How to manage your workload when multiple matters complete on the same day
When two or more matters are scheduled to complete on the same day, the risk isn't that you'll run out of time for drafting or client calls. The risk is that the pre-completion review for one of them falls through the cracks because you moved from one file to the other before you had finished with the first.
The goal is easy to state and genuinely hard to execute: every matter should arrive at its completion window with its file fully reviewed — exactly as if it were the only matter on your desk that day.
Treat each matter as a closed compartment
Before you start reviewing anything, open a separate checklist for each matter: the documents you need, the ones you already have, and the specific checks you intend to carry out.
If you switch between matters before closing the checklist for the first, you lose track and start mixing up detail: the ID number you had in mind from matter A actually belonged to matter B.
The logical sequence is:
- List all the matters set to complete that day.
- For each one, note any documents still outstanding before review can begin.
- Allocate a dedicated time block to each matter. Not "I'll work on both at once" — a block for matter A, a separate block for matter B.
Do the review the day before
On a day with multiple completions, you have almost no margin. Clients arrive, calls pile up, and any unexpected issue in one matter eats into the time you had earmarked for the other.
The only way to stay in control is to have the document review for each matter finished before the day starts. Not "well underway" or "almost done" — finished.
That means:
- Every document received and checked.
- Every discrepancy identified and resolved, or flagged with a clear decision: proceed with it, ask the other side for clarification by a set time, or postpone if it doesn't arrive.
- A note on the file recording what was reviewed, and when.
If you reach the end of the previous day and one file isn't closed, that's the moment to call the client or the other side — that evening, not first thing the next morning.
Prioritise by risk, not by time slot
When two matters complete at different times on the same day, the temptation is to review the later one first because there's still time. That reasoning is exactly what produces errors.
Priority in review goes to the matter with the most documentary complexity — not the one with the earliest slot. The file with more parties, more documents, or more outstanding checks gets reviewed first, regardless of when it completes.
Once both files are reviewed, if you want a quick read-through before each completion, do that in chronological order. But the substantive review is already done.
When a document arrives late on the day itself
It's the most common scenario: one party confirms that morning that a document is "on its way." While the other matter progresses, the outstanding item sits unresolved.
The rule is clear: you do not complete with an unreviewed document. That principle doesn't change because another matter is waiting.
What you can do is set a hard deadline in advance: if the document hasn't arrived by a certain time, that completion is postponed. That decision is made before completion day — not when both sets of clients are already in the room.
Deciding it in advance means you don't have to announce it under pressure, and the other side can plan accordingly.
Keep the records separate and unambiguous
When you're working two matters on the same day, the record of what you reviewed for each one has to be clearly separate.
If you use a checklist — physical or digital — each matter gets its own sheet. If you note something in the file, the note says which matter it refers to and when the review was done. No generic notes that you can't attribute to a specific matter when you read them three weeks later.
This isn't just about tidiness. It's what allows you to show, if anyone ever asks, that the review for matter A was completed before matter A's completion took place.
Delegating part of the review
If you work with a team, a multi-completion day is a natural opportunity to divide the file reviews. You take one matter, a colleague takes the other.
For that to work cleanly, each person needs to know precisely what to check and what conditions the file must meet before it's signed off. Not "have a look at the file for matter B" — rather: "check the full name and ID number of all parties against their identity documents, confirm the property description matches across the contract of sale and the title register entries, and verify that the company authority document covers this type of transaction."
A vague instruction produces a vague review.
If you'd like support with document review and verification in your practice, VerifyAct has tools built for that.