4 steps to start managing legal records in your company
Legal records management may not be the most glamorous part of practicing law, but it is essential for lawyers — and it can be effective.
Traditionally, paper-based records management systems make legal records management difficult for law firms, because paper-based records systems are typically inconvenient to manage, difficult to organize, and time-consuming to access and maintain.
Fortunately, today's cloud records management software opens up secure and efficient legal document management opportunities for lawyers. By leveraging digital record-keeping systems, firms can save physical storage space and precious billable hours. At the same time, law firms can provide a client-centric experience and help. In ensuring that customer information and sensitive data remain secure.
In this article, we will guide you on how to introduce an effective legal records management system in your office, from legal issues in legal records management to company-specific factors.
Steps for managing legal records
There are a number of steps that must be taken before implementing a new system, which are:
Be clear about your needs
The first step to improving legal document management in your company is to assess the current state of your company – and what it needs. If your company currently uses a manual paper-based system to handle legal records and documents, you must identify the weaknesses you want to overcome.
Do you or your company's employees spend a lot of time manually entering data and organizing files? Have you ever had trouble finding a specific file? Do you or your team need to access a document when you're away from the office? If yes, then introducing a digital legal records management system can alleviate these issues.
Legal records management also depends on the size of your firm and your area of practice. For example, small law firms tend to be better suited to managing digital documents built into practice management applications. With a seamless, integrated record-keeping and practice management system, firms can keep all their legal records and documents in check. In one place – in the cloud.
Ease of use and efficiency are likely to be priorities for your company, so choosing legal records management software that integrates easily with other applications – such as DocSuite will save you time, money and effort when dealing with records and documents.
Prioritize organization
Every company works with records and documents, but since law firms handle legal records and sensitive client data, companies need to prioritize records as information assets, which is why it is essential for law firms to prioritize the organization of their legal documents.
In addition to being within a sound legal filing system, legal documents should be accessible and easy to find. When access is a priority, digital management systems excel.
For example, imagine a situation where a lawyer needs to access a business document from a client file when working on a case. With a traditional legal records management system, the lawyer would need to go into the office and search through paper files. If the document is in the wrong place, it could be It is difficult or impossible to find. Alternatively, using a system like DocSuite, if a lawyer needs to access that document, they can search for the document remotely. Users can do this by entering a keyword – and pulling the document up in seconds. .
Furthermore, digital records and documents reduce the need for lawyers to make multiple copies of the same document. Less duplicate documents save time while supporting better organization. Additionally, features such as the ability to save documents directly from the source make it easier to keep documents and records organized. From the beginning, for example, DocSuite's email add-ins allow you to save emails and attachments directly to specific matters.
Understand applicable privacy and data protection laws
Clients trust lawyers with their legal records, and it is also a lawyer's duty to protect the data and information those records and documents contain. When it comes to legal records management, this means having a strategy for how your firm handles client data and documents – from document retention policies to legal records management. and records destruction policies, where applicable.
It is your professional duty as a lawyer to protect your client's data and remain compliant with any applicable laws relating to privacy and data protection – which means it is also important that you understand and comply with any privacy, especially data protection laws that affect the management of legal records.
Laws and rules in this area can vary from country to country, so be sure to check your state's laws. Your state's bar association may be a good resource to guide your research.
You can also leverage technology to support your legal and ethical obligations related to legal records management. For example, storing client documents in the cloud via legal software designed with security measures can help you fulfill your obligation to protect client information from data breaches as part of your legal records management system, ( Such as DockSuite's security features, which include in-transit and at-rest encryption and automatic backups).
Utilize records management software
As an attorney, time is your most valuable resource, however, attorneys often lose a significant portion of their workdays to non-billable and administrative tasks. Specifically, the 2020 Legal Trends Report indicates that attorneys spend an average of only 2.5 hours An 8-hour workday in billable work, and tasks such as manually searching, storing, and managing legal records can take up some of that less efficient time.
When it comes to managing legal documents, software can make your daily workflow easier and improve your efficiency, freeing up your time and energy to focus on clients, billable work, and growing your law firm.
DocSuite's legal records management software can improve your bottom line
The way you handle legal records management can also impact your firm's profitability. As mentioned earlier, non-billable tasks drain a law firm's time and productivity. When you leverage software to spend less time on legal records management tasks (such as searching through paper files for... records), you have more time for billable work.
Additionally, storing paperwork in the cloud helps reduce unnecessary costs associated with finding physical storage space for documents.
DocSuite's legal document management is one of the features of legal affairs management software. In addition, DocSuite integrates with many other applications that help in managing legal records, such as:
Legal document automation and e-signature software, which integrates with DocSuite to allow you to fill documents with client information.
Record retrieval features, to eliminate double data entry when requesting and retrieving medical records.
Cloud-based record retrieval functionality, which integrates with DocSuite to facilitate straightforward and more organized document requesting and record delivery.
DocSuite Legal Document Management Software Reduces Training Time When you're dealing with physical files and documents, implementing a new records management system can be a challenge. A new records management solution may require you to train employees on new policies, procedures, and guidelines.
However, legal records management software significantly reduces the hassle that may accompany training employees on the new system.
By reducing the need to learn a new document and records management system, you can achieve this by choosing a comprehensive practice management software with built-in document management features.
Legal records management is essential to protecting client information and adhering to privacy and data protection laws, and legal records management software can help lawyers create more effective and efficient systems.
While managing legal documents used to be a time-consuming manual task, today's digital record keeping and document management software allows lawyers to securely store, organize and manage client documents and records. At the same time, lawyers can save time and space. Legal Records Allows lawyers to securely store legal documents in the cloud, so lawyers can also access legal documents more easily when needed.
If your law firm is having difficulty managing legal records and documents manually, consider using legal records management software like DocSuite. You can save your firm time while making it easier to keep client data secure. You can learn more about DocSuite's legal records management software or Experience with an integrated legal affairs management system.