The Importance of a Modern PDF Solution for Your Law Firm: Here’s Why

Portable Document Format or PDF is a document format that provides an easy way to present and share documents. Anyone who needs to view the document can do so easily, regardless of their device, software, or operating system. All that they will need is a PDF reader software like pdfDocs or Power PDF.

Companies in all industries use the PDF format to capture documents from any application (e.g., MS Word), view them on any machine, send electronic versions to anyone and anywhere, and print out what they need at any time. In fact, PDF is so popular now that it is now an open standard maintained by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), including special-purpose standards for archiving (PDF/A), engineering (PDF/E), and printing (PDF/X).

PDF is also very popular in the legal industry.

Can your law firm or legal department benefit from using PDF documents and PDF software?

This article will answer this question for you.

How Your Law Firm Can Benefit from Using PDF Documents

The PDF format was not created for a specific industry. However, it offers numerous benefits for many industries, including the legal industry. For one, it simplifies document management because every document you create can be easily stored and shared. You can also electronically sign every document, saving lots of time and money compared to wet-ink-signed documents.

Another advantage of PDF files is that you can redact information so it cannot be viewed by unauthorised parties. In this way, you can effortlessly protect sensitive information, such as intellectual property, personally identifiable information (PII), financial information, trade secrets, etc. that need to remain inside the company and could be potentially misused to embarrass or damage the company.

PDF documents can also be edited. You don’t require specialised knowledge or skills to modify a PDF file and bring it up-to-date. You can also open the file from any device, unlike other formats that can only be opened on certain devices or are compatible with specific operating systems. Plus, PDF files are much more secure than other document formats, such as Word or Excel, which can be a huge advantage if you are dealing with confidential or sensitive information.

Now that you know how your firm can benefit from the PDF format, let’s take a look at the benefits of investing in a solution that will help you make the most of the format.

Simplify Document Management

As a legal professional, you know that your firm or department deals with a large volume of legal documents. As part of your day-to-day work and operations, you and your colleagues create contracts, leases, agreements, briefs, affidavits, pleadings, court filings, and probably dozens of other important paperwork.

How do you manage and organise these documents?

Do you print out every file and store it in an old-fashioned filing cabinet?

Do you use some kind of document management system?

Do you save every document somewhere in the cloud and then forget where you put it?

A PDF solution allows law firms and employees to efficiently manage and organise all documents in a user-friendly electronic format. Authorised users can also edit documents, sign them electronically, and store them safely.

Enhance collaboration

With a PDF solution, it’s easy to search and find important information on-demand, and share it with other stakeholders with minimal hassle. Employees and their colleagues, partners, and clients can share documents with each other securely and efficiently. They can seamlessly collaborate on projects, communicate, and provide feedback – regardless of geographical location, device, or other factors.

Modern PDF solutions also support easy document reviews, editing, commenting, and annotations, which are all useful capabilities for legal research and case preparation. Multiple parties can review, edit, and comment on legal documents, thus streamlining communication and generating beneficial outcomes for everyone involved.

Protect documents from unauthorised or malicious users

As mentioned earlier, security is an important feature of the PDF format, and by extension, of PDF solutions. You can easily password-protect your PDF files to prevent unauthorised access, edits, or shares. You can also encrypt your most important or sensitive files to prevent data leaks or breaches, and add company-specific watermarks to prevent copying and printing.

The best PDF solutions also come with integrated digital signatures capabilities. Take advantage of all these capabilities – digital signatures, password-protection, encryption, plus redaction – to secure all your legal documents and ensure that the company complies with all applicable data protection laws.

Automate document workflows to save time

Busy legal professionals need all the help they can get to make the most of their time. But when you are spending (wasting) too much time on busywork, you cannot focus on what really matters – serving clients and increasing billable hours. High-quality PDF solutions will help you automate mundane tasks and streamline repetitive workflows, so you can save time and use it for other higher-value tasks. Automation also reduces the chances of errors because the solution will always produce consistent output.

Save money and space

Unlike paper documents, you can electronically store PDF documents. Electronic storage means you save money on the costs of storing, printing, mailing, and signing paper-based documents. You also won’t have to worry about the theft of paper documents or any damage caused by a fire, flood, etc.

Ready to Embrace A New Way to Manage Your Documents? Try PDF Solutions from Prime Infotech

The right PDF solution can improve document management, enhance collaboration, simplify editing and storage, and automated document workflows. It will help you save time and money. Plus, you can create PDF documents for a variety of purposes and protect them to add an extra layer of security to your in-house document management system. In the long term, a proven and popular PDF solution like pdfDocs or Power PDF can significantly improve your firm’s efficiency, productivity, and profitability, and make it easier to comply with legal and regulatory requirements. Are you ready to capture all these benefits in your law firm? Contact Prime Infotech Solution and we will show you how to make it happen.