The following are some suggestions to help you:

1. Make sure that you have a safe, dry place to store your documents, kept separate from other papers and files.
2. Keep track of when and where documents came from, especially when it is not apparent from just reading the document.
3. Do not write directly on any documents or copies. Use “post it” notes instead or write your comments about the document in a separate memo to your lawyer.
4. Background information about the potential defendant and yourself are documents that could help the lawyer. A printout of the company’s website, a copy of your resume and job description and those of your boss, an internal company phone book, and a map of the employer’s buildings, are all examples of background information helpful to a lawyer in evaluating your claims.
5. Organize your documents by topic, categories, and by date before meeting with a lawyer, if at all possible. Use labels and file folders or, if you can do so without punching holes in text, a tabbed and subdivided notebook(s) .
6. Categories for organizing your documents will vary with each case, but the following are often applicable:

a. Background information about the defendant (company newsletters or annual reports to shareholders, company website printouts, or a physician defendant’s curriculum vitae).

b. Background information about the whistleblower (your resume, curriculum vitae, or copy of a recent job application, etc.)

c. E-mails and correspondence (in date order, subdivided into appropriate categories, and then in date order within each category).

d. Company or defendant documents about the fraud, divided by type of documents or divided by fraud scheme, if there are several different types of wrongdoing going on.

e. Information about witnesses, including addresses, home phone numbers, and places of employment, particularly former employees and those more likely to cooperate with government investigators.

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