Shared working position
What the covering assistant needs
Find the current instruction, the prepared response and the missing item. Check the actual source before using the older draft.
Team continuity
Who’s covering
the file tomorrow?
Give the next person the latest instruction, current draft and unfinished work, with the sources beside them.
Harbour / Covering the file
The instruction stays.
The work continues.
Current draft. Internal hold. Missing statement. Named reviewer.
A handover that
carries the detail.
Your assistant knows which version counsel meant, what the client promised and why the draft is still internal. When someone covers the file, those details need to travel with the work.
A handover should spare the covering team another inbox search and give counsel a clear view of what still needs review.
NISI brings instructions, sources and prepared work into the shared matter record. Here, the covering assistant carries forward a changed proposal, the instruction to hold it internally and a separate disclosure follow-up.
The person covering changes. The instruction and review responsibility stay clear.
Covering the Harbour file
The right draft.
The instruction behind it.
An earlier draft says 6:00 pm. The current instruction says 5:00 pm. See what the covering assistant needs to carry forward.
Which draft should the covering assistant use?
Inspect the fictional covering note
Alex’s 9:14 email proposes Friday at 5:00 pm. Counsel instructed: keep the revised response internal. Latest bank statement is still outstanding. The earlier draft contains 6:00 pm.
Carry the instruction into the handover.
Read the fictional instruction
Use Friday at 5:00 pm. Keep the response internal pending the client conference. Prepare a precise request for the latest bank statement, without sending it.
Internal preparation
Two pieces of work
Mark the 6:00 pm draft as earlier. Carry the current time and internal hold into the working response. Prepare the disclosure follow-up as a separate draft.
The next person can see what actually changed.
Prepared handover · not reviewed
Harbour / Covering note
Current instruction: Friday at 5:00 pm; response held internally.
Prepared: revision note and draft request for the latest bank statement.
Review owner: counsel.
Still outstanding: statement receipt. No response or follow-up has been sent.
Fictional demonstration. Nothing is sent, filed or scheduled. Resets when you reload.
When someone else
picks up the file.
Does this replace the assistant’s judgment?
No. A shared record supports the assistant’s work and helps counsel supervise it. Unclear instructions and consequential choices still need the right person.
What does tailored to your practice mean here?
Here it means preserving the matter name, internal-draft label and instruction to hold the response. Available templates and preferences depend on your firm’s agreed setup.
What belongs in a useful handover?
The current instruction, its sources, the latest draft, review status and next owner. Include what is still missing and what must remain internal.
Give the next person
a file they can follow.
Discuss the handovers, review habits and drafting conventions your firm needs to preserve.