The Paperless Office; A Jittery First Step

Like most law offices, Prater, Duncan & Craig is typical in the way that we have kept our files.  I think most lawyers are rather traditional when it comes to file-keeping:  client folders, expandos, and massive filing cabinets, none of which are movable by humans.  The paper takes up huge amounts of space, and it seems there is a never-ending sea of documents we print and copy each month.

The problem with paper files is that, in order to work on anything, they have to be with me.  Just yesterday I traveled an hour to Gwinnett County's Magistrate Court with a banker's box full of documents for a trial.  With painstaking detail, I have this box organized to where I could find the documents I needed at any given point, but the time it took to achieve this level of organization hurts to think about.  It does my health, and my client's wallet, to find a better way.

I have decided that the next month will consist of preparation to practice in a paperless office.  Sure, there are many items in a law practice that must be signed and therefore be printed off, but for things I don't need a physical copy of will be stored electronically from now on.  I already have a subscription to Dropbox and Evernote, applications that provide storage via the internet to access documents, videos, pictures, and notes, but I am starting an account with a new cloud-based law management system that I am sure will revolutionize the way I practice.  I will keep you posted on my progress.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.