Two words; paperless office! This will be the best thing you ever did to improve the efficiency of your law practice and almost eliminate photocopy expenses.

Try experimenting with this simple test in your next case. In your next case, try scanning all of the medical and employment records into your civil case management software (I use Trialworks–highly recommended) and have your secretary burn a compact disc that contains all of the records.  You can serve a discovery response with the compact disc attached to your response stating, “Served herewith are the plaintiff’s complete medical and employment records in digital form on the attached compact disc.” You can serve a complete set of medical records (often hundreds of pages) upon multiple defense lawyers without making a single photocopy.

Likewise, when you need to send a complete set of the file materials to expert witnesses, you can simply burn the electronic records onto a compact disc and mail the CD to the experts. Little practice tip: I usually Bates Stamp the medical records (i.e., electronically stamping the medical records with a number in the lower right corner of each page), so when I discuss the records with the experts it is easy and quick to identify the specific documents that we discuss.

There is no statute or uniform rule that requires the service of paper copies of discovery responses.  Hence, it is perfectly acceptable to serve the volminous discovery responses in a digital format on a compact disc. If the defense lawyer objects, you should ask them to cite the statute or rule that requires that you serve a paper copy of your discovery responses–this should end the debate since there is no such rule.

You just saved a whole bunch of trees and just as important, you virtually eliminated the photocopy fees and saved a whole bunch of time that  your staff spends copying the records. That’s a win-win for you! Give this a chance in your next case–I’m willing to bet you won’t look back.

If you have questions about starting a paperless office for your law practice, give me a call at 1-866-889-6882.  I’m happy to share with you my written system for a paperless office. You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, by sending an e-mail to me at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com .