About the Client

A small law firm in Western New York specialises in business law and taxes, both extremely document-intensive areas. Known as a premium service provider in a tough business environment, the firm continuously strives to improve efficiency and productivity, particularly in managing documents and maximising collaboration with clients.

Between briefs, motions, supporting records, and other files, every case at a law firm generates thousands of pages of documents. While this firm had transformed its stacks of paper files to digital some time ago, it still found managing its digital content challenging. It needed a system to help manage the array of documents that must be stored, filed, organised, and accessed regularly. It wanted a system that was easy to use yet robust enough to store thousands of pages of content.

The staff was also looking for a sophisticated solution to alert specific people when new content was added and give instant access to multiple users who needed to work with the same content in real time. A key need was a way to provide a comprehensive profile of each document without having to open it.

“Every other solution we looked at was either too simplistic, or way too complicated and costly for a firm our size,” the firm’s IT specialist says.

That’s why the firm chose the Xerox^® DocuShare^® Content Management Platform—a web-based content sharing software.

The Challenge

Getting documents under control

As a specialist in business law and taxes, this small law firm relies on easily sharing and collaborating using the many client documents it must maintain. Each case it handles generates an array of briefs, motions, correspondence, and supporting documents to be filed, organised, updated, and accessed.

While the firm converted its physical document files to digital content some time ago, its small staff still struggled with the time-consuming task of maintaining and accessing those digital files. These inefficiencies hampered its ability to collaborate with clients at its customary premium service level.

The firm began searching for a document management system that would help control its files while boosting staff productivity. As a small firm, it needed a solution that could be tailored to its needs at an affordable price.

While it wanted a solution that was compatible with its traditional file system, it also needed the capability to share case content with multiple users easily.

The Solution

Easy, affordable file management

Xerox^® DocuShare^® has the power and sophistication the firm requires, but is also extremely easy to learn and use, as it stores and manages electronic files using a common, folder-based organisational system. Implementing the solution is equally user-friendly.

When the firm’s IT manager downloaded the trial version, DocuShare was helping manage the firm’s content within an hour. “It’s one of the easiest programs I’ve ever worked with,” he says. “You may not know every detail, but you’ll be up to speed in minutes.”

DocuShare is a powerful solution for legal research, supporting a higher level of collaboration, accessibility, and transparency, with quick access and retrieval of research files and case documents anytime and anywhere.

The Results

Better client service at lower cost

The firm saw immediate benefits from implementing DocuShare, which was up and running and improving organisation and access to the firm’s content in a matter of hours. Solution gains include:

• Significantly faster customer response times, improving customer satisfaction

• Ability to easily find research files and case documents with powerful tagging and search tools, improving experience and efficiencies

• Attorneys can access all materials digitally, and add new information case by case — to build new arguments based on past research

• DocuShare provides transparency for documents to be accessed and worked on anytime, anywhere, and allows real-time collaboration

• Greater efficiency (and more billable hours)

• Fewer administrative resources needed

• Reduced paper and printing costs

With Xerox^® DocuShare^®, the firm’s attorneys have access to the documents they need 24/7. Legal research is simpler. And collaboration is quick and effortless, so they can help clients faster.