The legal industry is a trying one. From billing challenges to long hours and tough competition, it can be overwhelming to work in a legal department or law firm. Especially when handling paper documents. At times, it seems like dealing with all this information is another full-time job all by itself. Data rooms, whether physical or virtual, can be expensive and complicated to maintain. Court records, arrest records, testimonies, billing, contracts — every document has to be filed and stored correctly, ready for use at a moment’s notice.
Document management can be complicated for every industry, but lawyers have some unique issues to consider. Not only do they need to ensure that their clients’ highly confidential information is kept secure, but they also need to ensure regulatory compliance. Let’s take a look at ways lawyers can use document management technology to add efficiency to their day and alleviate the pains of dealing with mountains of legal paperwork.
Why Your Legal Department Needs Document Management
Law firms and professionals in the legal industry often find themselves buried in paperwork. Dealing with the number of documents can be overwhelming. Document management relieves the stress of dealing with all the paperwork. Here are just some ways it does that:
- Converts paper documents to digital files
- Retains document for long case cycles
- Gives access to documents simultaneously for peer review, revision and approval
- Quickly find case-related documents instantly
- Prepare for discovery requests
How Document Management Systems Are Helping Legal Departments
Legal professionals spend lots of time reading statutes, agency rules, court decisions, zoning laws, and other regulations. As part of their job, it is imperative that legal professionals store all the client data and research work in such a way that it is secure and easily accessible. After all, their success depends on it. Any failure to effectively manage and control documents in a safe and compliant way can result in the loss of employee productivity, legal judgments, reputation, and clientele.
Document management systems like eFileCabinet allow individuals to track and store documents efficiently and securely. Law firms who use Document Management Systems can offer more for their clients. They’ll spend less time organizing files and digging through files to find what they need.
The Cost of Disorganization
Poorly managed documents can result in low employee productivity, failure to comply with regulations, and problems in preparing for e-discovery. The process of e-discovery on its own is very complicated. Using a document management system helps ease the process of e-discovery with the help of features like the easy search function, version control, metadata, security and audit trail.
Document Management Gives You 100% Confidence
The legal industry is an information-driven field that has to deal with stacks and stacks of paperwork. Keeping that information organized and quickly retrievable is necessary for their success. Legal teams also need to ensure 100% compliance and security with all the files they handle. Using a document management system allows that peace of mind so when an audit comes, you don’t have to worry about having all the necessary paperwork.
The Most Important Piece of the Puzzle: Moving to Electronic Records
Any company doing business today, law firm or otherwise, need to have electronic records. The need for paper files is obsolete, thanks to document management software (DMS) that can not only handle the functions paper files served but far exceed them. Security is far superior, audit trails are automatically created, including who made each modification to every file, when they made it, and what change was made.
When companies move to entirely paperless offices, they have less to fear in an IRS audit, enjoy more confidence in their regulatory compliance, and can significantly reduce their overhead. Moving to DMS like eFileCabinet gives you the convenience of being able to access every single document from anywhere an internet connection is available. Using a document management system will help your law office be more productive and efficient than ever.