Initial Paperless Office Issues for the Solo Practitioner. The paper-free workplace has been one of the great-unfulfilled promises of the information age. It has been argued that it is a simple task and one just needs to buy some hardware and software and go paperless. Well, it is more difficult then that, but there have been law office successes in reducing the amount of paper and managing the paper for current and archived cases. The most successful conversions from paper have been internal, such as replacing memos with e-mail, while retaining papers for letters and essential outside communications.

There are several issues that must be addressed as you move to a paperless office system. One of the important issues is the workflow process in your office. Scanning documents into a computer instead of filing them in a folder will impact manual procedures and personnel job duties. Also, you need to define how imaging will be used in your firm. Will it be used for administrative matters, or case related matters or both? How many documents will there be initially? What is the document flow for the imaged documents? What image retrieval software will work best with your firm’s hardware and case management software? Does your firm presently have imaging software? Are you running DOS or Windows? Will the selected software run on your system without upgrading the hardware and software? As you can see, there are many issues to address as you begin the transformation to a digital office.

The following are some initial hardware and software considerations for a sole practitioner considering a paperless office.

Remember, the conversion to a digital office is a process and will not occur overnight. However, be assured that it is only a matter of time that we will become a paperless society.