The less-paper office.

It sounds like a bad joke: What's the easiest way to scare lawyers? The answer: Tell them their offices are going paperless. Just mentioning a "paperless office" intimidates many lawyers. It's as though the idea of becoming more efficient and saving money is an impossibility. It isn't.

Granted, no office can be completely paperless. What it can be is a "less-paper" office. Technologically, the process is easy. But psychologically? That's another story.

In a less-paper office, you and your support staff store, organize, and use documents the same way you did with hard copies--but you do so on your computers. In other words, a computer directory for each client acts as an electronic copy of the physical file, with subdirectories for pleadings, correspondence, and so forth; each subdirectory is identical to the folder used to store paper documents.

When you need a document, you go to the computer directory rather than the physical file, rind the document, and open it. When a client, adjuster, or opposing counsel calls, you no longer have to place the caller on hold, get up, find the file, and rummage through it to locate the needed documents. Instead, you open the case file on your computer, and you're ready to talk. You're more efficient, and the caller is impressed by your ability to discuss the matter instantly. Plus, in a less-paper office you will have scanned copies of documents if the originals are lost or damaged.

The method for using less paper applies to all documents in a case. Traditionally, after you obtained paper documents, you copied them and produced paper copies for opposing counsel. You (and opposing counsel) probably reviewed the records once and concluded that most weren't relevant. With a less-paper approach, you can obtain the records electronically (or scan them into your computer), and you won't have those useless piles of paper. You also can produce them on CD, which is much faster, and saves paper, toner, and postage.

My favorite reason for storing documents electronically is that you can use optical character recognition (OCR) software--which reads from paper and translates it into a form that the computer can manipulate--to make them searchable. Consider this real example from my practice: Opposing counsel named a new expert after the deadline to do so. We couldn't fathom why his testimony would be more relevant than that of a previously named witness who worked for the same company.

I opened Adobe Acrobat and searched the index of all of the case's scanned documents for the new witness's name, which appeared once in more than 5,000 pages of documents. Where? In a document where another witness had cited the new expert's treatise supporting our opponent's theory of recovery. Obviously, opposing counsel intended to use this treatise to bolster his case without disclosing that "little" fact.

Needless to say, we filed a motion in limine to preclude this new witness's testimony because our opponent had named him after the discovery deadline and because his testimony would be duplicative of his coworker's. Like our opponent, we didn't mention his treatise.

When your case concludes, if you have scanned all the records, pleadings, and closing documents, you can save them on a CD and dispose of all hard copies. You will need less (if any) space to store the rile, saving storage costs. If you need to, you can quickly retrieve the documents from your computer or from the CD you created when you closed the file.

Get started

Going less-paper doesn't require radical changes to your office procedures. Although many document management systems (DMS), such as Computhink or Worldox, automate the process, most small or solo practices won't need these; all you really need are a sheet-fed scanner, CD burner, free Adobe Reader, and the willingness to tweak the way you (and your staff) work.

The key piece of equipment is a scanner, which will allow you to save documents and images on your computer. Sheet-fed scanners have become affordable and let you scan large documents at the push of a button. For around $300, you can buy one with a 35- to 50-page sheet feeder, which should be sufficient for most small to midsize firms. As a bonus, many scanners also serve as copiers and fax machines.

Scanning is as easy as making a copy--the key is software that either asks to save or automatically saves the images wherever you specify. Most scanners come with free software that can OCR text documents so that you can search the text and use it in other applications.

After you scan and save documents, you will need other software to review them. If you save your documents as pdf files, which I strongly recommend, you can review them with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (downloadable at www. adobe.com), which allows you to view documents but gives you no other capabilities.

If you buy the more versatile Adobe Professional or comparable software, you can accomplish much more. For ex ample, Adobe Professional lets you search a document's text, export it to Microsoft Word, or use it in other applications. This program is relatively expensive (around $400 per user/license), but other companies sell less expensive alternatives with fewer bells and whistles.

While pdf is generally the standard format for saving documents, photos and other picture files are saved as images (in tiff, jpeg, or other formats) and require imaging software called a "viewer" to read them.

PCs that run on Windows come with Microsoft's viewer, but it is extremely basic, and most offices will need a more versatile product. Among the more popular viewers are the user-friendly ACDSee for about $40 (www.acdsystems.com) and IrfanView, which is free (www. irfanview.com).

For your less-paper office to be successful, you'll need a system that makes locating files easy. First, create an organizational structure. For example, organize files by client name (Who remembers matter numbers?), with subdirectories for correspondence, pleadings, discovery, medical records, and other documents.

Next, develop a file-naming protocol. For example, save letters as "Ltr to Person re Subject Date" (Ltr to Atty Smith re Case 2005-10-28). I recommend that dates be in year-month-day format to make sorting similarly named files easier. This way, if you have four letters to Attorney Jane Smith, they will sort in date order when you search for them.

If you intend to produce documents electronically, you need the ability to create ("burn") CDs. Most computers now include a CD burner and the software needed to burn disks. If you buy a CD burner, generally the software that comes with it is sufficient for most people's needs. CDs are an excellent and inexpensive way to store documents without saving hard copies.

Avert more paper

Even when you have the equipment and procedures in place to run a less-paper office, the temptation to generate paper records is strong. Resist it.

For example, there is no reason to print every e-mail message your office receives. Microsoft Outlook and most other e-mail programs let you easily store e-mail on your computer. You can set up a system of electronic folders similar to the one you use to store case documents. Just hit the "save" button and file messages for future reference.

As for faxes, many offices still rely on machines, but there are better alternatives. For smaller firms, an online service may be the answer. These programs will send incoming faxes to you as e-mail attachments that you can delete or save to a client's file. Efax (www.efax.com) assigns you a phone number and directs faxes through it to up to five different e-mail addresses--for an annual or monthly fee that's generally less than the cost of having an additional telephone line for faxes. For larger offices, software such as Right Fax (www.captaris.com/rightfax) may be a good choice, albeit at greater cost.

Yes, you can reduce paper by storing more data on your computer, but it is critical that you back up your data in case of a system crash.

Although it is harder to lose an electronic file than a paper one, accidents happen. Back up your data daily to avoid arriving at work and learning that your client files have disappeared.

Regardless of office size, a proper backup solution provides insurance against hard-drive crashes and gives you peace of mind. Because your files are backed up, you can rest assured that information in your less-paper office is just a moment away.

For most law offices, a truly paperless office is unlikely. But, implemented correctly, a less-paper office will improve productivity, save time, and reduce costs. That's no joke.

Attorney DANIEL J. SIEGEL is the president of Integrated Technology Services in Havertown, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at [e-mail]. The views in this article are the author's and do not constitute an endorsement of any product by TRIAL or ATLA.