When personal computers began appearing in law offices, many predictions were made about their impact on the legal profession. Some visions have been met and surpassed, while others have yet to come to fruition. The goal of a paperless law office is still elusive at most places.
So, what does it take to reduce the reams of paper in your office?
A scanner is the core requirement for transforming pieces of paper into digital records. Scanners range from personal sized desktop units to massive digital copiers that also can scan documents into office computers.

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a scanner. First, there’s the budget. A scanner can cost as little as a few hundred dollars to several thousand. Second, consider the anticipated use. Are you planning to scan correspondence or depositions?

Parenthetically, you shouldn’t even scan depositions — you should arrange to get a digital version from the court reporter. While it might seem more expensive, keep in mind the time and effort to scan large documents may offset the cost of purchasing the file. I discovered a similar false economy when copying a large number of photographs on a color inkjet printer. The time involved and the cost of cartridges was much more expensive than going to the local copy store.

Another consideration in choosing a scanner is where the scanning will be done and who in your office will be assisting with the scanning.
With the addition of scanning technology to digital copiers, another consideration is whether it’s also time to replace or upgrade the firm’s photocopier. Digital copiers typically are leased and combine a high speed copier with collating and sometimes sorting, stapling and other copier enhancements as well as scanning and the ability to operate as a high speed network printer.

From a technical standpoint, there are a number of specifications to evaluate. Each scanner has a maximum resolution capability when making a digital file from a source document. Higher resolution is important if you plan to scan both black and white and color images such as photographs. Documents — whether saved as graphic images or converted to text — require a minimum resolution of 300 DPI (dots per inch) for letter sized documents. To scan photographs, look for a color resolution capability of 2,800 DPI or higher. Usually, the higher the resolution, the higher the price.

Another important factor is whether you plan to store images of documents or use optical character recognition (OCR) software to convert the file to words that can be edited in your word processor. Years ago, when hard drive space was much more expensive, the thinking was to convert documents from images to text because text files consume less space. Today, adding more hard drive space is relatively easy and cheap. While graphic images consume more space, if the purpose in scanning a document is to avoid chasing down the physical file, an image of the file is sufficient. There is no need to take the additional step of converting the image to characters.

Installing a scanner adds a Twain driver which serves as the interface between the scanner and the computer’s graphic software. Many programs, including Adobe Acrobat and PhotoDeluxe, Paperport, JASC’s PaintShopPro and even some popular legal software programs like Time Matters, can use the Twain driver to scan files directly into software. Once scanned, depending on the program, it can either be saved as a graphic file to a folder on your computer or server, or be converted to text using an optical character reading add-on or separate program. Some of these scanning and character reading programs are included with new scanners.

What’s out there

At the small end are units such as the Strobe from Visioneer (visioneer.com) that is about the size of a box of aluminum foil and weighs a few pounds. These scanners attach to an individual computer and require each page be handfed. If the source documents are routine incoming correspondence and motion papers that aren’t too thick, these scanners can be effective. Their major advantages are price and ease of use. You could purchase several and distribute responsibility for scanning to a few people. These scanners aren’t a good choice, however, for documents in excess of 20 pages, those of varying sizes, those within books or that are otherwise difficult to squeeze through the scanner feeder.

An interesting variation is a specific purpose scanner like the Corex CardScan for business cards. This four pound unit has software that can incorporate scanned business cards into many popular programs including Microsoft Outlook, Act! and Gold mine. It also can work with Palm, Windows Pocket PC and CE devices. At under $200, the CardScan can be an effective tool for adding potential clients’ business cards to your firm’s contact list. I received an e-mail recently from someone using CardScan’s website (cardscan.net), which connects to the CardScan, and asks contacts to verify their business card information. It seems like an effective way to keep contact information up-to-date.

Moving up from these tiny scanners are flatbed scanners, often offered at sale prices. They cost less than $300 but aren’t suitable for most law firms because they lack a sheet feeder. Sheet fed scanners, like photocopiers, can stack from 20 to 50 pages. Given the size of many legal pleadings, contracts and other documents, the ability to place a stack of pages in a feeder and walk away is a necessity for busy law firms.

For small- and medium-sized firms that want to incorporate scanned incoming documents and exhibits into their system, business oriented sheet fed scanners are a good starting point. These cost between $600 and $1,000, depending on their speed, resolution options for black and white and color scans, and the number of pages that can be placed in the feeder at one time.

For firms of any size that require high volume scanning, larger capacity units also are available. Some of these high-end scanners handle up to 90 pages per minute while the less expensive models scan 20 to 40 pages per minute. Another option, which can be accessible through your firm’s network, is a digital copier. These multifunction machines serve as a high volume photocopier, network printer, fax and scanner.

Policy decisions

Regardless of the scanning hardware, firms should develop a policy about what documents are scanned and where they should be stored. Also to be considered is whether to leave scanned files as images or convert them to text. Most scanning software provides a choice of graphic formats. The two most common are .tif and .pdf. The latter files are smaller than .tif and can be viewed in Adobe Acrobat.

Converting scanned images to text requires OCR software to translate the images to characters. While most scanners include a basic utility for this, firms that will regularly translate documents will need a more serious program. Adobe Acrobat 6 includes Paper Capture, which does a good job of translating files. The other two leading contenders are Scansoft’s Omni page and Abbyy FineReader.

The promise of a paperless office has eluded most of us. Devising a policy to scan large quantities of incoming documents requires a commitment of time and resources. While some firms get a single high capacity central scanner, others place inexpensive scanners on individual desks. No matter what option you choose, you may find the experience less frustrating than you would have a few years ago.

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems in Montclair, a training and consulting firm specializing in law firm automation. She was named Technolawyer’s legal consultant of the year for 2003. Previous columns are on her company website, losinc.com. For information about her quarterly meetings for Time Matters users, check the website or e-mail info@losinc.com. Schlein formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA Law Practice Management Section.

Questions for Carol L. Schlein on law office technology may be e-mailed to New Jersey Lawyer at news@njlnews.com or faxed to (732) 650-7010.