Power of attorney and delegation letter register template
A POA and delegation letter register records every power of attorney the office receives (number, type, expiry date, named lawyers) and every delegation letter it issues (case, hearing, POA relied on). It shows which POA is valid before each hearing and which will soon expire, before it catches the office out.
The register is kept by one named person in the office, a secretary or a lawyer, who enters each power of attorney as soon as it arrives and each delegation letter as soon as it is issued; a partner reviews it at least once a month. The lawyer checks it before every hearing to find the number of the valid power of attorney and the lawyers named in it. Its value is that it answers at once questions that leave no room for guesswork: is the power of attorney valid? Is the attending lawyer named in it, or do they need a delegation letter? Who delegated whom, and for which hearing? The template below is a register in three parts: powers of attorney, then delegation letters, then a monthly review signed by the person in charge and the partner.
When do you need this template?
- When a new power of attorney is received from a client, or an existing one is renewed.
- When a delegation letter is issued to a colleague to attend a hearing or take a procedural step.
- Before every hearing or procedural step, to confirm that the power of attorney is valid and check its number.
- In a periodic review of powers of attorney nearing expiry, within the period the office sets.
- When a client revokes their power of attorney or the work on their file ends, to annotate the entry accordingly.
What must it include?
- The client’s name and their file number at the office.
- The power of attorney number exactly as on the original, its type and, briefly, its scope.
- The notarising or issuing authority, the date of issue and the expiry date.
- The names of the lawyers appointed as attorneys in it.
- The status of the power of attorney: valid, expired, renewed or revoked, with the date of the annotation.
- Where the original is kept, and a scanned copy of it in the client’s file.
- For each delegation letter: its number and date, the case and court, the hearing date, the delegating and delegated lawyers, and the power of attorney number.
- The hearing decision the delegated lawyer brought back, and the date it was recorded in the case file.
Register of Powers of Attorney and Delegation Letters
Each power of attorney is entered as soon as it is received and each delegation letter as soon as it is issued. No entry is struck out once made; instead it is annotated as renewed, expired or revoked, with the date.
Part 1: Powers of attorney
Details are copied from the original power of attorney, and its scope is stated briefly but clearly enough to show what it covers.
| # | Client and file No. | POA No. and type | Notarising authority and date of issue | Expiry date | Attorneys named | Original kept at | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Client name] – [File number] | [POA number] – [General / special] | [Notarising authority] – [Date of issue] | [Expiry date] | [Names of the lawyers appointed] | [Client file / originals cabinet] | [Valid / expired / renewed / revoked] |
| 2 | [Client name] – [File number] | [POA number] – [General / special] | [Notarising authority] – [Date of issue] | [Expiry date] | [Names of the lawyers appointed] | [Where the original is kept] | [Status] |
| 3 | [Client name] – [File number] | [POA number] – [General / special] | [Notarising authority] – [Date of issue] | [Expiry date] | [Names of the lawyers appointed] | [Where the original is kept] | [Status] |
Part 2: Delegation letters
Each letter is entered when it is issued; the decision and recording columns are completed after the delegated lawyer returns from the hearing.
| Letter No. and date | Case No., court and circuit | Hearing date and time | Delegating lawyer | Delegated lawyer | POA No. | Hearing decision | Recorded in the file |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Letter number] – [Date] | [Case number] – [Name of the competent court] – [Circuit] | [Hearing date] – [Time] | [Name of the delegating lawyer] | [Name of the delegated lawyer] | [POA number] | [Hearing decision] | [Yes / No] – [Date] |
| [Letter number] – [Date] | [Case number] – [Name of the competent court] – [Circuit] | [Hearing date] – [Time] | [Name of the delegating lawyer] | [Name of the delegated lawyer] | [POA number] | [Hearing decision] | [Yes / No] – [Date] |
| [Letter number] – [Date] | [Case number] – [Name of the competent court] – [Circuit] | [Hearing date] – [Time] | [Name of the delegating lawyer] | [Name of the delegated lawyer] | [POA number] | [Hearing decision] | [Yes / No] – [Date] |
Part 3: Monthly review
Completed at the end of each month and signed by the person keeping the register and the reviewing partner.
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| Powers of attorney expiring within [Period set by the Firm] | [Number] – clients contacted: [Yes / No] |
| Expired powers of attorney not renewed whose cases are still pending | [Number] – [Case numbers] |
| Delegation letters whose hearing decision has not been recorded in the file | [Number] – [Letter numbers] |
| Powers of attorney with no copy attached in the client’s file | [Number] |
Add any columns your office needs, such as the client’s phone number for arranging renewals, but do not remove the expiry date or the attorneys’ names: the follow-up rests on them.
How to fill in the template
Enter the power of attorney the day it arrives
Copy the number, date of issue, expiry date and notarising authority straight from the original, not from a photo on a phone or the client’s account of it, and check both dates a second time before saving: the whole follow-up rests on the expiry date.
Summarise the type and scope in a way that helps the lawyer
Write what answers the question “does this power of attorney cover a particular task?”, for instance whether it is general or limited to a specific matter, and leave it to the lawyer, after reading its text, to judge whether it is enough for new work.
Record the attorneys by name
Write the lawyers’ names exactly as they appear in the power of attorney: they tell whoever organises attendance who can appear before the circuit, and when a delegation letter is needed.
Store the original and note where
Set aside a single place in the office for originals, write in the register where each one is kept, and keep a scanned copy in the client’s file, so that nobody has to search an absent colleague’s drawer for a power of attorney.
Enter every delegation letter when it is issued
Write the letter’s number and date, the case, the hearing, the two lawyers and the number of the power of attorney it relies on. When the delegated lawyer returns, the decision is recorded in the case file and then noted in the register.
Review the register every month
Pick out the powers of attorney expiring within the period your office sets and contact the clients who granted them to arrange renewal, chase the letters whose hearing decision has not been recorded, and then both sign the review.
Common mistakes
- Entering an estimated expiry date or leaving it blank, so the register loses the main thing it exists for.
- Issuing a delegation letter without checking the text of the power of attorney to make sure it covers the case and allows the work required.
- Relying on a copy of an old power of attorney after it has been renewed, so the letter carries the number of an expired one.
- Striking out or altering entries without a trace, instead of annotating the entry with its new status and the date.
- Keeping the register in a spreadsheet on one employee’s computer, so everything stops on the day they are away.
Issue this document from your office’s data
In Murafe, a client’s power of attorney is recorded on the “Powers of attorney” page with its number, type, dates of issue and expiry, issuing authority and attorneys; its copy is attached in the documents, and it appears in the client’s file alongside their cases and contracts. The system alerts the office team before a power of attorney expires, by the period the office sets in Settings → “Email, WhatsApp & alerts”. A delegation letter is issued from the case file with the “Issue delegation letter” command or from the “Delegation letters” page, and fills in automatically the court, circuit and courtroom, the next hearing’s date and time, the case number, its parties, their capacities and its subject, the previous hearing’s decision, and the client’s valid power of attorney number. What is left for you is the floor, the roll number, the requests and the choice of delegating and delegated lawyers, then printing, with the “Court decision” box left blank for the attending colleague to fill in. Printing delegation letters is a separate permission, and every print is recorded in the audit log.