How to Achieve Meaningful Paper Reduction in Your Practice (2016)

Nearly every public and private organization which previously dealt with a lot of paper has been trying to systematically remove it from their operation. Law firms and legal departments are certainly not immune to this economic reality. Most lawyers have had scanners for years but still feel buried in paper. This is because the tools for scanning are only part of the solution. To really solve the problem, you’ll need a lot more than a good scanner. This program lays out the roadmap to follow if you want to unbury yourself, from hardware to software to procedures.

Sick of dealing with all of the paper? Learn how to liberate yourself and your office.
• Rules for backing up client data and addressing security issues
• Necessary hardware – scanners, multiple monitors, notebooks and/or tablets
• Appropriate scanner settings related to dpi and color mode
• Different types of PDFs you can create and why it matters
• Document management systems and search utilities
• Best practices for storing email and attachments outside of an email application (without printing them)
• Strategy for digitizing incoming documents
• Required collaborative technologies when working with an electronic file

PDFs have become the file format of choice when exchanging documents with other lawyers and clients. Many courts now require that all pleadings be filed as PDFs and most governmental forms are available exclusively in PDF format. Everyone in your office needs to understand the risks and benefits of PDF files.

Get an Overview of Essential Law Firm Technology | Learn How to Protect Yourself While Exchanging Documents Electronically
Software, Equipment and Technology Power Hour
• Essential Law Firm Technology—The Best of What’s Out There
• Scanners and Printers for Your Law Office

Adobe Acrobat and PDF Tips and Techniques
• Scanning to create PDFs
• Making PDFs of Word/WordPerfect documents and email
• Creating Word files from PDFs
• Creating fillable PDF forms
• Adding comments, markup and annotations to PDFs
• Electronic signatures using the Stamp tool

Creating Files for Review by Others
• Email and shared reviews
• Tracking changes made to a PDF
• Producing redlines comparisons of two PDFs
• Bookmarks and improving navigation of long PDFs
• Combining PDFs, reducing file size and other file manipulations