Some lawyers (you’d be surprised how many) have a simple system where every email they send and receive is printed out and placed carefully in a manila folder. What an incredible waste of time and money this is! How risky. How unnecessary. I don’t run a law firm but I have visited many over the years and I can answer the question posed in the title in the affirmative. Yes it is a reality. There are paperless law firms operating today. I have seen them and it really does work. Changing from paper to paperless takes courage and the acceptance that properly stored electronic data is far … [Read more...]
Case Management in the Cloud – Cloud Computing, its benefits and pitfalls
You’re sitting in your office drafting a lengthy affidavit and you remember you have a great precedent stored on your server. You triumphantly double-click on your shared drive only to discover it won’t open. You notice that the dust covered server in the corner of your room has ceased making that odd ‘whirring’ noise it had been making for the last 6 months, that noise you had subconsciously blocked out. A chill runs down your spine. You call your IT guy and your fears are confirmed, you need a new server. £4k, £5k, £6k… £25k… Each quote gets bigger and bigger. But you are just a small law … [Read more...]
It’s not the size that counts – the future is bright for small firms
In my experience in practice, there is a relationship between a person’s wealth and their concern for their own and other people’s rights as citizens. The poorer people are, the more important their rights are to them. In some cases it is all they have. And who do they turn to help them? In most cases they will turn to a lawyer in a small law firm on the corner or above the dry cleaner or near the station. Random selection it may be, but looking to the only profession that can offer real help. This presents a huge challenge for those lawyers who must walk the tricky path between financial … [Read more...]