THE PAPER-LESS LAW OFFICE – HOW TO MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU
After Word Processing, EFS, and implementing a practice management system for file opening, billing and
accounts management, what is the next step for progressive law practices wanting to move their practice to
the next level?
The paperless law office is no longer a utopia that exists in the mind of legal technologists and publicists. It
used to be that the process of digitizing paper took too many steps (scan, re-name, save into folder, retrieve
through eyeball search through relevant folder and by document name), and the benefits flowing from
digitization did not justify the effort. This is no longer the case. Scanners, digital management and OCR
software have improved so much, the ease of digitization and the benefits thereof can now be enjoyed at a
fraction of what it would have cost you before the advancements in technology.
THE CHALLENGES OF GOING PAPER-LESS
Lawyers are the ultimate knowledge workers - we spend most of our working hours reading, writing and
analysing factual information, statutes and case law; and most of what we process has been (traditionally)
embedded in paper. This is not true today as most information we handle is DIGITAL - MSWord documents,
email, power point presentations, faxes (until a fax is printed, it arrives in your fax machine in digital form);
even photographs, audio and video files. Handling paper is easy, even if we can’t keep up with the volume.
We call it a filing system: punch holes, insert in paper file, store in filing cabinet, forget about it until the
next time you need something from the file.
Digital information in its myriad file formats presents a whole new set of challenges that most lawyers are
not properly equipped to manage efficiently and effectively.
For some practice owners, it is the escalating cost of warehousing and rising office rentals that propels
them to consider digitisation. While this is true, it also bears reminding that information stored in digital
form offers significant advantages over paper –
1. Keyword searches enable quick and accurate retrieval of relevant information;
2. Ease of sharing and dissemination through the internet makes collaboration with off-site parties
(including your clients) much easier;
3. Digital information is easily accessed from anywhere - enabling flexible working arrangements such as
working from home;
4. Sensitive data can be given different levels of security access (eg, read only access);
5. Digital information can be hyperlinked or cross-referenced to other digital objects of related matter;
6. Digital Information can be easily backed-up and additional copies stored in an off-site location.
The challenge is for you, a practice owner, to take advantage of the efficiency of digital information without
increasing its existing burdens - How much should you continue to rely on paper? How does going paperless save you time and money? In making the transition from a paper-based system, where should you start?
Bizibody Technology Pte Ltd | 8 Robinson Road #10-00 Singapore 048544 | Tel +65 6236 2848 | [email protected] | www.bizibody.biz
THE PROBLEM WITH EMAIL
More than 90% of business correspondence today takes place through email; yet ironically, email
programmes (such as MS OUTLOOK) have not been designed for "business workflows" - what do I mean?
We cannot save email "outside" of Outlook nor store it in Windows document folders (named by client or
matter). We cannot easily share business emails with our colleagues or working team members. Even if you
are disciplined enough to create client / matter folders in Outlook and vigilant about storing emails in the
appropriate folders, Outlook does not allow access to emails by matter / client.
The result: most of us still print emails in order to store them in the relevant case file.
The most effective solution to email management today is to deploy a Legal Document Management System
(“Legal DMS”) such as LEAP Office, Worldox or Interwoven – such software are designed to meet the
dynamic document and email management needs of law practices in a client/matter-centric environment.
LEGAL DMS - HOW IT WORKS
A Legal DMS kicks in when you try to save your documents (including image files or pdfs) or when you
send emails. Unlike windows explorer, the DMS will present you with a "Profile Sheet" prompting you to
input metadata such as document name, author, document type and any other key client/matter
information that you have specified as required in the Profile Sheet. The aim of this exercise is to enforce a
consistent way of saving document across the enterprise; so that everyone from the lowliest clerk to the
managing partner is required to input relevant data about the document before it is saved into the DMS.
The Profile Sheet is what differentiates a Legal DMS from a simple desktop search engine. Over time, as
your document store grows, a simple keyword search of the full text of every document will yield too many
results to be truly useful. What the Profile Sheet offers to the user is the ability to narrow down searches
through useful search parameters such as by author, date, document type or subject matter.
In addition, Legal DMS are designed to integrate with all aspects of a law practice workflow; taking over the
functions of saving and retrieving documents, emails, faxes, scanned documents, graphic, audio or video
files or even Web pages.
A Legal DMS imparts structure, organization, and accessibility to your ever increasing hoard of digital
information. Better yet, it will help you to trawl through your vast digital storehouse to retrieve the
relevant information you need in an instant!
The core document management functionality comprises the following features Knowledge Library - Cataloguing and profiling documents, through the use of custom fields, descriptive file
names, security attributes, and additional file attributes, such as Author, Description, File Type, Date
Created / Date Updated, Unique Document ID, Path location etc. The document’s profile enables easy access
and quick retrieval of any specific piece of information from the knowledge bank.
Full Text Search & Retrieval - Retrieval is a critical route of access to information that cannot easily be
categorized or represented within the document profiling structure. Full text retrieval involves an indexing
engine which extracts each word from all the documents cleared for searching. This information is used to
Bizibody Technology Pte Ltd | 8 Robinson Road #10-00 Singapore 048544 | Tel +65 6236 2848 | [email protected] | www.bizibody.biz
construct an index to the document; when users make a search by specifying search criteria
- words, combinations of word, phrases, expressions, etc the Index is used to identify the documents
answering to the specific search criteria.
Security & Restricted Access – the document management system assigns rights and permissions to
documents based on individual users, groups of users, and the roles in which users serve within the
organization.
Document History – the document management system maintains a historical activity record associated
with each document, tracking each action in the life of a document including who performed the action, its
date and time, and the nature of the action itself.
