Steps Toward a Paperless Law Firm Pt. 2

We recently offered a few tips on how to reduce the paper in your office. Why not get rid of the mess and reduce your carbon footprint at the same time? Here we present a few additional tips.

1. Go Digital – We’re in the age of smartphones, tablets and superfast computers. Why not look at your subscriptions, newsletters, bills, and anything else you can on these devices? Do you prefer ripping open envelopes, giving yourself paper cuts and generating lots of trash? I doubt you do. Purchase digital subscriptions to trade magazines instead of traditional paper ones. Pay bills online instead of sending out checks with envelopes and postage.

2. Implement Paperless Billing – I bet you prefer to review your bills by email. Consider this: your clients do too. Implement paperless billing by using PDF files and digital letterhead (see our recent articles for more info).

3. Faxing is so 1990 – Why bother with fax paper when you can use a desktop scanning solution instead? Scanning and emailing documents is not only more environmentally friendly, it’s easier and neater too. With faxing through email faxes all backed up via your mailbox so you know when and to whom you sent a fax, the best part, you can send and receive faxes from your mobile device.

4. Use a Document Management System – what better way to manage your documents than with a document management system? A proper document management system is a must for any successful law firm. We’ve written about a variety of options and are happy to advise you on what is best suited for your needs. The process of taking your physical paper documents and scanning them into a database is time consuming and can be expensive when done right. The end result is a digital repository of all your documents in client or matter order that can backup onto a flash drive that fits in your pocket. How can you beat that?

Going paperless is going to take is a series of small changes. Commit to making some minor adjustments to how your firm functions and you’ll have less paper on your hands in no time. Think of it this way, paper can be lost, burned, stolen and destroyed. A digital file can last forever with a good backup system in place.