Redefining Records Management
Combining paper and electronic real estate records to create a seamless system.
By Meg Block and Joyce Puccini Chapman
Dealing With Real Estate Records
Once upon a time, secretaries did the majority of organizational work in law offices using a typewriter and carbon paper. This constituted the bulk of the records management process. However, Pircher, Nichols & Meeks brought records management support back to attorneys through technology in a way that links client and matter intake, document management, e-mail and records management. This was quite an achievement considering the requirements of a legal real estate practice and the nature of electronic records.
Official business records have a lifespan that can vary from a few months to several years. The majority of these documents can be destroyed when their lifecycle comes to an end. On the other hand, records of real estate transactions have much longer life spans.
In the United States, there are many examples in which colonial land grants and 100-year-old treaties played a major part in determining ownership or other rights to real property. This fact alone places a tremendous burden on firms such as Pircher, Nichols to maintain accurate and complete records of real estate transactions. Consequently, much attorney and staff time is dedicated to making sure records are classified and maintained correctly.
The Challenge of Electronic Records
Evolving technologies and the ever-elusive pursuit of the paperless office have created a situation in which the number of electronic records generated on an annual basis is growing exponentially. Sifting through the various types of documents to identify which constitute official records has become a Herculean task. It also is complicated because there isn’t an official standardized process for capturing and storing electronic records. What does this mean for firms such as Pircher, Nichols when it must ensure client records are kept in perpetuity? As untech-savvy as it sounds, the best solution for Pircher, Nichols was to print all records to paper. The Pircher, Nichols staff needed to comply with a records policy that requires them to identify, classify and save all official client records. This meant they had to create hard copies of all electronic records associated with a matter, including e-mail and attachments, as well as other various work product. This created burdensome situations on both ends of the process. Attorneys and assistants spent a lot of time profiling documents to the proper client and matter numbers, and records managers had to spend a lot of time sorting through reams of printed documents to make sure each was identified, labeled and filed appropriately.
With 100-plus page attachments being e-mailed back and forth to multiple Pircher, Nichols attorneys, Inboxes were becoming overwhelmed. The practical challenges were:
- Identifying and filing a single copy of received e-mails and attachments.
- Enhancing the context of the e-mail message without changing the metadata, which needs to remain static for evidentiary purposes.
- Easily sending a copy of sent e-mails and attachments to the client’s official file.
Pircher, Nichols’ existing process established records department folders within Microsoft Outlook to which attorneys and secretaries could send e-mails, attachments and faxes. The records department then printed and filed these materials. With 200,000 pages being printed each month in the Los Angeles office alone, compliance with the firm’s stringent records policy appeared to be very high. Unfortunately, the differences in technology platforms between official client files and e-mail documents created a disconnect between e-mail and printed materials. Not all documents made it from the attorney to the secretary to the records department. The challenge was to organize the workflow in a way that was natural for attorneys, and to bridge the gulf between the two vastly different worlds of electronic and paper systems.
The Solution
A team composed of Pircher, Nichols’ records manager, Information Technology staff, executive director and consultants from Baker Robbins surveyed the firm to build a comprehensive understanding of the firm’s existing technology and the way in which the attorneys made use of it. Interviews were conducted with the firm’s senior attorneys and leaders, as well as associates, legal assistants and other support staff. When the results were evaluated, the team created a strategic program to have easy access and control of client information.
The recommendation was to move the firm to Interwoven’s FileSite 8.0, a matter-centric document management system. The e-mail-intensive nature of the firm’s collaborative processes coupled with the firm’s deep commitment to treat all correspondences as records, dictated the DMS would have to be accessible from the user’s Inbox. Attorneys also were accustomed to using folders and file-trees within e-mail to organize critical information. The process of printing documents and e-mail also had to be integrated into the DMS and e-mail system. There had to be a form to automate the entire printing process, so attorneys, secretaries and records staff could dedicate their time to more valuable work. The matter-centric nature of the proposed system allowed the process to begin as soon as a new matter was opened. Integrations were built between Pircher, Nichols’ client accounting system, Microsoft Outlook, Interwoven’s WorkSite and the record department printers. This ensures electronic and hard copy repositories match exactly.
How it Works
The core technology is FileSite. Users can drag and drop e-mails and attachments into pre-established, official folders in matter pages. Specific records management folders are set up at the time a matter is opened and can differ according to the matter’s area of law. When materials are dragged into a folder, they automatically are profiled, which saves the attorney considerable time and eliminates frustration.
A second critical component of the system is a custom records print manager (RPM) utility, which makes it easy for users to comply with the firm’s records management policies. RPM ensures all documents dragged into an Interwoven records management folder automatically are printed in the appropriate office’s records center. RPM sweeps the contents of all records management folders daily and prints newly added materials. It inserts color-coded slip sheets with filing information between document bundles (e.g., e-mails and associated attachments), and the bundles are collated in client/matter/reverse date order. As each matter is assigned a home office for records management, RPM automatically sends the bundles to the dedicated printers in the appropriate office. Physical files correspond exactly to the Interwoven file structure used by the attorneys. It’s a tremendous time-saver for attorneys, secretaries and records department staff.
The third critical component of the system is the ability to blind carbon copy a records management folder at the time an e-mail is sent. The outgoing e-mail and attachments automatically are profiled with the client matter and queued for printing.
Why it Works
The firm’s combined electronic and physical records management system works because it mirrors the way attorneys at Pircher, Nichols practice law. The design was built on the attorneys’ suggestions and based on processes with which they were intimately familiar. The design team conducted several proof of concepts and worked closely with the user group to extract new ideas and communicate changes.
Keeping it Simple
Before beginning the records management phase of its strategic plan, Pircher, Nichols took a hard look at how it was using Interwoven. The firm discovered only 10 percent of its 300 document classes were in common use and simplified the requirements by reducing the number of document classifications to 30. Similarly, when it came time to develop a standard scheme for matter-centric folder structures, each practice area selected four or five standardized folders. This simple folder structure makes filing easier and has increased compliance with the firm’s records management policy. Once an attorney blind carbon copies an outgoing e-mail or drags and drops an e-mail or document into the appropriate folder, the filing task is complete.
Training the attorneys turned out to be a breeze. By focusing the technology on improving the real working conditions and processes familiar to the attorneys, they couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. As they moved through the training, the first groups spread the word among their colleagues that something special was taking place. Despite having five times the amount of paper to file, records managers report the system has saved them countless hours.
Meg Block has more than 20 years of experience consulting to the legal community and leads Baker Robbins & Company’s records management service solution line. She specializes in business process reviews and design, and implementation of enterprise-wide information systems.
Joyce Puccini Chapman has 25 years of experience as senior administrator in leading national and international law firms. She is the executive director of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks and leads the technology initiatives employed by the firm.
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The Firm: Pircher, Nichols & Meeks has offices in Los Angeles and Chicago. With 60 attorneys, Pircher, Nichols provides clients with services for real estate transactions and related matters. The firm’s practice areas include corporate, litigation, bankruptcy and tax with a primary focus on real estate.
The Challenge: To combine electronic and paper documents to efficiently organize and maintain client records and data.
