Andrew Feldstein on Going Greener
The practice of law loves to use paper. Absolutely everything is written down and often photocopied many times over. Almost all correspondences and court materials go through multiple drafts requiring multiple printouts. This often excessive, but necessary, use of paper has led the office of Feldstein Family Law Group Professional Corporation to move towards creating a ‘paperless office’.
Having a paperless office means that that almost everything is done directly on the computer. Drafts are no longer printed out; all review takes place directly on the computer. All faxes coming into or going out of the office are run through the computer therefore eliminating the need to receive or make printouts. All physical documents received by the office are scanned into the computer system, which is backed up multiple times a day.
This means that when we go to court we will no longer be lugging around boxes of paper, but instead a laptop and possibly a continuing record. However, client confidentiality is also extremely important to us and therefore no client information is ever stored directly on the laptop. All relevant client information is stored on a thumb encrypted memory stick, thus ensuring that no one will have access to confidential client information.
Moving towards a paperless office is a process that will take some time, but it is our goal to be essentially paperless by June 2011. By reducing the waste created by our office this is just one step towards becoming more responsible world citizens, while ensuring that our clients continue to receive topnotch service.
