, short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Sensory Memory is the most immediate type of memory. It captures sensory information, such as visuals, sounds, and tastes, just moments after the original stimuli have ended. For instance, the sound of a judge's gavel in a courtroom is immediately processed by lawyers, who not only recognize the sound but may also recall associated memories.

Short-term memory, sometimes referred to as "working memory," allows us to maintain a limited amount of information in an active, easily accessible state for a brief duration, typically around 20 to 30 seconds. This capacity is adequate for tasks like transferring information from contracts to a legal tech platform during due diligence exercises. However, such information is unlikely to persist for days or weeks.

Long-term memory, on the other hand, is used for storing information over prolonged periods, ranging from days to an entire lifetime.

Each memory type is tailored for specific purposes. Whether it's remembering a contract's index or a bank queue number, you wouldn't want these details cluttering your memory for years. Yet, sometimes, in the legal profession, there's a necessity to briefly review a document or number and commit that information not to short-term but to long-term memory. The reasons for this vary, but they are numerous in legal contexts.

A Journey Through a Lawyer's Memory

Lawyers rely on various sub-types of memory in their work. Some boost their efficiency, while others can drain their energy and distract them from focusing.

Semantic memory helps lawyers recall knowledge related to their professional life. This includes facts, ideas, and concepts. For example, a German lawyer knows that lease agreements are covered under paragraph 535 of the German Civil Code.

Procedural memory supports skill-based tasks, like touch typing. Lawyers don't need to remember each key's position every time they type contract details into a digital file. This type of memory operates in the background, without the conscious awareness of how the information is retrieved.

Conditional or emotional memory plays a role when lawyers hear the sound of a judge's gavel and understand its significance. This type of memory links certain actions to emotions or recollections. It influences behavior, but often without conscious recognition.

Associative memory enables lawyers to consciously connect two pieces of information. Unlike conditional memory, which is more reflexive, associative memory is deliberate. For instance, a lawyer might color-code sections of the civil code, coloring all family law paragraphs in green to make it easier to visually associate and recall family law-related information.

When a lawyer realizes that some client requests are missing from the meeting protocol, they might use episodic memory. They close their eyes, recall specific moments from client meetings, such as the exact questions asked or comments received, and retrieve some of the missing details.

All these types of memory are crucial for storing and retrieving information, and they all use energy. However, the most energy-intensive type is also the most frequently used: prospective memory.

The Biggest Stress Trap for Lawyers - Prospective Memory

Different types of long-term memory can lead to mental load, fatigue, and stress. Prospective memory, in particular, uses up mental energy much like a sports car uses fuel.

Lawyers often manage their tasks through emails and calendar entries. However, this method might miss tasks that don't have an associated email or meeting invite. As a result, many tasks need to be noted down or remembered. Lawyers often choose to remember them, thinking a few extra tasks won't make much difference in their already full memory. But until these tasks are completed or forgotten, they keep coming back to mind. Unfortunately, unfinished tasks tend to pop up in our thoughts more often than completed ones (Zeigarnik effect). Remembering future tasks falls under the category of prospective memory, a subtype of long-term memory that also has characteristics of short-term memory. Thinking about a task not immediately at hand can be stressful because it distracts attention and creates a sense of incompleteness.

Interruptions on the other side create another layer of memory overload. If a lawyer is working on a task and gets interrupted (which happens quite often), the task occupies even more mental space and keeps intruding into their thoughts more forcefully (Zeigarnik effect).

Regardless of a task's complexity, constantly being reminded to complete it in the future can lead to stress, especially if the steps to complete it aren’t clearly defined. To break this cycle of recurring thoughts about future tasks, lawyers need a tool specifically designed for their work style. This tool should accommodate the unique demands of their profession, helping to manage tasks effectively without adding to the mental burden.

Automation of Prospective Memory

Imagine a law firm introducing a specialized automation system for managing prospective memory tasks. Let‘s call this system the "Legal Task Assistant (LTA)."

The LTA fully integrates with the law firm's existing systems - case management, email, calendar, time tracking, and communication tools. It's designed to accommodate the hectic schedule of a lawyer who is handling multiple cases, numerous deadlines, meetings, and various tasks.

When a new task or deadline emerges, be it from an email, a meeting, or a court directive, the LTA automatically logs it. This system is smart enough to understand the task's context and priority.

Lawyers can simply swipe left or right on their smartphone screens to open a blank note page with a user-friendly interface. They can type down any task and hit a green submit button. Crucially, there's no password barrier to quickly adding a task on a blank page - a timesaver since lawyers often lose precious seconds entering passwords. The LTA then analyzes these notes, cross-references them with emails and meeting transcripts, and formulates a task with a relevant description and deadline.

The LTA doesn't just remind lawyers about tasks based on deadlines. It also considers the lawyer's work habits, task complexity, and current workload. If a brief is due in two weeks, the LTA schedules drafting time during the lawyer's most productive hours.

For smaller tasks, the LTA clusters 6-7 mini-tasks into a 15-minute slot, creating uninterrupted time for these tasks and blocking out potential distractions or meeting invitations.

The LTA dynamically updates task priorities as new information comes in. A rescheduled court date? The LTA adjusts preparation times and related tasks accordingly.

Before scheduled meetings, the LTA offers summaries of relevant tasks and outstanding items, ensuring the lawyer is well-prepared.

The LTA can even recommend task delegation to paralegals or junior lawyers, based on their workload and expertise. It keeps the team informed about important updates and deadlines.

At day's end, the LTA provides a recap of completed tasks and previews upcoming ones, helping lawyers mentally gear up for the next day.

By significantly reducing the reliance on prospective memory by up to 90%, the automation system of tasks and memory greatly lessens the cognitive load for lawyers. With the automation in place, lawyers are relieved of the burden of tracking tasks that aren't documented in their calendars or emails. This efficient system takes over such responsibilities, enabling lawyers to devote their full attention to the prioritized legal tasks at hand.

The stress and burnout that are attributed to incomplete tasks will be replaced with the satisfaction of completing them. The automation tool will shift the focus of lawyers to their accomplishments and what they have already achieved, rather than residing on pending tasks. Eventually, this shift will encourage a disciplined ?one task at a time” approach and eliminate the constant usage of prospective memory.