The economic downturn of the last several years has made an enormous impact on the landscape of the corporate world and the way that companies do business. With the advent of email, videoconferencing, telecommuting, document management systems, and the availability of online reference materials, law firms in particular are turning to creative solutions that will optimize space as they consider physically downsizing their office footprints. Especially in British Columbia where square footage comes at a premium, finding efficient and cost-effective storage solutions for law firms in Vancouver has become increasingly important. While the attention has turned to viable options for trimming the fat from budgets, law firm administrators are unwilling to sacrifice form for function. Fortunately today there are many space-saving solutions that provide law firm storage options for maintaining their all-important image while achieving their goals for the bottom line.
Going Paperless
In a changing industry, both attorneys and Paralegals are increasingly utilizing online legal research software in lieu of hardbound books; jurisdictions are permitting the filing of motions and briefs electronically; and documents can now be exported to digital files. All these changes have significantly reduced the need for print documentation and provide firms the option of eliminating off-site storage. However, this creates a new challenge – finding room in existing office space. Companies are looking for storage plans that are not only better, but smarter too.
Here are just a few storage solutions for law firms in Vancouver:
- Today oversized shelves containing volumes of reports and periodicals are becoming obsolete: Law librarians are opting to reorder their departments to meet the needs of the changing legal profession. Mobile shelving can provide almost three times more space per square foot which means less floor space doesn’t have to result in less resources for the legal team.
- To secure the store of data, personal file management cabinets combine security and maximum capacity. Cabinets come in standard sizes or can be reconfigured and customized for each office’s specific requirments.
- Rotary Storage Systems are the space-efficient and cost-effective alternative to lateral and vertical files. Rotary Storage offers the same or greater capacity as conventional file cabinets in a fraction of the floor space. They are units that rotate to give access to two banks of stored materials, This will allow you to store more in less space!
- File retention regulations require law firms to keep client files anywhere between six to ten years after closing: Client files are one of the most common law firm storage issues. Wide span shelving can be easily installed to hold hundreds of boxes using special beams for strength and stability, allowing usage of the most vertical space possible until such time as these files can be properly destroyed.
Solving the case of law firm storage: Innovative ideas and solutions for managing and maintaining legal files that can transform space-saving into maney savings too.