Paperless Law Office Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be

paperless law office

For years I’ve extolled the virtues of a paperless existence. Sure, I keep “wet ink” copies of retainer agreements and bankruptcy petitions but everything else is scanned and trashed.

For the most part, my clients send documents to me by fax or email. Those that don’t understand that I’m going to covert everything to electronic format, and that they would do better to send me copies rather than originals.

The photo above, however, shows just how far we have yet to go. In the space of 72 hours I have amassed this huge bucket of dead trees.

What is this mess, you ask? Well, it consists of:

advertising from vendors
letters sent by lawyers who forget that they’ve got perfectly good email addresses to work with
newsletters sent by organizations that believe their members are entitled to overpay for the privilege of getting paper to clutter their lives

So I spend an entire morning culling the garbage, scanning the good stuff, and hauling this stuff downstairs.

Would someone please send the rest of the world an email about this, and encourage some scanning? Please?

Chuck Newton

I think that all I can do is control my actions. I just do not send paper communications to lawyers any longer or clients if they have an email address. (Most do but some do not). I pay online. I am trying to leave Bank of America because of the way I have to process checks. I cannot find a way or get creditors not to send checks in settlement cases, or I have to incur the costs of a wire transfer. At least I want to scan the check and upload it to the bank, and not have to drive it to a branch, so I can destroy the check. Admittedly, my trash can is not full, but my little recycling box fills up quick. But, you know, I am not even saving the original documents from clients any longer. If it is important, I give it back to them. If it is a retainer agreement or something, I scan it, with their signature and destroy it.

Steven Butler

You could always use a service like Paperlessmail.com. I don't know anyone using it, but sounds like an interesting way to get rid of paper completely.

JayFleischman

Though I haven't heard of Paperlessmail.com, I did try EarthClassMail.com some time ago. Unfortunately, the company began to move towards servicing countries. The company is now selling its sorting facility in Beaverton, Ore., as well as its retail operations in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

John E. Carter

That basket looks just like the one I filed today! I concur.