We operate a paperless filing system, which means that we do not retain paper documents. Paper documents received by us are scanned on the day of receipt and the scanned documents saved in the appropriate case files. The original paper documents are then shredded (or rather, placed in the collection box for collection and secure shredding by an outside contractor), unless they are required as short-term working documents by the attorney, or are to be returned to the client.
Our general policy is to consider the environment and therefore not to print out extracts from electronic documents and e-mails unless it is absolutely necessary for study. Please consider carefully whether you really do need to print documents – we do provide wide screen monitors on the computers to assist in consulting mutiple documents, and if anyone wants additional computer “desktop” space, additional monitors are available to achieve this – please ask.
Do not print out whole downloaded reference documents, such as Acts, Rules, Regulations and Guidelines:
- It is very wasteful of paper, toner, energy, and printer resources, and is generally bad for the environment;
- It is very likely that the printed documents will quickly become out of date – the on-line documents will be updated regularly and can therefore be regarded as definitive;
- It creates a storage problem or a waste-disposal problem.
If you do print extracts for study, put them in the shredding collection box as soon as you have finished with them; keeping papers for future reference is not a good idea – it rather defeats the object of being paperless. Our general aim is to make the best use of technology to help us conduct our business. We have been developing, since the business started, a computer-based records system to help monitor the progress of work and make sure that we do not miss any important dates, and have now installed Equinox case management system, which manages all aspects of the business. It watches dates for us, handles documents in our paperless filing system, time recording, the preparation and management of quotations, invoicing, the recording of purchase invoices, and mailshots. It also integrates with Microsoft Outlook to handle e-mail sending and filing.
It is important, therefore, that your computer should have Outlook, Teams and Equinox running at all times. Open both in the morning when you arrive, and leave them open until you are ready to leave.
We make extensive use of e-mail and Teams, and cannot communicate with you if Outlook and Teams are closed. Equinox is your gateway to pretty well all tasks in the business. Documents are generated through it, and you should not generally create documents outside it, since these may not as a consequence be saved in the right place, and therefore may not be accessible to others. They may also not be backed up. If you cannot find a suitable template in the system for what you want to do, don’t just work around it, create a template for approval.
Since we handle confidential business information on behalf of clients, we must be able to guarantee that this remains confidential. It could be very damaging to our clients if such information were released accidentally, and in consequence very damaging to us. In addition, we have obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. It is therefore very important that our procedures are followed closely.
When you are printing documents, consider whether they could be printed double-sided. This reduces the use of paper, and therefore the amount to be discarded eventually, and can also effect savings in mailing the printed material, by reducing the weight. The printers should be set to print double-sided by default (except for the printed letter-head). If your computer does not automatically print double-sided, please advise.
Last Updated on 2 January 2025 by Keith