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Why do Lawyers Love Paper so Much?

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law firms paperwork

Why do Lawyers Love Paper so Much?

Law firms, however small, quickly amass a vast amount of paper. From case files and contracts to claims and official police reports, lawyers and solicitors have to keep a very accurate record of everything they do. However, nobody said this record has to be kept on paper – although lawyers still prefer to use paper and pen the majority of the time.

So why do lawyers love paper so much? After all, searching through reams of paper to find one document is time consuming and inefficient. Also, keeping years’ worth of case files in physical storage can be really expensive. Yet many law firms refuse to end their love affair with paper – here’s a few reasons why we think the profession is being slower than most to adopt digital documents.

Signed in Ink

Legal statements and contracts need to be signed in ink, which means they need to be printed a couple of times – one for the client and one to keep on file. However, this may be changing soon as electronic signatures are becoming more popular.

Courts Love Paper Too

Law firms aren’t the only culprits – courts and judges also love using paper. That means when lawyers go into court with a case, they carry a huge pile of paper documents which are presented to the judge. Sometimes other documents are also distributed between the jury and each representation. For no hard copies to be needed at all, law firms and the legal industry would have to work together to reduce the amount of paper used and invest in portable technology in court rooms.

Want to be Compliant

Many solicitors and lawyers believe that to stay compliant, and for documents to be held up in court, documents need to be hard copies. This isn’t the case – in practically every instance, scanned documents are accepted in legal trials and by official bodies as long as due diligence has been taken in their creation, indexing and storage.

The Law Society gives clear instructions for electronic document management to ensure companies still comply with the Data Protection Act. It is still possible to stay compliant when using digitised versions of files as long as they are kept for the required amount of time and the destruction of the original file is documented.
Lawyers – if you’re tired of paperwork and want to try ditching the paper, contact us.

Free Online Resources for Solicitors

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resources solicitors

 

Being a solicitor is hard work, or so we have been told by many clients. Many solicitors struggle to find resources that can help them develop their work, with many firms yet to embrace the digital revolution. With this in mind we have decided to round up our free essential online resources especially for solicitors.

Elexica

Offering registered users with an extensive range of legal information such as checklists, legislative updates and practical guides. Brought to us by leading international law firm Simmons & Simmons the site offers an extensive library of categorised web links, providing information from the firm’s international network of offices. Articles cover a variety of topics, jurisdictions and languages and make it easy for solicitors to find current awareness articles, case reports and practical checklists.

Wiki Mental Health

Used primarily by mental health practitioners, this internet resource looks at mental health in England and Wales. Set up by a mental health solicitor, anyone can contribute to the site which covers case law, and regularly updates commentaries on cases – with links to full text judgements. Solicitors can also read the full text of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and other related legislation. The site also explains concepts and jargon used in the field to help provide solicitors with helpful, practical guidance.

Jonny Law Online

Developed by conveyancing solicitor, Jonathan Achampong, Jonny Law Online offers information on commercial property, lease extensions, conveyancing and enfranchisement. The site also offers regularly updated articles on news items and current topics of interest.

e-Bible

Designed to eliminate the everyday issues experienced by solicitors, the e-Bible makes it easy for solicitors to manage their documents. With a clear indexing system the easy to use system allows legal professionals to local specific documents in seconds. All documents are fully text searchable and allows information to be stored on single, or multiple discs meaning it will be difficult for solicitors to lose vital information.

Abuselaw.co.uk

Set up by Abney Garsden McDonald Solicitors, this site provides easy to access information for the child and adult survivors of sexual, psychological or physical abuse on all aspects of the complex law area. Offering guidance and an understanding of the English legal system, the website gives solicitors working with abuse victims, information about the legal rights of an abuse survivor. It also gives an explanation of court proceedings, a guide to legal aid and a breakdown about the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.

Adlex Solicitors

Specialists in advising businesses in all things law related on the internet, Adlex Solicitors was founded in 2002 and gives information about trading online, internet law and website law. The website includes vital information such as UK and EU data protection laws and regulation, Internet jargon and contracts and the regulations which apply when trading on the internet.

Founded in 2001 by internet and domain name lawyer, Adam Taylor the website also looks at domain name disputes, domain legal news and website hosting legal issues.

Is there a resource that you plan on using? Let us know what helps you. Join the conversation on social media!

Disaster Recovery and Cloud Storage

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reasons for digital document managementHaving the right legal document management processes is vital for when unexpected disaster strikes. Are you taking the steps to ensure your legal documents are safe?

Problems With Physical Document Storage

We have established in many of our previous articles that physical document storage has many flaws and just doesn’t cut the mustard when it comes to storing important, confidential information. Particularly in the event of natural disasters such as flooding or fire, many companies realise they haven’t taken the right measures when it’s already too late.

What Happens When a Data Disaster Strikes?Fire damaged document

If your premises are hit by a fire, flood or even a theft, and you store legal documents solely in hard copy, then it is perhaps stating the obvious to say that your files will be lost forever including the information they contain.

While it might seem obvious to point this out, we have encountered a number of businesses who have put off digitising their documents only to be hit by a disaster that has left them without the vital documents and information they need to continue working efficiently. Some have seen client files burn and others HR records suffering so much water damage they become unreadable.

Protecting Your Legal Documents By Going Digital

To ensure that the information contained in these documents wasn’t lost, all these companies needed to do, first and foremost, was to create a digital copy of their files by having them scanned through a document scanning company like Pearl Scan.

Storing Your Data in the CloudCloud storage

Simply scanning your documents is not enough though as you need to be sure that your digital copies are backed up securely. Imagine you’ve gone to the effort of having your entire archives scanned only for your computer system to crash. Without disaster recovery in place, you will once again lose all of your documents.

So what’s the solution? Well, a lot of companies are now turning to the cloud as a reliable method of storage. Cloud systems can be externally managed so companies don’t have to worry about IT support and disaster recovery as it is all sorted for them. Storing copies of all of your archives in a cloud system will ensure that even if something happens with your computer network, you will still have your files ready and available from any device connected to the cloud network.

Last year, cloud storage received a lot of bad press but predictions are that 2015 will see an even bigger rise in businesses switching to cloud processes so it is clear that this is still one of the best methods of document storage.

Are You Prepared?

Switching to digital document management is a small investment to make for the safety of yours and your clients’ information and to ensure business continuity in times of disaster. If you’re not already prepared with backed up digital records of your clients’ files and business documents, there are services out there that can help.

manage legal files digitallyDocument Scanning Solutions & Digital Document Management

Here at Pearl Scan, we offer a range of document scanning services to help law firms secure their documents, preventing loss of information. Our document scanning solutions have been proven to minimise data loss by up to 99% making Pearl Scan Legal the number one choice for security conscious law firms.

We even have our own, fully managed cloud platform, Pearl Cloud which you can store your scanned files on once the project is complete. The system allows for quick retrieval, easy sharing and, more importantly, disaster recovery should anything go wrong with your physical storage or computer systems.

Why not give us a call and speak to a member of our sales team for more information. They will explain how the service can be tailored to suit the needs of your company with a range of bespoke features. Once they have established the service you need, a free quote can be drawn up so don’t wait, get in touch today.