I’ve never liked the phrase “paperless office”; it brings too much negativity and confusion.
The law has been recorded, delivered, studied, and transferred on paper for the entire career of every living lawyer. Why now must we talk of being without something so familiar, convenient, and comfortable? In the legal industry, I think the effect of an assault on paper particularly potent.
A law office without paper is unthinkable. We are lawyers, we do paperwork, and that is that. For most industries, paper merely supports or commemorates the actual product or service. A doctor, plumber, mechanic, musician, artist, or builder can deliver value without paper; we can’t. So long as ideas must be captured in fixed form, the paper is the product and service.
What’s next? Food-less restaurants and liquor-less bars. At least, that’s how it feels to me.
Let’s change, or drop, the vocabulary to avoid the confusion, and see if we can get some lawyers on board with something worthwhile.
Let’s focus on the actual benefits and convenience modern technology brings to people doing a job and forget about offices without something.