Going digital seems to be the way the world is moving—so it only makes sense that more and more lawyers are moving in this direction when it comes to managing their clients’ corporate records. This article aims to give you an overview of what going digital could do for small law firms that want to modernize their practice.
How Digital Minute Books Work
Digital Minute Books are—as it sounds—Minute Books that are entirely in digital format. This means that instead of having paper documents to keep track of, print, scan, etc., all of the documents stay in digital format. Not all digital Minute Books are created equally, though. Some digital Minute Books may simply look like a folder on someone’s desktop, while others are on a platform (such as Tobuso), or in Google Drive or Microsoft, etc.
The downfall of having a digital Minute Book simply stored in a folder on a computer is that it can get messy when you try sharing it with others. If someone else has the “same” Minute Book on their computer, but then they add a document to it, your copy of the Minute Book won’t have that added document, so it can get unorganised and out of date, very quickly—which can lead to confusion and errors in the future.
Google Drive and Microsoft both have great sharing capabilities, but they can still be limiting in some ways. A platform such as Tobuso is ideal, as it acts as one centralized hub for all the records of a corporation. You can share the records with the client, and whoever they may want to give access to (such as their accountant). Each “collaborator” can have separate access levels, if needed (such as view-only). This gives corporations and lawyers peace of mind, as they know that no matter who is viewing the Minute Book, they are all looking at the same version, with the most recent updates.
If an older company wants to switch from a paper Minute Book to a digital Minute Book, then there will be an initial process of scanning, organizing, and uploading their documents onto a computer, and possibly platform of choice. As lawyers are aware, the size of a Minute Book can greatly vary from one company to another, so the initial set up time when going digital could be a fairly time consuming process—but the end product is much more ideal (in our opinion).
New corporations can get set up with a digital Minute Book right from the beginning. That means lawyers can share all of the client’s incorporation and organizing documents online, and provide them with a digital Minute Book once the organization of their new company is complete. Many new companies will never have to deal with paper Minute Books.
Why are Digital Minute Books Important?
Digital Minute Books are important because they are aligned with the direction that society is moving towards. Most governing jurisdictions in Canada have moved towards digital filings, digital certificates of incorporation, etc.
It only makes sense that lawyers and corporations move in this direction, as well. Having digital Minute Books will also allow clients to access their records more easily—and share them with others that may need access to certain information, such as accountants or banks.
Going digital can also greatly speed up the process of transactions. Clients won’t have to find the time to drive to your law office to pick up or sign documents—everything will be available to them from their computer or smartphone, and documents can be signed electronically.
What Can Digital Minute Books Do for Your Small Law Practice?
Other than all the advantages that were listed above, moving clients to digital Minute Books can have a variety of benefits. Below are just a handful that come to mind for us.
Time
You will no longer need to store paper Minute Books in your office. This also means there is less time spent looking for a Minute Book, flipping through the pages, scanning, printing, etc. (Wait—less time trying to fix the printer? Yes, please!). Keeping everything online can help to create a much more efficient practice, giving lawyers more time to work on what matters. Money will also be saved on printing paper, ink and courier fees.
Space
Depending on how many Minute Books a lawyer handles, they may have a room dedicated to all the binders, file folders, etc. for their clients. Going digital means that you can clear out all that space. Once a client’s Minute Book is digitized, they technically don’t need it in paper form. One option is to let clients take their paper Minute Book home with them, or you may offer to shred it for them. Either way, it will get the Minute Book out of your office and onto a computer!
Flexibility
Switching to digital minute books also gives you, as a lawyer, more flexibility. It will mean you can work from home or out of the office more easily, as all of your clients’ documents will be available to you online. It will also mean that you will be able to assist more clients who don’t live in the same community as you. This gives you the opportunity for more business—and also allows you to find more clients that you want to work with. If there is a certain niche that you really want to target, being able to offer your services to more clients because you are able to provide your services all online will help you reach those goals.
The flexibility aspect goes both ways—as clients can also find a lawyer they like that isn’t necessarily in their community—and they can work with a lawyer even if they are travelling or unable to get to an office for a meeting or to sign documents. All of their corporate documents will be available to them online whenever they need them.
We hope this article gave you an insight into the world of digital minute books. We feel that going digital is a great way to modernize a practice, and clients benefit from it just as much as lawyers do. If you haven’t found a solution for going digital yet, or want to find a better solution than what you are currently using—check out Tobuso’s platform. Our platform offers a secure solution for lawyers that want to move their clients’ minute books to digital format, and manage their records going forward.
