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.

New Desk!

After more than three months of late-night work, I finally was able to move my new desk into my office yesterday.  The problem I have with so many "lawyer" or "partner" desks is that they are oddly proportioned, have wasted space in excessively long drawers, and are typically ridiculously expensive.  With that in mind, I decided it would be better if I made my own.

Being a huge James Bond fan, I wanted to make something that I could tie to the character into my practice, and settled on M's glass desk from Quantum of Solace, which is bowed at front and back, with an open leg design.  I am not a glass worker, so I made the shape using exotic woods and a very nice leg system that allows me to raise and lower the work surface about eight inches.  Here it is in action:

Now that it's in my office, I love it.  The bow gives me great room to work and meet clients, but the best feature is the adjustable height.  Now I can work seated or standing (which I do often) without hunching over.  Not to mention I have a one-of-a-kind piece that I could practice on for my entire career.  Sometimes if you want it done right, you have to do it yourself.

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.

Moving in to the new office

For the past two years, I have been practicing above The Alamo in downtown Newnan with my now-partner Keith.  When I first came on, I was associated with his firm and was very excited to be working in a "downtown" environment just a stone's throw away from the Coweta courthouse.   The office was cool, being the converted projection room back when the theater showed movies, but was only about 1,000 square feet.  As time went on, I became a partner and we brought in another partner, along with more support staff.  Things got crowded fast, and we began to look for alternatives.

In August of this year, we settled on a new c building next to the Summit/YMCA on Highway 34 between Newnan and Peachtree City.  A look at our client base showed that many lived out toward Peachtree City, and we could get more space and parking by moving outside the downtown area.


We just moved in to the new location last Friday, and aside from our phone systems, are finally set up to practice again.  It's been a stressful week, juggling practice and court with opening a new office, but worth it.  Each of us has our own window and our clients can actually find a place to park (which is a big problem downtown).  Best of all, we can start fresh with our young law firm and work on our brand.  I am amazed at some of the places attorneys set up shop, but this place is really first rate.

Next week I'll be devising a scheme to get our filings in and out of the courthouse quickly without having our assistants on the road for hours per day.  Have a great weekend.

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.

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