Nobody wants stacks of coffee-stained binders cluttering up the office. Plus, it costs money, which means higher client bills. Then, this happens.
Matthew Butterick, attorney and author of the book, Typography for Lawyers, says this about going paperless:
I see three realms of paperlessness. 1) Paperless communications: email instead of letters and faxes. That’s easy. 2) Paperless storage: PDFs instead of filing cabinets. That’s easy too. 3) Paperless search & retrieval: that’s not so easy.
For digital natives, it’s easy if you “never had an existing paper dependency to overcome.” But if you are new to leaving paper in the forest, where paper prefers to be, here is a quick primer on using the iPad to become more paperless.
The key to going paperless is using Portable Document Format (PDF) files. If everything you draft, email, or review is a .PDF, you can eliminate paper.
When I draft a document, I type it at my desktop and set “Adobe PDF” as the default printer and my Dropbox folder as the default file location. If you have a newer version of Microsoft Word, you can “Save As” a .PDF, which you can save to Dropbox.
When I scan a document, I save it to my Dropbox folder so that it is available on the iPad. The scanned files are .PDF files, which can be opened on the iPad in GoodReader and other applications. Obviously, you need a good scanner. Most attorneys seem to prefer Fujitsu ScanSnap. Ask North Carolina attorney Lee Rosen, who admits he daydreams about his Fujitsu.
When I receive a document, again I save it to my Dropbox folder, which is organized by case matter. Emails that are received on the iPad allow you to open the document directly to Dropbox (Free). Click on the attachment:
And select “Open In” Dropbox for it to sync with your computer and iPad:
You need Dropbox (or another cloud server) to connect your computer to your iPad. Sure, you can email documents. But with Dropbox, it is easy to drag and drop documents, or save directly to your file folder, for later access on the iPad.
Dropbox is the platform of a paperless office. Note, you can store any digital file in Dropbox, including photos, movies, and audio files. Once you transfer documents into Dropbox, you can use GoodReader ($4.99) to view documents on your iPad.
Many attorneys now use GoodReader to build a mobile law library of statutes, cases and memoranda. To stay current on Virginia law, for example, I regularly save .PDF cases to Dropbox directly from the Supreme Court of Virginia to be added to GoodReader. You probably have something similar in your state.
For questions, comments, or help using the Apple iPad at work, please contact me at redean@gmail.com.
Rob Dean
Rob Dean is an attorney at Frith & Ellerman Law Firm, PC, in Roanoke, Virginia, where he concentrates his practice on employment law and long-term care litigation. For help using the iPad at work, email him at rdean@frithlawfirm.com.
10 Responses to Going Paperless with the iPad
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How do we deal with the issue that DropBox keeps the encryption keys for all files stored on its server and that it absolutely WILL turn over your documents if served with a subpoena by the government (perhaps without your even being notified)?
I have a real concern about my ethical obligation to protect client confidences and the fact that Dropbox encryption does not protect uploaded documents from their own employees (Dropbox maintains the master key as it were and so its employees can see your documents) or from subpoena. It prohibits its employees from accessing documents but question remains why they have set up the services such that they even can access them in the first place.
I would feel much better if services such as dropbox uploaded the files in an encrypted state that they did NOT maintain the key for such that anyone wishing to see the decrypted files would be forced to go through me.
Of course, there is nothing to stop users from encrypting files prior to uploading and I think that would be fine. But it would certainly make the process far more cumbersome and far less iPad-friendly.
CJ,
Thank you for your question. After last month’s ABA Techshow, Dropbox released a formal response that seems to address your concerns: http://blog.dropbox.com/?p=735.
Note, you can manage your own encryption program within Dropbox using Truecrypt and other programs. For attorneys who want extra security, it may be necessary to use third-party data encryption software, which should otherwise be compatible with your installation of Dropbox even as you transfer documents to the iPad.
Rob Dean
Enjoyed the post. I too use Dropbox to run my paperless office, and have even caught flack for posting on my blog about why I’m against practice management software. The reality is that Dropbox makes a simple and successful document management solution. What amazes me is that whenever I’m getting blasted for daring to speak out against Time Matters or the like, the PM fans always come back to the argument that PM software let’s them keep all their stuff in one place. My problem with that is in order to keep files already on your computer in one place you have to load them into more software! Dropbox shines in this endeavor as it’s not a program per se, but simply a folder on steroids just like all Windows folders we’re familiar with already – without the software middleman.
FYI… The Ethics Committee of the North Carolina Bar has a draft opinion which, if adopted, would require contractual assurance from DropBox that, among other things, (1) all files must be stored in a jurisdiction at least as protective of privileged information as US jurisdictions, and (2) making those of its employees who have access to data agents of the attorney.
Dropbox’s rebuttal isn’t really good enough since attorney/client information is generally protected against those government requests when other information isn’t.
I use Goodreader’s desktop app on my computer to drag and drop documents onto the Ipad. It is a very easy way to move files onto my Ipad without worrying about them being stored somewhere in the cloud.
Michael,
I think that is a very good idea, especially for attorneys who are awaiting further resolution of the security of cloud computing. I imagine you would still need to use Dropbox – other other servers – as a tunnel to transfer your documents from GoodReader to other iPad apps.
Great comment.
Rob Dean
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