One of the benefits of being a member of both the Oklahoma Bar Association and the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys is that both organizations provide their members with free access to Fastcase.

Fastcase is a web-based legal research service that is a welcome alternative for solo attorneys like myself to LexisNexis and Westlaw, both of whom not long ago were the only online legal research options available. And they charged accordingly.

And now Fastcase has upped the ante by releasing a FREE iPhone app. Now attorneys like myself who use the iPhone can access Fastcase’s libraries even when we’re not in front of our computers.

Fastcase libraries include cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and constitutions. Case law is available from all 50 states, as well as deep federal coverage going back to 1 U.S. 1, 1 F.2d 1, 1 F.Supp. 1, and 1 B.R. 1.

Fastcase’s libraries are searchable, just like you search the Web or traditional legal research services – by keyword (or “Boolean” search), natural language search, or citation lookup.

For some good information on Fastcase’s iPhone app, read this review written by Massachusetts attorney Robert Ambrogi.

Back when I operated a traditional law office and had a court hearing, I lugged a briefcase with not only my client files but also heavy books containing the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.

But now that I operate a digital law office, there’s no more heavy lifting, back-ache and neck-strain because the entire contents of those heavy books now reside on my iPhone.

Sure, I could access both the Code and the Rules from court on my MacBook Pro, but sometimes a wireless connection isn’t available and at other times my iPhone is just more convenient.

Both the Code and the Rules are fully search-able using the iPhone Apps’ built-in search engine.

And I can even bookmark for quick retrieval any Code section or rule that I refer to often.

So I highly recommend that all of you bankruptcy lawyers with iPhones head on over to the App Store and download the apps for both the Bankruptcy Code and the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.

This post is for all of my friends, acquaintances, business associates, clients and others who have asked about my disappearance from Facebook and Twitter.

Yes, it’s true. A couple of months ago, I jumped off the Facebook and Twitter bandwagons. I deactivated my accounts.

I realized that I needed to simplify & declutter some areas of my life and frankly my involvement in social media was near the top of the list.

You would have had to be in a coma over the past several years to not have noticed that social media is taking our American society and culture by storm. Even the normally staid legal profession, of which I am a member, is all giddy and abuzz over applications like Facebook and Twitter.

I have several friends whose occupation encompasses teaching, training and coaching lawyers on issues such as law office management, effective marketing and the latest technological advances including blogging and the use of social media.

I’ve learned a lot from these guys. But now that I’ve jumped off the social media bandwagon, they think I’m nuts.They believe that by turning my back on social media, I’m missing out on the marketing and public relations benefits that social media done well can deliver at very little cost.

And they’re probably right.

But the truth of the matter is that the vast majority of my time spent on Facebook and Twitter was for personal and not business purposes.  And it was my personal use that grew to hours upon hours of my time each week.

I wasn’t just an occasional user. Oh no. I was a regular and frequent user of both Facebook and Twitter.

I had many Facebook friends. I had many Twitter followers.

And I tried to post mainly regarding what I believed where important issues of substance (faith/religion, politics, culture, etc.) as opposed to what I was eating, wearing or watching on TV.

On a quick aside, I’m reminded of what David French had to say about his experience with Facebook and Twitter. I found David’s story to be quite humorous. (I had the pleasure of meeting David this past June when I attended the Alliance Defense Fund’s National Litigation Academy. David is Senior Legal Counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund and also serves as Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom.)

Anyway, it became readily apparent to me that Facebook and Twitter were sucking huge amounts of my time into some black hole from which they were never to return.

And because I, like you, have only 24 hours or 1440 minutes or 86,400 seconds in each and every day that God gives me, I believe it’s critical to evaluate where and how I’m spending my time. One thing we all know for sure is that we can’t reclaim time. Once that second or minute or hour is gone, it’s gone for good. It’s never coming back.

So my explanation to those friends of mine who think I’ve made a grievous error in jumping off the social media bandwagon is this:

I recognize the value that social media can hold for a small business owner like myself. And I’m not turning my back on that opportunity. No way.

It’s been my use of new innovations and the latest technology that has allowed me to reinvent my law practice from the traditional brick-n-mortar law office with multiple staff, lots of paper, and extremely high overhead to a solo home-office lawyer using the latest technology to operate a low overhead, paperLess, digital law office.

I read, study and do my best to stay on the latest wave of technological innovation.

That’s why I long ago abandoned the Yellow Pages as a marketing tool. It became evident to me that the Yellow Pages was fast becoming a dinosaur bearing a poor ROI (Return on Investment).

And that’s why I designed and launched the Oklahoma Bankruptcy Lawyer Blog that you’re now reading.

Now that I’ve had a few months to think about the issue of social media, I’m ready to re-engage in a more limited way. So look for me to reappear on Facebook and Twitter after the New Year but with a focus related primarily to my law practice.

Since 1996, my primary area of law practice has been Consumer Bankruptcy. One of the facts of life regarding being a bankruptcy lawyer is that there is a ton of paper involved.

In representing thousands of Oklahomans over the past thirteen to fourteen years, I amassed a warehouse full of paper.

It’s easy to understand how quickly the paper builds up when you consider all of the paperwork that comes with each bankruptcy case – starting with the multitude of documents I request from my clients such as income tax returns, pay advices, bank statements, vehicle titles, real property deeds, and then eventually including the actual bankruptcy court documents (petition, schedules, statement of financial affairs, creditor matrix, statement of attorney’s compensation, etc. in addition to Chapter 13 plans, motions and other routine pleadings).

