Law Technology

The Fear of Getting Rid of Paper

By Bryan

Chuck Newton addresses our fear of getting rid of paper. Chuck has some great thoughts here and it is a post that anyone who is moving to a paperless practice should read. Chuck describes this fear as:

So fear fits.  You want to scan and destroy the document, but you cannot because of lingering doubts that something bad is going to happen because of it.  But, we have to remember that FEAR is just an acrostic which means False Impressions Appearing Real.

Despite knowing this, I understand this fear.  I have experienced it myself.

Chuck concludes, however:

I have just decided to live with the guilt and any small risk that might exist and to destroy the paper. I scan it and maintain it on my computer, on a DVD and/or on Basecamp after the file is closed. I still make sure I do not take or give original documents back that the client provides to me, with the exception of those, like fee agreements, which I draft and the signatures on which I maintain.  Of these I  scan and then destroy the originals of these documents.  To do otherwise, would be to seriously defeat the purpose of that I am trying to achieve.

Chuck raises some great points in his post. If you are looking to reduce the paper in your office, you should check out his entire post here.

Full post as published by The Connected Lawyer on April 23, 2008 (boomark / email).