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Article - Law Firms Of the Future by: Kurt W. Stevenson May 2006
Law Firms Are Becoming Some Of The Most Prominent Users Of
Records & Information Management Technology... When it comes to having a half a billion documents entering a business at light speed, you're talking about a law firm. When it comes to needing immediate access to a half a billion documents, you're talking about a law firm. When it comes to transferring documents across international portals to make multi-billion dollar deals happen, you're talking about a law firm. When it come to massive amounts of digital imaging and OCR technology, you're talking about a law firm. When it comes to massive amounts of certified destruction, you're talking about a law firm.
The Scoop Law firms traditionally have a Records Manager who has been with the firm for years, and can somehow find every piece of paper ever filed. Today however this becomes a more of a liability and the need for immediate access of crucial documents comes into play. Attorney's have an ever growing need to view and execute documents on an immediate basis. Clients have a need for the Law Firms they hire to not only keep track of all their documents, but to ultimately store and destroy their documents for them as well. So, law firms have really become huge records repositories that grow at a fairly quick rate.
With this in mind what does the future hold for Records & Information Management at law firms? If you haven't already implemented an elaborate Records & Information Control Center you are well behind the times. Law Firms are now becoming heavy users of RMS and DMS systems. The drive towards this technology is due in part to servicing the clients they take on. Clients of Law Firms now expect immediate answers to their questions. More and more Firms are using their email systems as DMS and RMS systems. In fact, nearly 75% of all correspondence, incoming and outgoing happens via email. Integrating your email system into your RMS and DMS systems is a crucial piece of the puzzle.
Most New York based Attorney's utilize Blackberry devices so that they can retrieve their email 24 hours a day. Each email to a client can ultimately become a file of record. This in turn makes it necessary to integrate your Blackberry devices with your RMS systems.
In the past Law Firms have not been considered a driver of technology in the RMS and DMS world. The users were few and far between. Most Law Firms invested in barcode systems primarily to track the mounds of paper they had created. I believe that in the next few years Law Firms will take a leading role in driving RMS and DMS technology. The cost of storing paper alone, will drive Law Firms to invest in imaging technology.
A medium sized Firm can expect to pay an excess of $250,000.00 a year just to store their closed records. This number of course includes retrieval and refiling of the records to the storage facility, but $250,000.00 spent on an elaborate in house imaging system could save a Firm millions of dollars over a 7 to 10 year period of time.
As far as I'm concerned, if you image the entire matter before sending it to storage, and destroy all imaged copies except original executed documents you can decrease your offsite storage cost by nearly 85%. Not to mention, you will have no retrieval costs because you can blow back the entire file to paper if needed, or an attorney can simply find what he or she needs immediately through the RMS system.
Why Go Digital? What's the ROI? There are several driving factors to push Law Firms into the digital realm. I believe the most important factor is having immediate access to all documents and records concerning a particular matter. Secondly, the ability for multiple attorney's and associates to view a matter at the same time can save valuable time. Thirdly, would be Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery. Having the ability to recover from a disaster within moments and retrieve all of the documents pertaining to a matter immediately is priceless. Last but not least would be the reduction in cost of offsite storage. These of course are not the only driving factors for going digital, but in a legal environment are probably the most pertinent. Although, digital will become more widely used by attorney's, the need for paper will exist for many years. So, don't forget to buy an intelligent tracking system. I suggest purchasing an RFID solution. A few years ago RFID was way out of reach price wise. Today you can implement RFID solutions at a minimal expense.
With all of this said what will the RIM Department at "Law Firms Of The Future" look like ?
The Staff It all starts on the backend. Records & Information Management should be controlled by a leg of the IT Department. No offense, but the HR and Facilities Departments really have no knowledge of how Records & Information should be managed. The staff should be very IT savvy. In this environment knowledge of computers and programming are much more important than knowing how to file a piece of paper. Granted I do believe that all the staff should have a basic knowledge of Records management practices. However, it is easier for me to teach basic Records Management skills than it is to teach IT.
