Document Management Take Two - This article was originally published in the Campbell Law Observer, a monthly legal newsletter published by the Campbell University School of Law in Buies Creek, N.C. To subscribe, contact Shannon Vandiver at (910) 893-1798.

It is time to revisit a type of computer software missing from most of the law firms I have visited in the last two years. Unfortunately, its absence creates chaos, inefficiency, and unnecessary dependence on key individuals. Every firm should have a document management software on their network.

In a nutshell, document management is a method of organizing computer documents. It operates very simply through the File-Open and File-Save operations. It forces standardization by dictating where documents are stored, how they are named when saved, and how they are retrieved for future use. Best of all, it allows us to search for existing documents on our network with a method similar to but even more powerful than LexisÒ or WestlawÒ.

A ‘Yes’ answer to any of the following questions means document management software will help your firm to save time and money.

“Does the firm create a large number of documents per month?”
“Is it useful or necessary to retrieve these documents on a regular basis?”
“Are there multiple attorneys who work within the same practice area?”
“Is it useful or necessary to track and retrieve various revisions of a document?”
“Are my computer users having trouble saving documents on the network in a way that allows others to later retrieve them?”
“Is there a need to be able to search across multiple clients to retrieve documents?” (i.e. show me all of my briefs or contracts relating to a particular practice area so I can reuse some of the content.)
“Can everyone, including the attorneys, locate and open the documents they want to work on?”

This list is not exhaustive but it will give you a fairly good idea whether you need document management. Be honest in your appraisal. Many lawyers don’t retrieve documents at all and cannot properly assess some of the above questions.

Another method of determining whether you need a document manager is the functional analysis. How many times can you remember this scenario.

A new client has just retained your firm and the facts and law of the case trigger a memory of another case you handled some time ago. You go to the paralegal, “Betty, Joe Smith has decided to retain us so please create a file for him. You know, his situation is almost exactly like the case we had about four years ago with that woman who had the little poodle dog. I can’t remember her name. Do you recall who I’m thinking of? She was about 45, brown hair and always carried that little dog with her. Oh well, see if you can find that old file. It would save me a lot of time on Smith.”

Of course, the two or three hours Betty will spend looking for this needle in the digital haystack will not save her any time, assuming she ever does find the old file. And her time costs the law firm money. Not as much as the lawyer, of course, but still a substantial cost if this scenario replays itself very often. And then there is the pure aggravation of the search for the old documents.

Non-billable administrative time is the enemy. It will bleed profits from the bottom line in a slow but steady manner.

Now let’s focus on the function of the software and see how it actually operates.

When we create a new document for the Cumbie file# 00-00001, we click on Save just as we always have done. However, the document manager intervenes and, instead of the dialog box we are used to seeing

We see the File-Save function of a popular document manager instead. (I am using Worldox to demonstrate. Docs Open and Groupwise work in a similar manner.)

All of the fields labels are defined by the user (that’s you).

We see the Client

You can also make certain fields mandatory.

The fields can be limited to responses from a list in a table or simply typed in. The use of a table helps to standardize how fields are filled in. This helps in finding it later.

You will notice there is not a place to provide a path for where on the network to save the file. This is because the document manager is set up to automatically place all saved documents on the server where they belong and where they will be backed up. This standardizes the way documents are saved. The attorneys can’t mess it up and neither can the staff.

A document manager is much like a database indexer for your documents. You still save the documents in a folder and give it a file name but, in addition, you also have the user-defined fields above to index the document. You also have a field (Extended Name & Addt’l Comments above) to add various search terms you think will be helpful in the future. Last, but not least, all of the text in the document is indexed and searchable.

Now let’s look at how we open a document.

This screen allows you to use a typical folder file drill-down to locate the file you wish to use. It can be set to default to the location on the server where you save all of your client files or data. Once you find the file, you can simply double-click on it to open it up in your default word processor.

But what if you can’t remember the name of the client? Or the file was named by an employee who has now left the firm? Finding the document can then become a digital safari looking for an endangered species. Difficult and time consuming. NON-BILLABLE time consuming. So how does a document manager improve the situation? Let’s return to our scenario above.

