Digital Workflow Basics

The best workflow is the one that captures useful incoming information, archives it, and then prioritizes it for further handling. When making the switch from a paper-based workflow to a digital one it makes a lot of sense to think about how to optimize your information processing. Here are some preliminary thoughts about workflow strategy, and these thoughts might be helpful too.

Scanning Basics

Scanning isn’t as hard as it might seem, but there are some things you need to do right to make everything as easy as possible. You need the right kind of scanner and you need to set it up properly. Here is a PDF document that explains everything in more detail.

Digital Signatures

Having a digital signature that you can paste into a word processing document or PDF file is the first important step towards reducing the amount of paper that you print. The first step, though, is to create the digital signature. It isn’t hard, but it’s a multi-step process that’s detailed in this PDF document.

Digital Records

What are your requirements as far as keeping records go? Does the law require paper copies? In short, no it doesn’t. The IRS has a provision that specifically addresses this. For more information, including how Louisiana deals with this question, read this PDF document.

Backup

You are backing up your important data, aren’t you? Okay relax, it’s not that hard. You may just need to hire a consultant to help you, but if you’re a solo lawyer or in a small firm you might be able to do it yourself pretty easily and for not that much money (e.g. under $200). Read this PDF to learn more.

E-Discovery

Electronic discovery is becoming more pervasive as emails and other digital data become widespread. There’s a lot to say about E-Discovery, but since much has been said elsewhere we won’t try to re-write the definitive treatise. But, since digital workflow blends seamlessly into E-discovery, we thought we’d offer a few observations in this short paper.

Metadata

Metadata is usually not a problem. Knowing what metadata is and how it’s created is the first step towards ensuring that it never becomes a problem. In this short paper we tell you what you need to most need to know about metadata.

Hardware/Software used by Ernie Svenson

A 10 page PDF that highlights the various hardware and software used by Ernie Svenson in his everyday computing. Mostly Mac-based recommendations, but some discussion of the Windows equivalent of the programs and services that he uses.