BENEFITS OF A LEGAL DMS
To law practices that are serious about implementing a paperless office, a Legal DMS offers the following
benefits over simply relying on the “document folders” in Windows Explorer –
1.
Achieving Consistency in the equivalent of a "File Naming Convention"
The document profiling function in a Legal DMS ensures that all documents, including emails, scanned
documents and faxes are saved in a consistent manner. You are no longer held ransom by staff or
colleagues who insist on their own arcane, incomprehensible and illogical ways of naming documents.
Remember how long it took you to locate "missing files" when someone accidentally dragged and dropped
the folder into a "black hole" in your server? Or (horrors!) deleted the folder? Worry no more - a Legal DMS
will prevent such accidents from happening.
2.
Greater Accuracy and Speed in Document Search & Retrieval
While most users are fairly efficient at locating their own documents using Windows Explorer, finding
documents created or saved by someone else can prove time consuming and exasperating. Document
Profiling and Indexing functions automated in a Legal DMS returns search results lightning quick and with
far greater accuracy and consistency.
3.
Audit Trails for Document Access
Security access and audit trails provide a Law Practice with much better control over document security
and access. Confidential documents can be made available only to people who need to see them while audit
logs disclose which members of your practice had retrieved, made changes, printed or copied etc
documents belonging to the practice.
4.
Incorporating Document Retention / Destruction Policies for your Practice
You can now easily implement document retention policies across your practice without expending
additional resources by tagging retention periods for each matter type.
Bizibody Technology Pte Ltd | 8 Robinson Road #10-00 Singapore 048544 | Tel +65 6236 2848 | [email protected] | www.bizibody.biz
KEY PRINCIPLES IN IMPLEMENTING A PAPER-LESS LAW OFFICE
First Step: Eliminate Paper
1.
Keep digital information in digital form (do not print emails or faxes);
2.
Convert hard copy documents received from third parties into digital format.
Second Step: Rework your Workflow for Managing Incoming Mail
Your law practice has a workflow for handling incoming and outgoing mail in paper form. Mail that is
delivered in the morning is sorted and distributed to the people in the Practice who need to take action on
it. It is a fallacy that the process of digitization (scanning and OCR) takes more time and effort than manual
paper filing.
That fallacy arises because most law practices use their heavy weight MFP (Multi Function Photocopier) for
scanning. To do this, your support staff will get up from her desk, go to the scanner, scan, go back to the
desk and save the scanned document into the relevant Windows folder. To make this process more efficient,
provide a dedicated desktop scanner for the staff who is responsible for scanning all incoming mail.
Professional digitization specialists know that purpose-built desktop scanners will do a quicker and more
efficient scan than the MFP.
The long term goal of reliable information capture requires that you scan EVERY single piece of incoming
correspondence. Right away! No exceptions. Otherwise your ‘capture system’ will become unreliable. In our
experience, this is the main challenge you will face in moving to a paperless system. After this, everything
will be fairly easy, and painless.
COST OF CONVERSION & ROI
The tools you need to help you go "paper-less" and the cost of acquisition is set out in this illustration
Costs for a solo practice
Desktop Scanner (Fujitsu ScanSnap includes a free Adobe Acrobat license)
S$ 700.00
Adobe Acrobat X Pro software license for 1 user
USD$ 515 online
Worldox software license for 2 users
USD $790
Assuming conservatively that you save 10 -15 mins a day (or 1 hour a week) looking for documents in your
file cabinet, a lawyer who bills $300 an hour recovers his investment in 11-12 weeks. In the long term,
other quantifiable benefits include savings on warehousing and better use of office space where office rents
are at a premium.
BENEFITS OF A PAPER-LESS LAW OFFICE
Aside from saving time as a result of more efficient search and retrieval, a paperless law office enjoys the
following significant but less easily quantifiable benefits -
Bizibody Technology Pte Ltd | 8 Robinson Road #10-00 Singapore 048544 | Tel +65 6236 2848 | [email protected] | www.bizibody.biz
1. Backups reduce the risk of losing documents and files
2. Empowered Employees have access to documents in a safe and controlled manner
3. Secure access to documents from any location enables flexible working arrangements; working
from home etc
4. Ability to provide clients with web access to project documents in a safe and controlled manner
Even more significantly, a Legal DMS facilitates “Knowledge Capture and Re-Use” in your law practice.
Implementing a DMS is the only sure way for a law practice to capture the expertise, knowledge and work
products of its people into a search-able, share-able database that becomes a collective asset of the Practice.
THE BEST WAY TO START A DIGITIZATION PROJECT
1. Consider which documents you would like to digitize. Consider the scope of your digitization goals.
Will you restrict digitization to active matters only? What about your archived files?
1. Do you have the necessary hardware and software to facilitate digitization?
2. Should you invest in a Legal DMS now, or is a desktop search engine adequate for your needs?
3. Devise and implement workflows to facilitate conversion of hard copy documents to digital form.
We have implemented and advised on digitizing workflows using the Fujitsu ScanSnap with a Legal DMS
(and some with a simple desktop Search Engine) in several law practices. We would be happy offer an
initial consultation to help you understand the different software available before you embark on a
practice-wide digitization project.
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Author: Serena Lim, Bizibody Technology Pte Ltd
Serena Lim is the CEO of Bizibody Technology, a company that provides legal technology and outsourced support
services to law practices in Singapore.
Serena works with lawyers to integrate technology into the different aspects of legal practice. Her insights into the
backrooms of many law practices, daily dealings with lawyers and paralegals, and her abiding interest in technology
and business trends, gives her a bird's eye view of the impact of technology on law and practice.
Serena can be reached at [email protected] or call +65 6236 2846
Bizibody Technology Pte Ltd | 8 Robinson Road #10-00 Singapore 048544 | Tel +65 6236 2848 | [email protected] | www.bizibody.biz