You are trying to find the old file which contains the information needed for Joe Smith. You can remember what the woman looked like but not her name. What else can you remember about her?

You remember the legal research you did revolved around the issue of whether she could be held responsible by the auto owner of the vehicle she was driving even though the other driver was charged and admitted fault for the accident. And whether she had a claim under the owner’s policy of the car she was driving for underinsured coverage since the other driver had the minimum insurance coverage.

You also remember preparing a brief setting out the above and other legal arguments to the trial judge John Stephenson in Superior Court in the Fall of 1997.

What we need now is the ability to do an index search to try and retrieve the documents based on the information we have. Let’s look at the screen shot of the index search page.

You also can search the entire text of the document using Boolean logic (like Lexis/Westlaw).



We have filled in the various fields to maximize our chances of finding our old trial brief done for Judge Stephenson. We are likely to have used the wording underinsured and coverage in the wording we used to save the document. We also know the brief itself contained the words “Judge” and “Stephenson”. We set the date range to look between August 31 and December 31, 1997 since we know that was the time period in which it was created. The Document Type field is set to look for a brief, the Area of Law field is set to personal injury, and the Key Document field is set to look for a trial brief.

The results of the search are listed in a screen from which you can choose the document you need. The path to the document is shown as well. Simply double clicking on the document is all that is necessary to open it in the associated program.

Lets look a little closer at the advantages of the indexed search mechanism. If I know the name of the client and nothing else I can pull up a list of every document ever created or modified for that client. If I know only the type of document and have forgotten the name of the client I’m looking for then I enter that information and receive a list of all the documents of that type I have ever done for any client. If I remember the name of the Judge who signed the order then I can enter that in the “text in file” field and narrow the list of results. Since I can choose the names of the fields used to index the document, each screen will be customized to hold the information I choose to use for the index. As you can see, this type of program makes it very difficult to lose track of a document.

All of the major document managers work with both Word and WordPerfect. In fact, most of them work with any Windows based program which has a File-Save command. This means you can index not only word processing but also spreadsheets, presentations, graphical exhibits, photos, etc. This allows you to bring up all of the associated materials on the computer for a particular client regardless of the type of document.

Conclusion

Document management software is one of the basic building blocks of legal software needed by virtually every law firm. It standardizes and simplifies the process of storing and retrieving computer documents.

One typical mistake made by many firms is to continue to view document retrieval as a staff function. Once document management is instituted, the attorneys will be able (with little training) to easily retrieve their own documents very quickly. The programs work so fast there is little added overhead on the lawyer but cuts out the entire administrative process of “Judy, please find me the Green complaint/contract/will/etc. I need to mark it up for the Pittman file.” This alone will quickly recoup the cost of the software.

Although there are more advanced functions not covered here, the basic function itself is extremely valuable to the average firm and continues to grow over time. Even case management software cannot claim to make a process simpler for the user while also making it faster and more powerful. Take a look at your firm’s document management system and determine whether you need to move to a better solution.

 Lee D. Cumbie is the founder of Cumbie Law Office Automation Consulting, one of the Technology Assistance Program consultants for the N.C. Bar Assn. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Campbell University where he teaches the Law Firm Computer Lab course. Lee is a member of Tyson & Cumbie, PLLC in Fayetteville, N.C.
Lee earned his B.S. degree from Regents College after military service in the U.S. Navy. He earned his J.D. from Campbell University, cum laude, in 1997.

Resources to get you started:

NetsaversCenter Y2K Section www.suttondesigns.com/NetsaversCenter/Y2K/Y2K-Links.html
Year 2000 Software Windowing Solutions www.suttondesigns.com/NetsaversCenter/index.htm
PC Magazine Online www.pcmag.com/y2k
PC Magazine October 6, 1998 "What To Do About the Year 2000", Jim Seymour, p. 100
Ziff-Davis ZDNet www.zdnet.com/y2k
Year 2000 Information Center www.year2000.com
Legal/Management Issues www.y2k.com

Netsavers Y2K TSR Scanner Kit, V. 4.0.1 www.suttondesigns.com/NetsaversCenter/Y2K/NetY2K
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Computer Experts Ltd www.computerexperts.co.uk
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