With the evolution of modern workplace technology, law firms have found themselves faced with two very serious problems, both caused ironically by the technology itself. The first relates to the security of documents. There are any number of dangers posed by sending documents over the web, e-mail or through portals. The second problem relates to the issue of controlling work on a document. Whereas a great deal of legal document writing relies on the idea of a single author having control over a work-in-progress, the available legal collaboration tools simply don't provide lawyers with the control they need.

The Issue of Security
The confidentiality of information in documents is of paramount importance in the legal community, perhaps more so than in most other industries. To quote Margaret Costanzo, "Law is one of the few professions where what is said is what is done." (Legal Writing. Cavendish, 1999: 12). However, we've seen the gradual erosion of document security in recent years, principally as a result of the increased use of e-mail and web postings.
There are dangers that are common to any Internet or e-mail transaction: the risk of viruses and the exposure of files and networks to hackers. Even when portals are used, files must still travel through a proxy server. These risks are familiar and well-understood.

There are issues more particular to the legal community that stems from the use of document management system ("DMS"). A DMS is a closed file storage space that enforces strict access procedures and meticulously records who modified documents and the time of the modifications. These systems originally evolved as an imitation of earlier centralized mainframe systems. Moreover, they evolved before the use of e-mail and the Internet became widespread.

The net result is that e-mail and Internet technology has essentially been superimposed on a technology for which it was not designed. For example, if two people are collaborating on a document, one editor must e-mail a document to another, therefore removing that document from the DMS. Removing the document in this way disrupts the DMS' record of access to the document and effectively surrenders control over the document. If the editor has not manually stripped all metadata from the document, it is quite possible to blithely send confidential and sensitive information with the files.

Unfortunately, mass-market word processor manufacturers rely on metadata to provide a large part of their product's functionality. Since metadata does not present a problem for the majority of word processor users, the manufacturers are under no pressure to change the products. At present, e-mailing documents is fraught with danger. It also carries additional penalties, the most serious of which from an attorney's point of view is the issue of control over a document.

Controlling a Document
In most legal document writing, where a number of parties are involved, there is a very strict hierarchy among the authors. Theoretically, one author will create a document and be ultimately responsible for its final form. All others who contribute to it only have the right to make suggestions. This is the ideal situation. In the past, this system was implemented very simply through the use of paper faxes. The originating author would keep the original document and send out faxed copies to contributors. Contributors could then only mark suggestions on the fax, in ink.

The popularity of e-mailing documents has completely undermined this simple system. Now, an originating author will send out an actual electronic document to contributors, after first removing it from a DMS. Contributing authors may edit the document as they wish, and, since it is no longer in a DMS, there will be no record of who has done what to it. Moreover, since contributors might use any of a number of word processors (or versions thereof), the introduction of format corruption into the files is likely.

In the same way that the evolution of technology has led to weaker security, it has also led to the watering-down of control. New technology has brought enormous benefits, however, and is not going to go away. How, then can we solve the problems of security and control while keeping the benefits of e-mail and the web? Solutions are emerging.

Dedicated Legal Collaboration Software
A number of new initiatives from legal software specialists have been launched in response to this growing dissatisfaction in the legal community. Several firms have been working towards perfecting web portals for legal users, effectively attempting to extend the idea of a DMS to the Internet. Other firms have been looking more closely at e-mail.

Another promising idea is to effectively resurrect the idea of the fax, but update it for the e-mail and Internet age. Users would be able to e-mail replica documents to each other, much as they used to send faxes. The replicas could essentially be editable images of documents, stripped of any metadata, which allow an original document to remain safely within a DMS. Such as system could eliminate the problems with security, control and format corruption at a stroke, and could also incorporate features such as digital signatures and encryption.

The Future of Electronic Legal Documents
It is clear that there are serious problems with the ways in which users can work with legal documents, however, a surprising number of law firms are ignoring these problems. Many firms actually do send unencrypted files through ordinary e-mail without any form of protection. In an age where hacking of corporate file systems makes headlines with regularity, ignoring basic security measures is little short of reckless.

Part of the problem is the perception that nothing can be done to change the situation. If the big word processor manufacturers won't stop using metadata in their products, what can be done? The answer to this isn't clear-cut just yet. However, recent technology advances suggest that some solutions will be emerging within the year.

About our author...

Barrie Hadfield is the CTO of Workshare Technology. To find out more about Workshare Technology or their Workshare 2.0 product, visit their website at www.workshare.net, or call and talk to a representative at 888-404-4246, or e-mail them at sales@workshare.net.