[blindlaw] Managing Your Word Documents, ABA September/October 2009

[Nightingale, Noel]

This article relates to discussions that have occurred on this list about document management programs.  It may give some idea for other programs to try out for accessibility.



Link:
http://new.abanet.org/publishing/bookbriefsblog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=95

Text:
10/13/2009
Managing Your Word Documents
By Ben M. Schorr
Excerpted from The Lawyer's Guide to Microsoft Word 2007

Microsoft produced Office 2007 with a strong emphasis on collaboration, and this plays nicely into how lawyers tend to use their tools. Having partners, associates, co-counsel, clients, witnesses, and paralegals work on a document means that it has many authors and editors. Effectively working together to produce a professional finished document is key to running a great law practice.

Third-Party Document Management Systems

I have to admit that I sort of resent third-party document-management systems. They're an expensive crutch whose sole reason for existence is simple human weakness. With any modern computer, if you use an intelligent file-naming convention in a disciplined fashion and a good file-searching system-Copernic Desktop and Windows Desktop Search (WDS) are two such options that are also free-then you really don't need a third-party document-management system.

Document management exists to help you and your colleagues intelligently save, store, and find documents. You can accomplish the same thing by establishing a policy that says, "All memos will be saved to the client's folder, under the matter subfolder, with a file name in the format of 'Memo to [X] regarding [Y],'" and then adhering religiously to that policy. Everybody would be able to find a document they were looking for and the search tool (like WDS) would help cover those scenarios where simple good file names and directory structures don't fit the bill.

Unfortunately, in the real world, people are rushed and corners get cut. Pretty soon the root folder of the structure starts to fill up with files named "Memo1," "Memo2," "Jonesmemo," and so forth as people cut the handful of steps required to save the file properly and just save it as quickly as they can, with whatever name they can bang out fast, and move on. Then you have the filing equivalent of kindergarten, and nobody can remember which cubby they put their shoes in.

Document-management systems solve this problem by automating some of the process (extracting keywords from the document itself, and inserting the author and editor IDs) and by forcing other parts of it-requiring the user to type in a client/matter number, for example. They also generally include a search engine that can be used to search the document profiles as well as the document itself. In addition to the purpose-built document-management tools, many case-management suites like ProLaw or Client Profiles are capable of some document management as well. If you already have a full-featured case-management suite in place, you might want to see if it can address your document-management needs before you invest in a separate document-management tool.

DocsOpen by Open Text (formerly "Hummingbird")

The venerable DocsOpen system is one that just about any lawyer who has been around a decade or two has probably run across in at least one firm. It was, for a time, the most popular system among the AmLaw 100, and if it has fallen from that perch it has only been due to cost, competition, and perhaps some disillusionment among firms with the product-which, to be honest, is probably inevitable with a product as complicated and ubiquitous as a document-management system is. More information is available at http://www.opentext.com/2/global/sol-products/sol-pro-edocs-products2/pro-llecm-docsopen.htm.

Interwoven WorkSite (formerly known as iManage)

Probably the other leading vendor in the AmLaw 100 for document and content management is Interwoven. Their WorkSite is extremely modular and can be customized for a particular firm. More information is available at http://www.interwoven.com.

Worldox

Worldox has been around since the late 1980s and is widely used in small- to mid-sized firms. Unlike its competitors, Worldox has always been Worldox and hasn't evolved through acquisition and change of ownership. It started out as a reasonably priced solution for smaller firms and has grown a bit from there. It's still pretty reasonably priced for what you get. More information is available at http://www.worldox.com.

Created By: Kurt Harzke | Category: Legal Technology | Permalink