With Apologies To Michael Scott, Lawyers Should Ditch Some Paper Products

If COVID-19 has shown us anything, it has shown us that we can use less paper.

As some close readers of my articles may know, to get through the monotony of the quarantine, I have watched The Office pretty much every night for the past six months. There is something soothing about viewing the happenings of employees at a fictional paper company that has made the quarantine a little more bearable. Watching this show repeatedly (and listening to The Office Ladies podcast) has weirdly put paper on my mind, especially stationery and paper products that people use in the legal profession. With all due respect to the Dunder Mifflins and real paper companies of the world, many lawyers still cling to antiquated paper products that can be dispensed with to embrace the increasingly paperless way most attorneys practice law. In any case, attorneys should ditch a few types of paper products in favor of efficiency and cost savings, especially since many firms have been electronically serving and filing most papers recently to due to COVID-19.

Bluebacks

Many litigators understand what bluebacks (also called “legalbacks”) are, but transactional attorneys (and lawyers in certain states) may not know what this common legal paper product is. A blueback is a piece of heavier and longer paper that is typically stapled to the back of legal documents. A blueback usually includes stock language relating to practicing law in a given jurisdiction and contains some information about a given case (and the document to which it is attached). I am unsure why bluebacks are still used. Maybe it is because they make it less likely that papers will be damaged, or maybe it is because bluebacks make papers look more professional. In any event, many court rules and individual practices in certain jurisdictions still require that bluebacks be stapled to the back of legal papers.

Using bluebacks is extremely annoying. When I first started my own firm, I had a case in a jurisdiction that required bluebacks for many types of legal papers. I had to order bluebacks from a legal supplier, and they cost about 50 cents a pop which (not to sound cheap) seems like a lot for a piece of paper! I couldn’t find a fillable form for bluebacks online, so I had to create one in Word to fill in the spaces on the blueback. (And I wasted many bluebacks trying to get the formatting right!) Also, you have to be very particular when stapling the blueback to the papers to be sure that you align everything correctly. Papers look a little more professional when they are “bluebacked,” but I do not think it is worth the trouble.

Now that courts and litigants are adopting electronic service and e-filing en masse to meet the challenges of COVID-19, I think it is time to ditch bluebacks for good. Indeed, one of the states in which I practice (New Jersey) does not have widespread use of bluebacks, seemingly suggesting that we can survive without bluebacks. The one benefit of bluebacks I can discern is that some firms adopt their own colors other than blue for their legalbacks so you can tell if papers are from these firms just by the color of the backs. I don’t want to name names, but many New York City lawyers know which notable firm often uses pinkbacks! In any case, bluebacks should probably be trashed as the practice of law becomes less reliant on printed material.

Legal-Size Paper

As many attorneys know, legal-size paper is 8.5-inch by 14-inch paper that is significantly longer than standard paper. Lawyers should absolutely ditch legal-size paper entirely for the standard paper that we all know and love. The longer legal-size paper does not fit into most file folders and other accessories related to the practice of law, and legal-size paper makes it extremely difficult to scan items. Legal-size paper is so old school, and I almost exclusively see legal-size paper when reviewing ancient wills, deeds, and the like. In fact, the use of legal-size paper seems very generational, and in my experience, old-school lawyers are far more likely to use this paper than younger attorneys. However, we should be more consistent with how we use paper in the legal profession, and if there is some bona fide reason why legal-size paper should be used (other than rules in certain jurisdictions) please feel free to reach out to me, I’m interested!

Sponsored

Red-Lined Paper

Many lawyers use red-lined paper (also called “red-ruled” or “pleading” paper) for pleadings, some contracts, and other documents. Red-lined paper is called this name because there is a red line running vertically down the left side of the paper. Often, lawyers use special red-lined paper for the first page of a document that includes the firm’s contact information, and then simply paper with a red line running down it for all other pages.

Red-lined paper is old school and super annoying. It forces you to adjust the margins in a document so you do not print over the line. Also, red-lined paper is much more expensive than normal paper, and I am unaware of any discernible benefit to the red line other than creating space for notations in the margins. Of course, some jurisdictions require numbers in the margins and other practices, and lawyers need to follow the rules of the jurisdictions in which they practice. Nevertheless, since the practice of law is becoming increasingly paperless, we should dispense with using red-lined paper.

All told, even though many lawyers have stopped using certain paper products more recently, numerous lawyers still cling to antiquated paper products. Nevertheless, attorneys should ditch certain types of paper products in order to embrace the increasingly paperless and standardized world in which we practice law.


Sponsored

Jordan Rothman is a partner of The Rothman Law Firm, a full-service New York and New Jersey law firm. He is also the founder of Student Debt Diaries, a website discussing how he paid off his student loans. You can reach Jordan through email at jordan@rothmanlawyer.com.

CRM Banner