Gary Grieme wrote: If your aim is to reduce paper, software alone
usually is not the answer, you also need policies and enforcement. 

I agree, and honestly, having worked with many different law firms over
the years, it seems to me that it may be just as much a circumstance of
culture than anything else.  Firms that are attorney-driven cutting edge
(those that REALLY are, not just that THINK/SAY they are) and those with
a large number of younger attorneys appear to be better at using imaging
effectively than others.

I have heard of imaging working well in law firms from the standpoint of
administrative documents (Accounting, in particular) but haven't seen
one personally that has done well on the client file side (in terms of
reducing paper).  Many are doing it, but more from the standpoint of
ease of access/client service than from the standpoint of paper
reduction.  Besides, law firms are still struggling with the issue of
who owns the client file in the first place.  That being the case, even
if it does get imaged, they are often still holding onto the hardcopy
and perhaps printing as well, "just in case" (wink, wink).  

I had one attorney at my previous firm who still uses the "print and
file" method for everything, including email.  She didn't take any steps
to make sure she deleted the email after she printed, so it would seem
to me that on the flip side, she probably wouldn't be inclined to
destroy the paper if it were imaged.  Reducing the number of instances
of a record just isn't a concern for her.

Good luck!

Julie

Julie J. Colgan
Director of Records Management
Nexsen Pruet, LLC

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