Wed, Nov 18, 2015
By: Jim Beran
If you’re in charge of records management at a law firm, there's no doubt the role can be demanding, and at times, stressful. After all, who knows better what kind of legal issues can result from poor document management than someone working at a law firm?
It's also safe to say that managing hundreds or thousands of sensitive documents and making sure they all go where they’re supposed to, when they’re supposed to, with the proper level of security attached, can be tedious.
To ensure your lawn firm's document management system is operating at its best level, here are three vital things your firm must have in order to remain compliant and work smoothly.
Secure Document Storage
The first vital element in your law firm’s document management plan is a place to securely store all the physical documents you need to keep.
This isn’t just case files and other sensitive information regarding clients, but also all the business documents relating to the firm itself. Nearly every kind of business document has either general or officially regulated requirements when it comes to storage, and compliance is both vital to avoid negative consequences and important to the smooth operation of the firm.
To improve and reinforce the security of your filing system, you may want to consider off-site secure storage at a third-party facility specializing in guaranteed secure document storage and retrieval.
Cloud Records Management
Today, it's not uncommon for as much, if not more, of a firm's records to be in a digital format than hard copy. In that case, a records management plan wouldn't be complete without accommodating digital information.
If your firm's security over online records is limited to unorganized folders on your desktop or lacks a plan overall, these sensitive documents could benefit from cloud document management.
To streamline electronic records, look for an experienced records management company that offers cloud management to secure digital files in an online portal that can be easily accessed by authorized users anywhere with an Internet connection.
Secure Document Destruction
By having sensitive documents securely destroyed instead of just thrown away, you can ensure that no one will be able recover information from disposed paper records.
But, what if your firm has a shredder in the copy room? Is this item taken care of? After all, who would think to tape together strips of paper that are conveniently piled together and bagged up nice and neat when it’s time to bring them out to the dumpster? It does indeed happen, and no law office can take that risk.
Some businesses, including many law firms, have decided to take document security a step further by introducing secure on-site shredding or off-site shredding to the mix. With these services available, documents are disposed of in secure bins that no one but the shredding company can access, then they are cross-shredded and mixed in with batches from unrelated customers across the region.
As we noted at the beginning of this article, records management for a law firm isn’t for the faint of heart. That’s why Gilmore Services is proud to offer law firms a safe, simple, and secure alternative to handling records management on their own as well as the most comprehensive data coverage for protection in case of a disaster or data breach. To learn more about how we can help your law firm remain organized and compliant, we welcome you to contact us or download our guide below.
