HIDDEN COSTS - NOT SO HIDDEN IF YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK

Are you duplicating efforts, literally? The amount of duplication in a document production often times is significant. The beauty of documents produced electronically, is the ability to rid yourself of the mind numbing review process necessary with paper productions. The computer can recognize a duplicate document. The path names, etc. are exactly the same. When you receive a production from your client, make sure that you have the media (CD; DVD) de-duplicated. This process can be done with many different types of software such as Z-Print. Using MD5 hashing will identify all the duplications and allow you to subset out one complete production. As the attorney reviewing the set of documents, you won't have to wonder “didn't I see this before?” or hear the paralegal moan “I’ve indexed this document five times already.”

In a recent production Midwest was able to reduce the 75,000 pages by 20% for the client. The result is a reduction in attorney review time billed to the client. The cost to code a smaller number of documents also benefits the client’s legal budget. Every document that can be eliminated from the system is one less that needs to be tracked, copied, produced, coded, etc. If you are working with multiple CD productions, make sure that the de-duplication process is happening over the entire production, not just one CD at a time. When people back up their systems, documents can be housed in different areas on their hard drive resulting in substantial duplication which may cross over multiple CD's/DVD's. If you are working with multiple CD productions make sure that the de-duplication process is happening over the entire production, not just one CD at a time. Some vendors may not even offer the de-duplication service, and just print all the paper provided. You need to know to ask them.

If by document request, you need to provide the documents "as maintained” to opposing counsel, you can give them the universe and work with a more manageable subset yourself. Tracking can be created so you know how many times a document you have once in your subset, appears in a production to opposing counsel. If you have worked in litigation for more then ten seconds, you most likely won't be surprised at the enormous money wasted making production sets that contain duplicates. By being smart about the production at least from your perspective, the one thing you can avoid is the duplication of your efforts.

Midwest Beta Testing Z-Print

Midwest Imaging and eData Support is currently beta testing Z-Print version 1.2.46 (z) from Image Capture Engineering. Some of the new features not yet available to the public are Remarkable. In addition to all the other great features, this version can:

• Validate file types. The program looks at header information of a document and determines exactly what kind of document it is regardless of the doc extension.
• Choose type of color reduction for more programs. When converting images to TIFF, having the ability to choose grayscale instead of black and white makes a huge difference in quality.
• Hidden columns in Excel can now be printed.
• eDocs can now be de-duplicated.

These are just some of the great new features Midwest is testing for Z-Print. Midwest Imaging and eData Support continues to investigate useful tools applicable to today’s legal practice.

What Is Your IT Staff Doing?
(do you have one?)

It’s 8:30 AM, and your impossible to get a hold of expert is coming in for a key depo at nine. No one in the office is able to get access to the documents you need, and your part time just graduated college IT whiz kid is not due in until 10:30, and cannot be reached. What now?

The need for at least one full time IT person on staff is growing for all types of organizations, but especially at law firms. Computer technology in the legal business is starting to take on a life of its own. The battle of Corel vs. Microsoft is pretty much over (by the way Microsoft won), but there are a growing number of systems and programs out there that more and more law firms are using. Many of these are very specific to the legal business, and are not taught in any class other than those by the vendor themselves.

So what does a law firms IT person/staff look like? It all depends on the number of users you have. If you’re a large firm with 100+ users, you may have a diversified staff that has experience in very specific areas. A medium firm with 50+ users may have a couple of people that work in various areas. Smaller firms (<30 users) may have one full or part time network person that is a jack of all trades.

No matter how many IT people you have there are often gaps in coverage, especially when it comes to legal specific processes and software. Midwest Imaging and eData Support has 3 full time IT people with extensive knowledge of how to use everyday programs such as Word and Excel to streamline your legal work. They are also trained and experienced in many of today’s legal specific software such as Summation, Law, and Z-Print. At a recent Tech show, one of our IT staff showed the class how to create drop down boxes in Excel for easier searching. One participant (from a larger firm, no less) said that this one simple technique would save her hours each week in searching.

If you have any needs or questions about how Midwest Imaging & eData Support can help your firm, please contact our eData Manager Glenn Hertel at 414-764-2772 or ghertel@midwestparalegal.com.

Exclusive Relationships a Win-Win

Midwest Imaging has developed its reputation of being able to handle the complex productions based on the expertise of its staff. The combination of experienced paralegals that understand how documents are going to be used – and what databases need to do to be responsive – allows for our work product to be of superior quality. It is the continuity of service and the streamlining of resources that comes when you understand the “big picture.”

Toward that end, and to increase our range of “simple” jobs as well, Midwest has created and established an exclusive vendor relationship with some of its willing clients. The preferred customer status allows Midwest to expand on its current relationship and lower its costs to clients that need the vast array of services Midwest can provide.

A partnership with Midwest Paralegal can greatly enhance the services any law firm or corporate legal department is able to provide. You gain the expertise of the Midwest IT staff and the flexibility that comes with 35+ paralegals standing in the wings waiting to assist. Consider the possibilities. If your interested in such a discussion, contact Ron Kroes, Glenn Hertel or Shawn Olley to set up a meeting.