Linarducci & Butler is a busy small law firm, helping clients navigate through the Social Security disability benefit process. Our firm typically has 600 to 800 client cases open at any given time, and client folders for each claim have a minimum of 250 pages of paper -- including medical records and correspondence. It was not unusual in the past for our client files to grow to over 1,000 pages.
Over time, the document volumes from open and closed cases have placed a strain on our firm’s on-site filing system with the office reaching the point where we needed more space to store files. These document volumes also led to the costs associated with document storage becoming our firm’s largest monthly office expense.
But we had more than a document storage problem -- our firm also had a document access issue. Client folders contain information our attorneys and legal assistants need to access quickly in response to telephone inquiries from clients and the Social Security Administration. Too often, people would go to the file room and the folder they were looking for was not there. And this would trigger a time-consuming search around the office to locate the missing information.
As one possible solution for reducing the amount paper in the office, the firm looked into document scanning outsourcing for some files but found those services to be costly. Plus, we did not want to have client documents unavailable while out of the office for scanning in case the documents were needed to address an inquiry.
Read the full article
Codefendants who cooperate with one another to share costs and protect common interests do not waive the attorney work-product privilege, an appellate court ruled Wednesday. The decision resulted in the disqualification of a plaintiffs firm that hired a lawyer who previously represented one of 17 defendants in a toxic tort case.
The investigation into a $50 million mortgage fraud scam involving three lawyers, a Manhattan dominatrix club and dozens of Long Island properties is expected to grow larger today with additional charges and additional defendants, a spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota said.