The Engine The engine to the control room is crucial. If you don't spend the time and money to build the right engine the whole process will fail. So, what does the engine consist of? Here's the list of what I use:
Software: Records Management System - Filesurf (MDY Advanced Technologies) Document Management System - Imanage (Interwoven) Conflicts Management System - Legal Key / Dunn & Bradstreet / OFAC OCR System - Type Reader - (Expervision) Cover Sheet Recognition - Cover.exe (Cvision) Doc Conversion Tools - Adobe Pro 7.0, Omnipage Pro Portal Control Systems - Microsoft Sharepoint MFP Control Systems - (Ricoh Global Scan)(Carr Business Systems) Desktop MFP Controls - (Omtool) RFID Tracking System - ATM Tech Solutions
Hardware: RMS Repository - Dedicated Server or VM DMS Repository - Dedicated Server or VM Email Repository - Dedicated Server MFP Controller - Dedicated Server OCR Conversion - Dedicated Server Farm High Cap Scanners - (Innotech & Fujitsu) Smart MFP's - (Ricoh 2075) High Cap Thermal CD Printers & Burners - (Rimage)
Putting Together The Puzzle Once you have decided on your list of "Golden Vendors" you must put the pieces together. Keep this in mind when you choose your vendors. Your first question should be - "What other products can you integrate with?" or "Who are your strategic partners?"
The Software The key is to get all of your software systems to talk to each other, and get all of your software to talk to your hardware. Make sure you know ahead of time what integration between systems will cost. Many vendors will not work with a competing vendor. This is a potentially huge road block and should carry heavy weight in you decision making processes. Make sure your software vendors will open the doors to their product.
Remember that attorney's will need to access their documents and records from all the applications they most commonly use. Before you buy, make sure you know what the attorney's favorite applications are, and that your potential new technology provider can integrate with that application. Here's a VERY IMPORTANT COMMENT - Lease your equipment and software solutions, don't buy them! Chances are that in 3 years the technology you purchase today will be obsolete and outdated. Technology changes on a daily basis! Before you purchase your software solutions make sure your vendors are creating new solutions to common problems. You want your software to still be state-of -the-art 10 years down the road.
The Hardware Unifying the hardware systems, such as MFP devices is crucial. For instance, if you have 5 different vendors of MFP devices your life will be miserable. Pick an MFP that you like, and change out all of your machines. Most vendors like Ricoh or Carr Business Systems will help you buy out your leases ect., and help you implement your new MFP solution. I chose Carr Business Systems for my purchase and installation. Carr covered everything from the buyback of old machines, to the install and setup, and training onsite. If you're looking for a turnkey install and upgrade you should contact Carr Business Systems. The machines offered today are smarter than ever. Most MFP's should have the ability to Fax, Email, Scan, Print, Copy, complete bi-directional lookups into your RMS and DMS and store jobs with secure user logins. If the provider you're looking at can't do all this, pick a new vendor. All of this technology is available today!
In Conclusion My prediction is that in the next 5 years Law Firms will help define RIM Systems. From file implementation to offsite storage Law Firms can change the face of the RIM Industry. Clients of Firms will start demanding document and records management from their Firm of choice. Law Firms who have this technology will have a competitive edge over the others. The ability to offer immediate answers to a clients questions is an important selling factor. How Firms secure their networks of documents and digital records will also play an important role.
If you haven't started purchasing your solutions for RMS and DMS yet you should start today!
About The Author Kurt W. Stevenson is the Director of Records and Information Management at Thacher, Proffitt, and Wood, LLP in New York. He has spent the last 13 years developing state-of-the-art RIM technology solutions for private and government clientele. He also serves as the Executive Director of Horizon Dynamics,LLC, Inside Information Management Technology Magazine, and the RIMdirectories.com. He has been a featured speaker at the local and national level, and is an Internationally published author in the areas of RIM Management. He is an active member of ARMA, AIIM, and PRISM. He holds many certifications in the areas of document imaging, computer networking, security, and records management.
Kurt W. Stevenson can be reached at 212-912-7709 or via email at Kstevenson@tpw.com
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