There is a lot of talk these days about more attorneys needing and wanting to make their practice "paperless" and utilize more cloud technology. Web-based document assembly, e-discovery, on-line document back up and client questionnaires are a few of the still underutilized cloud and paperless possibilities being studied by law firms. I write this article coming from the background of both a computer software programmer and legal assistant who has performed many law firm tasks both manually and on-line, and who has utilized computer programming techniques to reduce time and money by producing documents automatically.
Law firms recognized the time and money savings the web bestowed on its users by going paperless when the U.S. Courts introduced filing via the internet. For years, the U.S. Courts have mandated that law firms use a system of electronic filing via the Internet - the Case Management/Electronic Case Filing (CM/ECF) system. It took many years for all the U.S. Courts to adopt the CM/ECF system, but it was obvious from the start that the paperless filing of court documents via the internet saved the law firms time and money. All that was necessary was to scan the document and upload it to the U.S. Court docket according to the Court's procedures, and the court would automatically e-mail notifications of the filing to all attorneys of record. Recipients of the notifications just had to click the link contained in the email to access the document and download it to their own computers. Prior to the CM/ECF system, one would routinely make and organize twenty copies of 200 page filings and exhibit attachments to serve on opposing counsel, but with the CM/ECF system came instant filing and instant service.
As regards discovery, one can spend countless hours thumbing through huge files of papers to find and copy documents in response to discovery, or one can perform similar tasks in greatly reduced time using search options on electronically stored files. And having programmed document assembly using the built-in scripting tools of office suites, I cannot imagine a law firm not having document assembly, either in-house or on-line, given the amount of time saved and accuracy achieved.
Due to the high standards of confidentiality all attorneys must strictly maintain, there still remains the 'unknown' as to how or whether Court or Bar rules could hinder lawyers who migrate their documents and client interview processes to the cloud. Given the HUGE savings in time and money, however, the only question remaining now appears to be when will security and other concerns be resolved so that more attorneys can hop aboard the paperless cloud?
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