Best, Best & Krieger is a full-service law firm with nearly 200 attorneys in eight offices across California. We focus on complex legal issues facing public agencies, businesses, and individuals and we take very seriously decisions about how to safeguard our information found on paper and in electronic files. Yet we also strive to be as prudent as possible in our IT spend.

Like many law firms, BB&K saw the need to evaluate our continuing reliance on paper. We looked at the risk of potentially losing vital case files through an event like a fire or flood, along with the inefficiencies of handling and physically storing paper, and made the decision to use less paper and find more effective ways to create, use, and archive electronic files.

One of the first steps we took in implementing a policy of paper reduction involved standardizing the electronic format for information storage. We use Microsoft Office Suite to create and exchange files electronically. Unfortunately, these authoring formats lack the security features legal professionals need because a document's original content can be easily changed.

The Portable Document Format is an ideal way to share and store information because it maintains the integrity of a digital document while also providing secure, reliable access both internally and with outside counsel and courts. PDF is an open standard and our firm decided to look at our options in PDF creation and editing software that could meet both our business needs and budget.

We had copies of Adobe Acrobat PDF software on some desktops but determined it was not the best fit for our organization. With a mix of non-graphics professionals — like attorneys and firm management — it became clear that Adobe's one-size-fits-all approach would not meet our requirements. We selected Nuance PDF Converter Professional over the competition because it was competitively priced, reasonably licensed and delivers the core application capabilities found in Acrobat. We deployed 425 copies of PDF Converter Professional throughout the firm, saving approximately $135,000 compared to the costs that a similar sized deployment of Adobe Acrobat would have incurred.

via Law.com – Best, Best & Krieger Ditches Paper.