Top 10 Necessary Law Office Supplies for Every Law Firm

A top law office is equipped with supplies for success. Read this guide to learn how to organize your law office properly here!

Imagine that you're meeting with a crucial law client. All that's on the table is a pile of paper with their case information. And then the client asks you for some note-taking equipment.

You stare at them blankly because you don't have any of the supplies they asked for. Your client stares back, shocked at how unprofessional you are.

You don't want to risk losing your client just because you were unprepared and disorganized. Luckily, you can avoid this scenario by having the right supplies. This will be a massive help in getting you on the path towards becoming a successful law firm.

Read on for the top ten law office supplies you need to have to ensure your law office stays organized and productive.

1. Legal Pads

You never know when an important call might come in or when you might have to jot down case details for a potential client. So, one of the top things you need to have is a good number of legal pads stocked in your office.

You can get legal pads with a margin pre-printed on them, which is excellent if you need to number items or organize your notes into categories.

If you use a lot of binders in your law practice, you can also get legal pads that are pre-hole punched for easy organization.

2. Pens and Pencils

Next, you want to have a good number of pens and pencils at each workstation and in your supply cabinet. You also want to include pens and pencils at your fax machine station in case you need to track billing.

Essential pen colors are black, blue, and red for important information.

3. Highlighters

Lawyers highlight a lot—both in and outside of court. So you need to make sure you get good-quality highlighters that won't fade.

For a more organized office, you can also assign a system for which highlighter colors you'd like to use for which items.

This way, your articling students and paralegal can have a cohesive system when highlighting documents.

4. Tab Dividers

Another essential part of law office supplies is getting tab dividers to organize your binders.

You can get side tab dividers collated for courtroom exhibits, or you can get packs of tabs with single numbers if you need to create duplicate binders.

A-Z tab dividers are a great idea for items you need to put in alphabetical order within one binder.

5. Binders and Sheet Protectors

Whether you organize your client files in folders or binders, you'll still need at least a few binders. You can use them to manage other legal documents like bills, invoices, client documents, prospective client information, and miscellaneous notes.

For items like notes you took on a notepad, you can hole punch these and add them to your binder. But for things like client documents and loose items, you will need to use a sheet protector to keep the records from getting ripped or damaged.

6. Sticky Notes and Flags

Throughout your law practice, you or your assistants will often make notes for items to refer to later, especially when compiling legal arguments or talking to clients.

Flags are also great for contracts to show clients where they should sign and remind you what documents to go over when you meet with your client.

For even more organization, get sticky notes and flags in different colors. Assign each color to a category (e.g., yellow could be client action items), so you can know what you're looking for at a glance.

You can also use sticky notes to leave short instructions for your assistants as they work on a file.

7. Staplers and Clips

It's no secret that law firms deal with vast amounts of paper, so your office equipment should include two main types of staplers. The first is a regular office stapler, and the other is a heavy-duty stapler for thicker documents.

Keep in mind that heavy-duty staplers use thicker staples, so be sure to get the right ones.

Your assistant may also need to un-staple and re-staple documents for photocopying or faxing, so make sure to get a good staple remover that won't rip your pages.

8. Multi-Colored Paper

While you'll need lots of white paper for your copier machine, you'll need different colored paper for better organization.

You could use these different colors for cover pages. For example, you could make the front cover of your List of Documents blue, so it stands out.

You also want to make sure that the colored paper you get is sturdier than an average piece of paper, particularly if you use it for a cover page.

9. Files and Folders

You should have two vital folder types in your law office: manila folders and accordion files.

Accordion files are great for organizing attention items like bills and invoices, as well as for storing bulkier law documents like complete medical records. Manila folders are great to put in hanging files in your filing cabinet for quick, alphabetical order sorting.

10. Cover-Up Tape

While pens are great because they can make your writing easier to read and stand out more, you'll need to get cover-up tape if you make a mistake.

Cover-up tape is also crucial if you need to cover privileged information. You can also use cover-up tape to reuse manila folders by covering up the old folder title and replacing it with a new one.

Law Office Supplies for Organizational Success

No matter how many clients your law office has, you won't be successful without the proper organization.

And while it may seem like a more significant upfront expense, when you get the right law supplies, you'll be surprised at how much more quickly and efficiently you're able to run your office and better serve your clients.

Check out our product catalog for high-quality office supplies designed with the legal profession in mind. We've got exhibit labels, tabs, will supplies, and much more for all your law office needs.