I have had a paperless law office since early 2006, when I bought my first ScanSnap s1500 document scanner and started scanning every page that crossed my desk. That—and a bit of planning—is really all it takes to go paperless.
There seems to be a tendency to think of digital files as fundamentally different than paper files. In some ways, they are. You can encrypt them, back them up in different places, and do many other nifty things. But from an organizational perspective, digital files are basically the same as paper files.
For example, I previously gave the client file folder structure I use. Chances are pretty good you use the same or similar labels on your paper file folders.
Other than that, all you have to do is scan everything. A good practice is to have an inbox. Never take anything out of your inbox without scanning it. Then, you can shred, save, or mark up the paper copy without worrying about it. You should definitely save originals of some documents, if you are not filing them with the court, but I shred 95% of the paper I receive.
Pretty soon, you will adapt to the slight change in paper flow through your office, and never look back. If you want more detail before you get going, I put together my paperless law office strategy in much more detail in a white paper you can get for free when you sign up for the Lawyerist Insider newsletter.
(photo: Wesley Fryer)
Sam Glover is a business and consumer rights lawyer and the creator of Lawyerist.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Glad to hear you are enjoying the “Paperless Office”, and you are using the gold standard of scanners, the ScanSnap.
A few thoughts:
First and foremost, before anyone starts shredding, the backup strategy must be rock solid. The electronic document must exist in two different places before it is shredded.
I see you use the automatic sorting naming format—nice! Might I recommend that as much useful information be embedded in the filename as possible (and reasonable) since in many cases, that is all you have if your indexing software fails you or a document file is moved out if its folder structure.
I ended up creating year folders under each subcategory (e.g. “Bills/2008″ and “Bills/2009″). Other arrangements are possible; one being copying your full folder structure for each year (e.g. “2008/Bills”). Mine seemed to work best for me, with many dozens of special folders but only a few with enough content to merit year folders.
One final thought: I assume you are (or will be) using some indexing software to tag and index your files. Be warned—those tools are great, but they typically keep your tags and such in an internal proprietary database that can be lost due to many things, including obsolescence.
Here’s an article I wrote on that particular topic: http://paperjammed.com/2009/03.....d-hostage/
Tad
@Ted: Great point on backup. I urge people to have at least two backups at all times, one onsite (because it is faster), and one offsite (in case the office burns down). I have a few more backups than that, in three separate locations. And I test them regularly to make sure they are all working.
If your backup is set up well, you may find yourself using it as an “extended undo” from day to day.
Sam, have you given any thought to using digital signatures? Do you still signatures in hardcopy?
@Daniel: I use a scanned signature for most cover letters and such things. Some documents require a real signature, of course.
But yes, I do. There is little sense printing out a cover letter, signing it, and then scanning it, if I am just going to e-mail or fax it.
Sam,
Do you (or anyone reading this note) have any experience with the Xerox Documate scanning products? I am deciding whether to go with them or Fujitsu. The Xerox 262 is double the cost of the Fujitsu 1500. The 152 is about $100 more.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris, If the Xerox is double the cost of the ScanSnap, what is its appeal to you?
the software package seems robust.