Practice Management Technology For A Paperless Practice?
To clarify, by “paperless practice” I don’t mean 100 percent paperless. Some lawyers managed to use practice management techniques and equipment to get their law office 100% paperless (which is great), but that’s not necessary. In fact, my law office isn’t quite 100% paperless. Serving some of our clients requires paper.
I advocate moving toward a paperless office. Specifically, I advocate embracing legal technology and getting all your documents in electronic form and working with electronic documents as much as possible. From there, you can continue minimizing your paper until you too are a 100% paperless office.
The fact is law firms that embrace and use legal technology will be able to better serve their clients in the long run. Legal technology is at the stage where it is creating alternative legal service delivery methods. Some practice areas are becoming a commodity service because of technology. On the flip side, technology is creating new legal practice areas and is expanding law as well.
Why go to a paperless practice? Consider these reasons:
improve client service with legal technology enhancing communications and service delivery;- improve access to justice for people: lower costs, automation, and alternative billing options make legal services more widely available;
- improve file organization: stop searching for files all over your office;
- better collaboration: more than one person can work on a file at the same time;
- telephone calls – your entire file is at your fingertips whenever you get a telephone call;
- good for the environment;
- go mobile or virtual: work from anywhere, any time – meet clients anywhere, any time;
- cost savings: using legal technology can lower overhead; reduce staffing needs; reduce postage; speed up file resolution; enable work-station sharing (i.e. with telecommuting); lower rent, reduce furniture/filing cabinets, shelving, fixtures requirements, and much more;
- lower long-distance telephone costs; telecommuting; to name a few = better value for your clients;
- work less and reduce stress without losing income;
- document collaboration anywhere, anytime, with anyone;
- document automation = improved client value;
- no more endless “to-be-filed” paper pile;
- outsourcing/partnering opportunities: you can hire from anywhere in the world. Technology eliminates geographical hiring constraints. This allows you to hire the perfect person with great credentials to better serve your clients;
- focus on specialization and delegate more routine tasks so you become more expert in your field;
- stop carrying boxes and boxes of documents;
- happier staff with flexible work arrangements such as desk-sharing, work-from-home, contract and project-basis, etc.;
- alternate billing options to better serve your clients;
- reduce or eliminate clutter in your office; and
- survival: at some point everyone will be digital.
What about lawyers who don’t embrace legal technology practice management techniques and equipment, and instead prefer working with paper and binders? I hear that all the time. That’s fine, but they’ll need to get their documents digitized at some point.
Operating both a paper and digital office is expensive and a luxury that you’ll likely re-think. Besides, computer monitors, software, and legal technology is improving so fast that I’m certain that soon even paper lovers will find working with a touchscreen monitors and/or hand-held mice and voice recognition more convenient than paper.
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