Streamline Legal Document Management with SharePoint 2010, Office 365 and Workshare Point
With more than 100 years of combined experience, the trial lawyers at Abramson Smith Waldsmith, LLP, have earned the firm's reputation as one of California's leading personal injury practices. The firm's attorneys handle the full range of serious personal injury cases - including those involving defective products, dangerous drugs, catastrophic injuries, wrongful death and litigation - against powerful companies and insurance companies.
Partners hold leadership positions in key peer-reviewed organizations, including the International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL), the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and the International Society of Barristers. Abramson Smith Waldsmith is listed in Best Lawyers in America and in San Francisco Magazine's Super Lawyers issue.
As leaders in the field of electronic case presentation, the firm is heavily invested in Microsoft Office-based technology, which enables its attorneys to efficiently display facts and evidence, highlight discrepancies in testimony, and clarify complex issues for juries. However, it has always been a challenge for the attorneys to access, share and store documents efficiently and securely.
The Need for Cloud-Based Document Collaboration to Enhance Productivity
Because the firm's attorneys constantly need access to Microsoft documents and worksheets, they wanted to store them in the cloud using Office 365 for easy, universal access. Given the highly sensitive nature of these legal documents, popular online storage solutions such as Dropbox were not secure enough to meet the firm's needs.
Another constraint was that the firm operates without full-time in-house IT staff. Consequently, the attorneys needed a hosted solution that would outsource their server maintenance and keep the cost of ownership low.
Finally, as busy trial lawyers with a thriving practice, the firm's attorneys needed a solution that was compatible with their Microsoft environment and didn't require them to learn new tools. They had to stay productive using Microsoft Office both during and after the new technology rollout.
Workshare Point: Enhancing the SharePoint Experience
With Workshare Point, the attorneys at Abramson Smith Waldsmith found the Microsoft-compatible solution their firm required. Workshare Point provides a seamless integration between Microsoft Outlook and SharePoint that looks like the familiar Microsoft interface. It transforms SharePoint into a central document management system where users can access document libraries with just one click, and easily organize documents by client or matter.
"The productivity of our users will increase because they can now access SharePoint without leaving Microsoft Outlook," said Charlie Young, outsourced director of IT at Abramson Smith Waldsmith. "Workshare Point significantly improves the user experience by allowing users to share information contained in email and attachments without having to store it locally."
SharePoint and Outlook Integration Improves Email Management
Because Workshare Point integrates Microsoft SharePoint and Outlook, the firm's users can now access SharePoint document libraries directly from Outlook. This enables them to:
- Drag and drop emails and attachments into SharePoint
- Preview email messages that are stored in SharePoint from within Microsoft Outlook.
- File emails on Send with one click
- Select multiple emails to file or delete
- Track and manage incoming email more efficiently with suggestive filing
Workshare Point also provides a familiar user interface that allows easier SharePoint browsing when users open or save Microsoft documents. Control folder views provide either a tree view or navigation capability. Users can even use FAST search technology within the browser.
"Our attorneys work under constant time pressure," noted Bill Smith, senior partner at Abramson Smith Waldsmith. "Although Microsoft SharePoint and Outlook are powerful solutions, users sometimes have trouble quickly locating the documents and emails they need. Workshare Point solves this problem for us by reducing the time our lawyers spend searching for and accessing information and allowing them to use their time more efficiently. Because our work takes us all over the U.S., Canada and Europe, this technology makes it easy to take our office with us. In the long run, our investment in Workshare Point will save the firm both time and money."
Increased Document Security and Reduced Risk
By grouping all related documents and emails together, Workshare Point increases the firm's control over documents, whether those documents are shared internally or distributed externally. It gives the attorneys the option to enforce filing and deletion of emails, further increasing document security, and eliminates reliance on traditional file shares.
Support for Document Comparison and Version Control
Workshare Point supports integration with Workshare Professional, an application that provides integrated document comparison and version control. Workshare Professional also provides the capability to manage metadata inside of Outlook and Office applications for seamless document security. This allows Abramson Smith Waldsmith to automate the removal or get real time alerts when email attachments contain left over track changes, improper redaction of sensitive information and hidden comments. It also allows them to convert email documents to pdf format for additional security. Using Workshare Professional, the attorneys at Abramson Smith Waldsmith can collaborate effectively on even the most complex legal documents, and ensure that only the final approved version is distributed outside the firm.
By Guest Blogger: Workshare
