My PaperLESS Oklahoma Bankruptcy Law Office

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!