10 Benefits Of Moving to a Paperless Law Office

You’ve heard talk of going paperless for some time now. Perhaps you’re even aware of a colleague or friend whose law office has gone paperless recently. Still need convincing? Here are some of the top benefits of going paperless to help get you motivated:

1. You’ll save space. Imagine an office free of the clutter of endless piles of paper and filing cabinets. Now imagine turning around and being able to use that same space for production or storage.

2. Enhanced security. Permission-based document storage and password protected file sharing are just two of the many benefits. No longer are important files subject to acts of burglary, natural disasters or prying eyes.

3. Greater collaboration. With instant file sharing and the capability to make edits and save them instantly so someone else can continue the process is invaluable.

4. No more copiers. In a paperless law office, you don’t need to make 100 copies of an important case file. You can send as many copies as you need instantly through email or provide instant access to everyone in the meeting electronically through Dropbox or a client portal.

5. Always accessible. Your documents can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. Whether you have an internet connection or not, your files can be provisioned to be accessed from anywhere through laptops, tablets and smartphones.

6. Clients love it. There’s no question that your status as a provider goes up when you provide your clients with quick and easy access to all their relevant documents and invoices. This not only ups the status of your business but validates that you are a modern firm with an eye on security, efficiency, and client service.

7. Get rid of all that expensive letterhead and stationery. When you go paperless, everything you need is in electronic form. Need to change your logo or add a new partner? No problem. No discarding of thousands of dollars worth of pre-printed stationery is required.

8. Save time. Imagine the time-savings in never having to construct another document by hand. Then imagine never having to waste time copying, collating and storing that document after you print extra copies just to show everyone first. It’s clear that paperless equals time savings.

9. It’s good for the environment. In addition to the raw resources that the manufacturing of paper requires, the process produces chemical wastes that are then re-absorbed by the environment on land and by water.

10. You can start slow. Rome wasn’t built in a day and your paperless office doesn’t need to transition in one either. Start by going 50% paperless. Learn to prioritize which documents are most suitable for the transition and begin with those. As you progress, add more and more items to the mix and begin to shoot for 75-25.

There are many more benefits to going paperless. Some are unique to your business alone. Making the commitment to steadily decrease the amount of paper in your office will undoubtedly pay off in the end. You’ll save time, money and effort by having all your important files created, edited and stored electronically. Most importantly, you’ll make your clients happy as well.

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