THE PAPERLESS LAW OFFICEkids.jpgTHE PAPERLESS LAW OFFICE
As a graduate mechanical engineer, I have always been fascinated with computer technology starting from my early days at Georgia Tech and continuing throughout my entire twenty-five year legal career. My first computer in 1978 utilized a "whopping" 48K of random access memory, and two 5 1/4 inch disc drives. By 1992 high speed modems, led to access to the Internet and electronic legal research from numerous data bases. But with all of these marvelous technological innovations, most law firms today still basically use their computers for word processing, basic accounting, E-mail and on-line legal research. The next big step in the computerized law office will be the "paperless law office."
In 1995 I decided to take the plunge and go to a totally paperless system for my law office. Going paperless meant that all documents within my office would be electronically scanned and stored electronically for search, retrieval, fax and archiving. Since my law practice is "document heavy" most client files were voluminous. A trip to the courthouse for a hearing would mean carting a very large heavy file. A meeting outside my office with the client or other parties would also mean dragging around a heavy file, and then wasting valuable time finding things within that file.
My real motivation to go paperless, however, stemmed from the fact that my family and I were spending more and more time in our summer home in Maine. The problem was how to get all those paper files to my home in Maine so that I could work during the summer months and keep my clients happy. The solution was going paperless.
My summer office is in Bridgton, Maine, a quaint New England town located in the lakes region of Southern Maine at the foothills of the White Mountains. This is an office with all my client files, but with no paper. During the summer months I put in a normal work day with my paperless office system and complete as much work as if I were in my offices in West Palm Beach. The difference is a picturesque more relaxed setting. I sometimes take off the afternoon for a hike in the woods or a swim in the lake. My legal assistant continues to man the West Palm Beach Office, but all mail, pleadings and other papers which arrive at the Florida office are electronically scanned. The scanning reduces the paper to an electronic file which is then "modemed" over the telephone lines to my office in Maine. I have the electronic client files for my entire office on my laptop which I take to Maine to start the summer. Therefore, I have full access to all my client files, plus "new paper" which is being scanned daily and sent to me via the telephone lines. I receive all facsimiles through my computer and dictate correspondence over the telephone back to my assistant in Florida, who then "modems" the completed text file back to Maine for printing and signature. I still maintain my normal telephone communications with my clients.
My legal services to the client are the same if not better while I am in Maine versus the South Florida Office. Of course, I still have to fly home for major court hearings. A paperless office has given me the freedom to go wherever I want to go and still get my work done and service my clients.
A paperless office has many other advantages besides flexibility over long geographical distances. I have eliminated most filing cabinets in my office which has saved a substantial amount of floor space. Closed files are no longer stored in expensive record storage services. Office personnel can do work from their homes and simply "modem" their electronic files into the law office via telephone lines. Therefore, the total space requirements of my office have dropped to the point where (but for client expectations) one questions: "Why do we need an office to begin with?" As an added advantage, should there be a catastrophic casualty loss such as a major hurricane, fire, theft or what have you, all the client files are safely stored on tape out of harms way and can be restored and used in a very short period of time.
Paperless offices allow for the creation of virtual offices where lawyers, support personnel and clerical help can be literally scattered over great distances and need only be connected by telephone lines. The potential savings on overhead to the average law office could be substantial if people can make the dramatic change from using paper to using a computer screen. That is not to say people stop using any paper in a law office. Obviously, original documents such as affidavits and court exhibits are still stored in the office. However, if you ever pick up your average client file, you will find that 99% of that file is really nothing more than a photocopy. Remember, electronic filing allows you to print out the document on paper which is a photocopy. In fact, the combination of computer, scanner, and printer is a photocopy machine to the extent I no longer keep a traditional photocopy machine in my office.
Many law firms already have a networked computer system which provides a computer at the desk of each attorney and secretary. These computers are usually networked to a central storage server where all word processing files and other electronic files are created and stored. A paperless office system would require this networked system plus (a) each attorney needs a laptop computer to download electronic files onto their laptop for out-of-office and court use; and (b) several scanners will be needed for scanning documents into the network server. In recent years, good document scanners with automatic document feeders have dropped in price to under $1,000. Like scanners, laptop computers have also dropped in price to where a good quality laptop with sufficient hard drive storage space can now be purchased for less than $2,000. Therefore, hardware costs are not a major impediment to the paperless office. The biggest problem with paperless systems is convincing people to change the way they work and think in a law office.
In a paperless office, word processing files created within the office are normally stored on a different hard disk subdirectory for each client. In a paperless office system, any papers or facsimiles coming into the office are scanned and stored in that same subdirectory for the client's file. The scanned file is a "graphic" file just like a photocopy. After the document is scanned, the computer uses optical character reading (OCR) to create a corresponding index file for the document just scanned or fax received. The index and the "graphic" file of the document are then electronically linked so that the document can be searched by using key words. I use "off the shelf" software which cost me less then $100. A paperless office is similar to the Internet in that both graphics and text are electronically linked for searching and retrieving. People familiar with using the Internet, CD rom databases, or Lexis with key word search engines will have less trouble converting to a paperless office.
As an example, in my paperless office system, I use Scansoft's Pagis Pro which creates indexes for each client. The name of the index corresponds to the name of the client. In the Pagis Pro search engine, I can do a key word search. For example, if I were looking for a letter written by Mr. Jones and I remember it came sometime in December 1996, I would type the key words "Jones AND December AND 1996." The key word search uses similar nomenclature as LEXIS and the Internet, using the operators "and" "or" "near/_____" "not" etc. The indexing software would search the indexes and find any documents which meet the three key word criteria. The computer then lists all of the documents meeting the search criteria which may be a long list of files requiring a second level of search. Searching for documents using these key words is somewhat of an art form and requires practice.
Once you have found the right document, you then pop the electronic document on the screen, page through it to read, review, print, fax or attach electronic "sticky notes." This same document can be searched, found and viewed from a computer outside the office via modem and telephone lines.
I have found a paperless office to be invaluable in terms of increasing my efficiency and giving me the freedom to practice law anywhere that I want to go. When my clients are on the phone, we find documents immediately on the computer, allowing us to make quick but intelligent decisions. The law firm of the future must be a law firm that is efficient, successful in lowering its overhead costs and provide speedy services to its clients. The paperless office offers that opportunity.
See the American Bar Journal on paper less systems:
Creating a paperless office is not easy and requires substantial commitment in time and effort to train personnel and change attitudes on how we work together in a law office. For more information on the paperless law office contact Rod Tennyson at:
PO Box 3858, Lantana FL 33465-3858 561-478-7600 fax 561-478-9241 email tennyson@gate.net
I am available for consulting on these matters at the hourly rate of $200 per hour to advise law firms on hardware, software, security issues, and personnel training.