I’ve not done a full “Bag Dump” post in a few years, mainly because what I carry day-to-day doesn’t change all that much and it would be a rather boring exercise to repeat it over and over again. But as I was sorting through my bag yesterday, I realized how much I’m enjoying my current setup. Here it goes:

My briefcase has taken a lot of abuse over the years. And still looks basically new.

The Bag Itself

I’m not a bag person. Far from it. I essentially have two: a Filson Original Twill Briefcase in Otter Green that’s about 8 years old, and a five-year-old North Face Surge backpack that some of you may have seen me carrying at pen shows. Both of these bags do what I need them to do: They have three separate compartments/dividers for separating notebooks, files, and a laptop, while also providing plenty of pockets and loops for pens and other tools. The Filson gets carried daily; the North Face is for travel since it has more padding for a computer. I don’t see myself making any changes to this setup until something falls apart.

Planners and Journals

Lately I’ve been carrying two Traveler’s-style notebooks. My Standard Traveler’s Notebook in blue contains a trimmed down Stálogy Half-Year Notebook, an undated monthly calendar (for work), a sticky notes insert, and a zippered pouch. Lately, I’ve also been carrying a Traveler’s-sized Roterfaden from Baum-kuchen (“BK_19”) with four different inserts: a day-to-a-page diary refill, a standard blank MD notebook, a dot grid notebook, and a Letter Pad featuring MD Cotton Paper (in the back slot). This particular notebook serves as my personal journal, and it has absolutely no structure whatsoever. I simply write whatever I feel like writing.

A4 (black) and Letter (green) Filofax Refillable notebooks shown with my Traveler’s Notebook (left) and Roterfaden (right).

Work Notebooks

I go through a LOT of notebooks and pads of paper at my day job, used for a combination of notetaking, brainstorming, and writing. (I do the first draft of pretty much everything by hand - at a bare minimum I’ll hand-write a very detailed outline.) Many of you have written in asking me to do a more detailed post on my specific notetaking and workflow “systems”, and I’m considering it, but honestly nothing is very exciting and doesn’t go much beyond writing everything down and keeping a minimal index of each notebook in the event I need to go back and find things later. If something is important and absolutely needs to be remembered, it gets incorporated into an outline, database, or final work product that is easier for other people to read and navigate.

The wire binding on the Filofax refillable notebook. No more rings that fall out randomly!

Lately I’ve been relying heavily upon Filofax refillable notebooks in both Letter and A4 sizes. The Filofax paper is pretty good for most pens, but if you buy the hole punch you can use whatever paper you want, and also print out documents and articles to stick in these notebooks. I find these bindings more reliable than ring-bound systems, and the pages turn easier. I typically don’t carry pads of paper around with me, since I’ll have a few sheets in these notebooks, but if I do it’s usually a Rhodia Pad or a Write Notepads Dot-Grid Writing Pad.

Pens

My pen selection sees the most change, as I’ll typically rotate 2-3 new pens in every couple of days depending on what type of work I’m doing and whether I have something new in for review. These pens always travel in my Nock Co. wax canvas Sinclair or another 2-3 pen roll or sleeve. Lately, I’ve been carrying my Schon DSGN Ultem Pens nearly exclusively, since the nibs I have in those pens are perfect for the type of work I’ve been doing lately.

For general all-purpose writing, I carry a handful of ballpoints and rollerballs, including at least one Caran d’Ache 849 (my go-to “click pen”); my Montblanc Starwalker and Montblanc Le Petit Prince Classique rollerball; my Sunderland mk1 (of course), my Baron Fig Brass Squire, and a Traveler’s Company Brass Ballpoint (typically kept clipped to my notebook).

Computer

I don’t always carry a laptop, but I nearly always have an iPad on me (iPad Pro 12.9” with the Magic Keyboard and Pencil 2, to be specific). I mainly use my iPad for document management and annotation where writing on a paper copy would be unwieldy, since many of the documents I deal with can run into the hundreds of pages. As fellow attorneys know, the ability to leave “the binders” at the office is a huge advantage!

Noise Cancelling Headphones

I’ve had a pair of Bose Quietcomfort QC35 headphones for the past few years, and they get the job done. They’re more than serviceable on the sound side, and the noise cancellation (the main reason I use them) is superb. At some point I will likely substitute a set of noise cancelling earbuds so I won’t have to carry the larger headphones every day, and can reserve them for airplane travel.

And that’s it! You may find a couple of other small items tucked in my bag here and there, such as chargers, cables, and these days, spare masks, but all of this stuff discussed above forms the backbone of my day. As I mentioned, I may work up some additional posts regarding workflows, note-taking, and everyday use/carry topics, if this is something that would interest readers. Let me know!

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