Do law firms still need physical document scanners?

Yes. Despite increasing digital document flow, law firms still receive physical mail, court filings, signed originals, and client documents that must be digitized. Estate planning firms scan wills and deeds. Litigation firms scan discovery documents. Immigration firms scan identity documents. The volume of physical scanning is decreasing, but eliminating it entirely is not yet practical for most practice areas.

What file format should law firms use for scanned documents?

PDF/A is the recommended format for long-term legal document archiving — it is a standardized format that ensures documents remain readable for decades. Standard PDF with embedded OCR text is adequate for active case files. Always enable OCR to create searchable text layers. Avoid scanning to JPEG or TIFF for legal documents — these formats lack the text layer and metadata capabilities that PDF provides for legal workflows.

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