Field notes
Writing from live reporting engagements
Short pieces on definitions, aging bands, fee-earner load, and refresh habits—drawn from legal operations dashboard and case workload reporting work in Hong Kong.
How we define an open matter for Hong Kong practice groups
Partners often disagree on what counts as open. Here is the definition set we use before any workload panel goes live.
Aging bands that partners will actually trust
Zero-to-thirty and thirty-to-sixty bands look neat on paper. In litigation and corporate work they often hide the real problem.
Showing fee-earner load without turning reports into surveillance
Workload panels fail when lawyers read them as a ranking exercise. Framing and audience matter as much as the maths.
A monthly refresh rhythm that survives busy seasons
The best panel design still dies if nobody owns the refresh. Here is a lightweight calendar we leave with ops contacts.