Between buying storage boxes at Office Depot and Staples and paying monthly rent on a place to store all of these client files, this paperwork monstrosity was getting more and more expensive with each passing day.

I knew there had to be a better way. And there was.

This better way simply required me to move beyond the old-school, traditional model of managing a law office and instead to loosen up, take some risks, and begin to incorporate the latest technology and business practices into my law office.

The first step was a major one. A real doozy if you will.

I closed down my traditional, brick-n-mortar law office with its receptionist, legal assistants, fancy furniture and high overhead and moved myself home where I began to work as a true solo attorney from a home office.

Read more here about my decision to be a solo home-office attorney and how my non-traditional law practice benefits my clients.

With less space available at home and a desire to stop spending outrageous sums on boxes and storage space, I decided to take advantage of the latest technology to help me have a paperLESS office.

Now when I say paperLESS, I don’t mean that I have absolutely no paper in my client files or in my office.

What I mean is that I’ve greatly reduced the amount of paper in my law office, probably by 99% from what it used to be, and now have for the most part a digital law office.

I still keep hard-copies of documents that I may need to use as exhibits in court hearings or trials and I’m required by bankruptcy rules to keep documents that bear a client’s original signature. But beyond that, I keep very little paper.

Here’s what my paperLESS or digital law office looks like:

First, my law office is operated on the Mac OS X operating platform.

About a year-and-a-half ago, I booted all things Windows/Microsoft out of my office. Why did I do that when the vast majority of law offices use PCs and the Windows operating system? Because I got tired of having numerous problems on a regular basis with my Windows computers. Those problems resulted in down time, frustration, and the expense of an IT guy to fix the problems.

The simple fact is that Macs just work.

Now I no longer lose sleep over computer crashes and the multitude of problems I used to have on a regular basis with my Windows computers. And I haven’t had to place a frantic call to an IT guy in years.

Second, I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M scanner.

This wonderful little machine came loaded with Adobe Acrobat Professional and takes up no more space on my desk than a shoebox.

When a document comes into my office by regular mail, I place it in the ScanSnap and push the button. It is scanned and automatically opens Adobe Acrobat. I then OCR it and place it in my client’s file folder on my hard drive in the appropriate sub-folder.

I then decide if this is something I may need for trial or hearing. If not, I send the original to my client with a note stating I have filed this document digitally and this is their copy.

When I receive a document by email, I convert it to PDF and again save it to my client’s digital file folder.

Third, my law office doesn’t have a fax machine.

I do have a fax number, but faxes sent to that number are not printed out on an old-fashioned fax machine but instead are received in my email as an attached PDF document. From there, I simply save the document to my client’s digital file.

When I need to send a fax, I use an internet program called MyFax.

If the document that I need to fax is already saved on my computer, then I simply browse and select the electronic document and fax it via MyFax.

If the document isn’t already saved to my computer, I use my ScanSnap to scan it and save it, then I send it via MyFax.

MyFax keeps all outgoing faxes in a file so I have a history of sent faxes. I also receive email confirmation of every fax delivery which comes in handy when the recipient claims to not have received the fax.

Fourth, I use a digital filing cabinet.

Instead of storing client files in an old-fashioned filing cabinet or storage boxes, I’ve instead set up a digital filing cabinet on my Mac’s hard drive. Each client has a file drawer, and in that drawer are folders and sub-file folders. If a client has more than one case or matter, that case or matter has its own file-folder under the client’s name.

Fifth, I use a heavy-duty shredder.

After I decide what paperwork I need to keep and I’ve scanned it via my ScanSnap and saved it on my hard drive in my digital filing cabinet, I ruthlessly shred everything else.

This not only rids me of unnecessary paperwork thereby freeing up needed space and keeping my office uncluttered, but it also ensures that none of my clients’ personal and private information will accidentally be disclosed.

And lastly, my digital office can go wherever I go.

Since every one of my clients’ files as well as all of my other office records are kept on my laptop, when I leave my home office I can take my entire office with me.

Unlike most lawyers who keep paper files and can only work on their clients’ cases when they’re in their office with the paper file in front of them, I can work on my clients’ cases wherever I am.

Because my digital files go with me wherever I go, I never have to go back to the office to get a file I forgot.

And thankfully, I never have to go into the office on weekends if I need to work on a client’s case.

Now when I’m at court and in between hearings, I can work on client files instead of just killing time.

Since my office is in my home, I meet clients and prospective clients at places like Panera Bread where we can visit in a relaxed atmosphere over a cup of coffee. With my laptop, I have all of my client’s files that may be needed as well as every other file in my law office. And Panera’s free Wi-Fi gives me access to the Internet.

This past summer I spent a week in Hawaii. Because I have a digital law practice, I was able to answer calls and keep right on working just as if I had been back in Oklahoma at my home office. Not one person from a client, to a creditor, to a trustee, to a member of the court staff could tell that I was speaking and working not from my home office but from the beach or pool-side or my hotel room five time zones away.

If you’re a lawyer that has been considering going digital, I highly encourage you to make the transition to a paperLESS office. And while you’re at it, get rid of your Windoze machine and move up to a Mac. You’ll be glad you did!