The ABA Law Management Practice Section's January 2004 issue of Law Practice Today is full of interesting articles on the digital law office and electronic documents. This one, titled "'May I Have My Electronic Discovery in Paper Please?' Lawyers Inch Their Way Toward a Paperless Practice," concludes:
The use of templates, macros, document and case management programs, electronic time and billing systems, online legal research, area specific software of all kinds, etc. has made the actual practice of law much, much faster. Simply finding things electronically is much easier than hunting down files and particular pieces of paper within them, especially if they are archived offsite. When a client calls looking for case status, popping the case up on your monitor is infinitely faster than shuffling through files, especially since the file is rarely conveniently on your desk. Collaboration with colleagues is a snap compared with the old days of passing paper back and forth, annotating one another’s drafts. Most of all, the ability to work remotely by having an electronic connection to your e-mail and documents while on the road has transformed the profession of law into a law office without walls.[Link via Ernie the Attorney]Though the legal profession is still creeping toward becoming paperless, the trend and inevitability are slowly being accepted by most attorneys, however, grudgingly. It may not be the future they wanted, but it is the future that has become inexorable. As Yogi Berra once noted in his inimitable fashion: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”