Environmental awareness has been in vogue for some years but it appears to have had little impact on the consciousness of litigation practitioners. Could it be that the all-pervasive fascination with green issues, sustainability and the carbon footprint has no relevance to lawyers in the litigation process?
Environmental lawyers may well be familiar with green issues such as removing F-gases from the environment, the planning process for eco-stores and the tax breaks and incentives to landowners in relation to wind farms, but what can contentious lawyers add to the mix?
The answer is blindingly obvious —
- By not converting documents already in electronic form to paper and by not printing out ream upon ream of paper, litigators can make a significant contribution towards preserving some of the planet’s resources and at the same time save costs.
- By using the newly-emerging search tools, now available at a fraction of the cost of current methods, lawyers can analyse, cull and review huge amounts of material, cost-effectively and at blistering speed; further reducing the need for ink and paper.
In the end, this makes for a more efficient and speedy process, leaving clients the happier and the environment the richer.