Outlook has rules. Everybody sets up four, then stops, because a rule can only read the subject line and the sender. It cannot tell that an email from a Gmail address with no reference number is about the Mill Lane purchase because the body mentions the address.
So the sorting reads the body. Each incoming email is matched to a matter by reference number, by the parties' names or by the property address. It gets the matter number as a tag and lands in the matter's folder, with a copy in the practice system if you use one.
Then it is read for urgency. A court listing, a hearing date, anything with a deadline in it is flagged with the date pulled out. Anything from the other side's solicitor is flagged as other side. Newsletters and CPD adverts are filed without touching your inbox.
At 07:30 a short email arrives. Five to ten lines. The matters that need a decision from you today, the deadlines in the next seven days, and the emails from the other side you have not answered. The rest is in the folders when you want it.
This is the kind of thing we build. It runs in your own accounts. How many emails did you open yesterday that needed nothing from you?