By Elizabeth M. Miller bio
The concept of going paperless seems overwhelming for law firms. This is one of those things where you conjure up in your mind all the added work that it is going to take to go paperless, and you decide that it is more time efficient to keep things just the way they are. The next time you are looking for a file as you are rushing out the door, already late to court, might be a good time to reconsider whether going paperless will really be that much of an inconvenience, or whether in the long run the ends will justify the means.
For decades, lawyers have surrounded themselves with paperwork. The thought of not being tethered to every file, to be able to reach out and touch it or see the product of all your work in a thick red file is incomprehensible for some lawyers. Many firms have already been paperless for years and reaped the many benefits of a paperless office:
- Even if you print your own letterhead, the reduction of the cost of paper to print letterhead, make copies, send emails instead of letters, e-file court documents, respond to discovery with pdfs or even a CD will substantially reduce the cost of paper for your office. Not to mention all the time spent by anyone to stand at the copier and make copies.
- No more file cabinets for storing current files or closed files. No more space to store the file cabinets. Imagine the cost savings of not having to rent office space to store 6 or 12 file cabinets.
- File folders never get lost.
- No more costs for off-site storage or the time and expense it takes to retrieve a file when it is needed.
- Accessing a file without having to be in the office.
There is one very important aspect of going paperless before any procedures are put in place for a firm to transition to paperless—consistency. Consistency is going to be key for a paperless practice to be successful.
Whatever case management software is used for storing files and the documents in it, the firm has to set up protocols for storing documents and entering data, or this will not work. Everyone in the firm needs to know what the specific procedures are for opening files, setting them up and naming documents or no one will ever be able to find anything and going paperless will not provide any time-saving or cost-saving benefits. In fact, people will likely get more frustrated.
3 steps to going paperless
Here are 3 steps that will get your firm started:
Step 1: Choose an appropriate and user friendly document management system that will work for your firm. There are many companies selling different document management systems specifically geared for the practice of law. Shop some demos that these companies offer and when all else fails get the help of someone who has instituted paperless protocols in the past.
Step 2: Start your paperless procedures with the next file that you open. Phase out your paper files. Many firms that have gone paperless have spent time and money having someone scan current files into the new system. The ends do not justify the means. Each new matter that comes into the office should be opened as a paperless file.
Step 3: Set up your paperless files the same way you would set up your paper file. You can have correspondence, memos, pleadings, discovery, billing, etc. Do not break down file folders to 10 sub-folders. This is going to make things way too confusing for people and when someone is in a hurry—and in a law office it happens—someone is going to just save something to a wrong sub-folder and it will be hard for the next person to find it. Make sure documents are stored in chronological order by using dates as part of the naming process.
Conclusion
Going paperless is one of the time-saving and cost-saving protocols that if you take the time to implement the procedure and get everyone on board, you will see the benefits rather quickly and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
| Editor’s picks: | ||
 Buried by paper? Time to crawl out and go digital
|
 Redesign the office to keep up with industry and technology changes |
 Model Tool: New client intake form |