Compared to the amount of printing I was doing pre-COVID, I very rarely print these days. But, on the rare occasion when I do print, I try to make sure this is in black and white unless there is a graph that cannot be understood unless it has been printing in colour.
It would be well within your rights to be wondering right now: “Why I’m going on about this?”. Well, here’s the answer:
– a study funded by the European Commission Low Carbon initiative and the Liverpool City Region –carried out by the Eco-I North-West project based at Liverpool John Moores University, working with local e-signature company E-Sign: ‘The financial and environmental effects of digitalising paper documents in the legal sector‘
found that:
Medium-sized law firms could save around £400,000 every year and reduce carbon emissions by digitising paperwork, research has estimated.
Wow, almost half a million pounds a year – and that’s at ‘medium-sized’ law firms (having between 200-250 employees and handling 18,000 documents a year).
But, and this is the part that got me:
More than half the total, £210,000, could be saved by no longer printing colour pages. Together, medium-sized firms could save £336m each year.
Holy cow, medium-sized law firms in the UK could save 336 million pounds a year merely by not printing in colour!
So what does that tell us as we march right into a financially restrictive 2023?
Basically, don’t expect or ask for printed material from your law firm any longer. If you want glossy broachers, get them sent to you electronically and share them internally via email.
And if you do insist on printed marketing material from your law firm, expect to be getting this in black and white or with very limited colour pages!
As usual comments are my own. And I hope everyone has a great 2023!
Random Thoughts On The Business Of Law 