Client files rarely fail because something was not kept. They fail at retrieval, when nobody can find what was kept, or at collection, when what was needed never arrived and nobody noticed until it mattered. Both problems have unglamorous fixes that hold up as a practice grows, and both are decided by structure rather than by effort.
How to organize client files: by client first, everything else second
The durable structure is the client at the top level, with a small and identical set of subdivisions beneath, because the client is the one thing that never changes about a document. Organizing by year, by service or by staff member seems tidy at the time and produces documents whose location depends on a decision somebody made once and did not record. The corollary is that the number of subdivisions should be small and fixed: any structure that grows a new folder per situation will diverge across clients within a year and stop being predictable.
Collect documents from clients in batches, with a visible outstanding list
The reason collecting documents from clients is painful is almost never that clients refuse. It is that requests arrive piecemeal over weeks, so the client never sees the whole task and never gets the satisfaction of finishing it. Asking once, completely, with a list they can work through and watch shrink, changes the response rate substantially. It also means that when something is outstanding, both sides know, rather than the practice knowing and the client having forgotten.
The document request email should be short and specific
A request that names each item plainly, says why it is needed in a clause, gives a date and points at one place to put things will outperform a longer and more apologetic one. The two failure modes are vagueness, where the client cannot tell what would satisfy the request, and volume, where a long message causes the whole thing to be postponed. Keep the list itself somewhere durable rather than only in the email, so that chasing does not mean re-reading the thread to work out what is still missing.
Questions people ask about client files
What is the best structure for client files?
Client at the top level, with a small fixed set of subdivisions beneath. Structures organized by year, service or staff member depend on a decision nobody recorded and diverge across clients within a year.
How do you get clients to send documents faster?
Ask once and completely rather than piecemeal, and give them a list they can watch shrink. Piecemeal requests hide the size of the task and remove any sense of finishing it.
What should a document request email say?
Each item named plainly, a clause on why it is needed, a date, and one place to put things. Keep the list somewhere durable too, so chasing does not mean re-reading the thread.