Slaying Paper Dragons in Your Law Practice: Document Management for Today's Practitioner

By Natalie R. Thornwell

Sometimes it seems that paper gets the best of us. Y2K has come and you were probably thinking that by this time lawyers would be working from sleek, silver workspaces via voice-activated systems and paper would be no where in sight. Well, we all know how untrue that is. Now we can only wonder what things might be like when Y3K rolls around. Well, regardless of what shows up in our personal crystal balls, we have to realize that if it has anything at all to do with a law practice, paper will undoubtedly be involved.

So exactly how do we deal with all of this paper? Where do we store it? How can we find it? What if we really do want it to disappear from our workspaces and have a paperless office? How can we slay these paper dragons in our law offices? Below I have outlined some concepts and provided some tips that might arm you with the lance and armor you need to get started.

Mommy, where do documents come from? When your firm first creates a document, it probably does so using either Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. Sometimes documents are not simply word processing files though. They may also be spreadsheets, video clips, scanned images, voice files, etc. Regardless of its format, a document created on the PC can be saved and then the document's creator or another person can retrieve the document from its saved location. This is usually where the problem begins for most firms. A document can't be found. It can't be located in the physical file (office) or on the computer. Losing the entire file is a whole other article.

So, let's first examine the saving of documents as computer files. Start by asking, "Where should documents be saved and under what file names?" Here are some tips on saving documents:

  • Have everyone save documents to the proper place on your computer network (After my last article, you should now all have your computers networked. J )
  • If documents are saved to local hard drives in your office and not to your network, make sure that those who need access to the documents are aware of their locations, can open the documents, and if required, be able to make changes to the documents
  • Make documents read-only files if you need to protect them from unwanted changes (Use Save and Save As options in both Word and WordPerfect or use Publish to PDF (portable document format) in WordPerfect)
  • Strictly adhere to your firm's file naming conventions (What do you mean your firm doesn't have any conventions? J Okay, see the next item.)
  • Create a mandatory file naming convention for the firm
  • Add the filename to the bottom of each document (Often firms place the filename in small font on the document or include it as a footer.)
  • Use long file names (We are no longer stuck with the old eight-three setup (xxxxxxxx.xxx) anymore so make the names as descriptive as possible, i.e. john doe divorce complaint 12 31 00.wpd or john doe complaint.doc)
  • Complete document summaries - under the File/Properties - for every document you create (This useful feature is available in most applications, not just word processors.)
  • Use the Windows file and folder structure effectively (A sample setup might include making a folder for each practice area in which work you and a subfolder within the practice area folder for each client. All of the documents created on behalf of that client would then be saved to the client's subfolder.)
  • Use WordPerfect's Index Manager and Word's Advanced Find features to quickly locate documents
  • Attach documents to existing matters/cases/files in your practice/case management software programs

Some documents are generated outside of the firm. So how do those documents get saved? How are they indexed within our internal document management systems? This is where scanning and OCR (optical character recognition) comes into the process of document management. A good scanner and software that includes OCRing will allow you to save external documents internally as images that can then be treated as if you had created the document in house. Good scanners are available from Visioneer and Hewlett Packard. Caere's OmniPage and Visioneer's scanning software is also very reliable and compatible with word processors and case managers.

Some firms have projects for scanning that would expend all of its resources and still not get the job done, so they turn to outsourcing for the answer. Several national vendors like IKON, Quorom Lanier, Ricoh, and Bowne, provide the scanning, indexing, and even storage of documents for law firms. Along with the national vendors, you can also find online services that will serve as an offsite repository for your documents. Nowadays, electronic Bates numbering and bar coding can be found too. Here are some Bates numbering products and sites, I ran across recently: VisionShape, www.visionshape.com; Image Access, www.imageaccess.com; XibiTag, www.xibitag.com. The outsourcing services can differ from vendor to vendor so shop wisely before signing up for the outsourcing of your document management projects.

Retrieval is the next major process for documents. After the document has been saved and is once again needed, it must then be retrieved. So what is involved with finding and retrieving documents? Mainly, there is the process of locating documents via a profiling and indexing process or document management software system. In these systems, each document is profiled (document summary information including descriptive keywords and identifiers is generated) and then indexed. Sometimes a full-text searchable database is created from this information. Today's litigation support software will sometimes have some of these features built in as well.

Some of the most popular document management programs currently on the market are Worldox, GroupWise, iManage, and PC Docs. These programs are not all designed alike or suited for all firms. They have different hardware requirements and even different feature sets, so be sure to consult with our program or other certified technology consultants before purchasing any of these systems. If you are in need of an immediate solution and need to begin your search now, visit http://tech.lp.findlaw.com/general_software/documents.html for a listing of the current online legal and general document management products and vendors. You can also find downloadable programs to manage documents. One to check out is called Wilbur, and it can be downloaded for free (at the time of this article) from www.redtree.com.

Well, if you are still a little shy about technology or outsourcing services and prefer to deal with the real paper, remember that organization is key. Use indexes just like the document management software systems do. Prepare an index for all of the documents you create (even within client files) and use them to track where you have saved documents. Also, for litigation practices, make use of good filing notebooks. A company called Bindertek has some interesting products to check out that include sample files for organizing and managing litigation file documents. See www.bindertek.com.

The "paperless" law office will probably only exist in fairy tales as my friend and noted legal technologist, Ross Kodner, suggests with his revised concept, the "PaperLESSä Office." (see his materials on the topic at http://www.microlaw.com/cle/plessindex.html) Paper is simply a necessary dragon for law firms. To slay the paper dragons, you simply have to continually implement and use proper document management solutions. If you need help with choosing the proper solution, contact our program at 404-527-8770.

Natalie Thornwell is the Director of the Law Practice Management Program.