May 4, 2016
Unlike other industries, law firms will have a difficult time when it comes to eliminating paper copies. Without paper, many of the important functions of a lawyer’s work simply can't happen. Sure, electronic documents have their place. But if you're trying to save time and money, Managed Print Services is a better solution for your inevitable print requirements.
Printed Document Life Cycle
Let’s look at the life cycle of a document in a law firm and see if there are other ways to introduce some efficiency. Take a motion, for example. It starts when a lawyer with a paralegal, who makes a draft. Now the paper draft is reviewed, edited and redrafted. When it is approved by the lawyer, the motion is sealed and given to a courier. At this point there may be more than one copy of the motion going with the courier. The insured courier makes sure the document(s) get to the court without mishap.
The motion is then opened and the court gets a copy. Opposing counsel also likely gets a copy, maybe more than one depending on the size of the case and the number of attorneys involved. Finally, the motion will be filed.
Eventually, because boxes and boxes of these files are generated and must be kept by both the law firm, the opposing law firm, and the court, the motion will end up in a document storage system.
50 Pages an Hour
It’s not hyperbole to say the law industry uses more paper than any other sector. Research shows that a single lawyer generates from 20,000 to 100,000 printed pages per year. At the upper end of that range, it means about 50 pages an hour.
Moreover, the paper document’s life cycle in the law firm is longer than in other organizations because it must be kept on file for many years.
The Path to Reliable Printing – Managed Print Services
With paper so vital to the workflow and revenue of a law firm, there really isn’t a lot of room for error. That means there’s no room for broken printers, old temperamental printers, network glitches that interfere with printing or absent toner cartridges. All of those equal the same thing: lost productivity.
That’s why so many law firms turn to a Managed Print Service (MPS) – because you want your law professionals dealing with clients and not equipment. An MPS provider will assess your current printing network, monitor your printing and use of supplies, upgrade the printers and software and fix things when they are broken. You can rely on your provider to handle the equipment so you can focus on your practice.
Can You Say Billable Hours?
Two words sum up all the reasons to consider an MPS for your firm – billable hours. If your lawyers or paralegals are wrestling with printers, they aren’t generating billable hours. If they are searching for toner cartridges, they aren’t creating billable hours. If they can’t find get the printer to print … well you get the picture.
Don’t let anything get in the way of your revenue streams. Talk to us about Managed Print Services today.
