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In the face of cases like Arthur Andersen LLP v. the United States and United Corp. v. Tutu Park Ltd., it is imperative for legal firms to establish and follow a document retention policy. This type of policy outlines how a firm identifies, organizes, maintains, accesses, retains, and destroys paper and electronic documents in its everyday operations. Implementing such as policy not only enhances productivity but also ensures legislative and regulatory compliance.

Document management is one of the most critical parts of a legal practice’s operations. From a practical standpoint, establishing a system enables counselors and staff to locate client files and court documents quickly. Legally, it reduces the risk of losing or damaging records that can result in liability problems for the firm, especially when a loss negatively affects a case. Creating and following record management policies and procedures regarding the organization, retention, and destruction of physical and electronic files reduces a firm’s liability and improves its short- and long-term productivity.

A good disaster preparedness and recovery plan includes considerations from an organization’s security program. A security program is what keeps a company at desired security levels by assessing risks and hazards, and implementing ways to reduce or eliminate those risks. This program should include ways to protect physical documents before a disaster, as well as secure document restoration steps to implement after a disaster.

As you reorganize your office’s filing system, the security of its electronic documents is just as important as the security of its hard copies. While electronic documents may be safer and simpler to find than those kept file cabinets or employee desks, their security is only as good as the weakest protocol in your company’s document management policies and procedures. Secure document scanning is good step toward protecting data. By implementing additional security controls, your electronic documents will be less vulnerable to user errors and malicious acts.

While it isn’t always realistic for a company to be 100 percent paperless, reducing the amount of paper that employees shuffle can lead to increased efficiencies and cost savings. With advancements such as optical character recognition and sophisticated security algorithms, the benefits of going paperless may be more abundant than you think.