From Law to Lean Management – Sean Dillman, Esq. Leads with Digital Optimization

In the fast-paced world of law, unexpected challenges can arise at any moment. That’s what attorney Sean Dillman faced when he started a new position at a firm, not knowing that he would be taking over the entire caseload of a lawyer who had suddenly left the practice. With deadlines looming and a mountain of files to sift through, he knew that he needed to find a solution – and fast.

Sean always had a strong work ethic. It was true for him in undergrad when he graduated top of his class with honors and where preparation had been the key to his success. But when he accepted a new role and inherited files from an outgoing lawyer, he found that more than anything else digitization was critical to overcoming disorganization.

“I was the new guy and I had to run all these files. All of the sudden I find myself in an office with a four-drawer high filing cabinet in the corner and a bookshelf of files and they were all attributed to this lawyer who was now me. I really needed to get up to speed quickly on these files all at once. It was a really hard spot to be in.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

The new office he found himself in boasted a multi-purpose printer unit with a flatbed scanner, but it was located at the farthest point away from his office at the end of a long hallway. Trekking back and forth to it from his office with armloads of files wasn't just inconvenient, it was impractical during the time crunch he found himself in. Plus, the machine wasn't ideal for scanning smaller items like receipts or handwritten notes that were tucked away in folders. He harkened back to his college days when he had used digitization as a study tool and for preparation and decided that before he could begin the real legal work he was hired to do, he needed to gain control over the information.

He was facing a mountain of documents, and he wished that he could find a way to simply scan everything right there in his office. That's when he had a lightbulb moment: a desktop scanner. It would be compact, powerful, and most importantly, right on his desk within arm's reach. It would be a game-changer. So one weekend he went online, did some research, and quickly came to realize that in the world of personal desktop scanners, ScanSnap was first in class. Within minutes he found a ScanSnap scanner, picked it up the next day, set it up and started scanning. He was hooked.

“When I got my ScanSnap scanner, I employed a friend to help prepare the files for scanning, and between the two of us, I would say that we scanned tens of thousands of documents. I think we did it in a weekend, like, ‘let's get in there and get this done’, and if it wasn't for the ScanSnap, I know that we definitely wouldn't have been able to do that because we would have only had the one scanner. And using the one scanner, like I said, it was so painful.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

Moving to the Next Level – Advanced Features & Scanning Foresight

With the ScanSnap scanner by his side, Sean dove headfirst into a sea of paperwork. The ScanSnap’s intuitive interface made it a breeze to scan documents of all shapes and sizes. Court filings, memos, receipts, business cards, handwritten notes – nothing slipped through the cracks. In a matter of minutes, entire case files were transformed into digital archives, ready for review and use.

But the real magic happened when Sean began utilizing the scanner's digital search capabilities. With just a few keystrokes, he could pinpoint keywords, dates, and relevant documents with perfect accuracy. Gone were the days of aimlessly flipping through pages in search of vital information. He was able to quickly find the most recent and relevant documents for each file and, most importantly, quickly summarize them and determine the state of each file. What began as something that seemed insurmountable now felt like a breeze, thanks to the ScanSnap scanner's incredible speed and precision. By incorporating digitization into his workflow, he was now on top of every case and file he inherited. He had all the documents digitized and could review them easily.  He was able to report exactly what was happening with every file and give immediate updates on case statuses and next steps to be taken. He felt in charge and no longer in the position of needing to search through files and be frustrated and surprised by problems.

“Within a pretty short period of time, thanks to my ScanSnap, I was able to get status memos basically on all the files. I was able to report to the people I work for and look good and say ‘I have all of the documents digitized and I know what's happening with every file’. It felt great.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

After digitizing an entire legal practice worth of documents, ScanSnap became Sean’s go-to brand, primarily because of how it positioned him to be truly prepared for his cases and clients. Sean admits he could have done the legal work the ‘old-school way’ without scanning the documents, but that it would have come at a cost. Because he would be working on the files for years to come, investing a relatively small amount of effort now would pay dividends in the future.

By creating digital versions of all his files, and thanks to advanced word search and document organization features, Sean reaped the benefits of having greater access to his files. If he needed to find a file quickly and locate a court document that was entered on a particular date, he could find it in a snap and start reviewing it and putting that information to work.

“I could have just reviewed the files manually, but at the same time, moving forward, I knew I would be working on these files for years to come so it was extremely helpful to scan everything so that when I needed to look something up in a file, I could do that. I couldn’t imagine not scanning everything now.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

Creating a Nimble Work Environment: Direct-to-Cloud Versatility

As Sean moved into his day-to-day legal work, after scanning all the documents in his new practice, his ScanSnap scanner remained his steadfast companion and he eventually upgraded to the flagship iX1600 model. He didn’t think it was possible to be more impressed, but the ScanSnap lineup amazed him again. Everything that he loved was there in the ScanSnap iX1600, and then some, offering faster scans, touchscreen ease, multi-user access, customizable profiles and direct-to-cloud scanning.

One of the biggest functionality hooks for Sean became where and how the document scanner could transmit the digitized data. When he later opened his own law firm with a partner, these features became even more important.

“I didn't necessarily know the iX1600 was the flagship, but I found out pretty quickly that it was an amazing scanner.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

Sean says the technology enabled him to scan to his preferred cloud storage (SharePoint and OneDrive) and he found it to be invaluable to be able to digitize documents to storage that’s common and comfortable for associates and colleagues.

The ScanSnap iX1600 offers versatility and creates a work environment that enables everyone to work with the tools and platform with which they’re most comfortable. In the increasingly digital world of law, this capability is invaluable.

“We work heavily in digital documents and our filing system is all digital. A lot of the documents, we scan them, we sign them digitally, we can file them with the court digitally, we can send them to other lawyers digitally, we can send them to clients digitally. Most of it is digital.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

Digital Practice & Starting on YouTube

Through the process of doing all the work that comes with setting up a new firm, Sean developed processes, practices and procedures that he wanted to share with others.

Pursuing this vision, he developed a personal website, began writing scripts, and learned to record and edit video. He wanted to dive into the details of both the hardware and software that he recommended that lawyers use and explain why they should be using it.

“I wanted to exercise a creative outlet while I was running my firm with my partner. I realized that what I was doing in legal practice was effective and working very well for me. I just felt that it was too good to not share.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

After producing and marketing a video series for legal professionals, Sean realized that many of his lessons also applied more broadly and could help many people, so he decided to share it for free on YouTube. Because the ScanSnap iX1600 was such an important piece of his workflow, he decided to make a dedicated review video to discuss its important capabilities and features. After posting the video on YouTube, Sean continued with his legal practice and paid little attention to his channel until one day when he realized that his iX1600 video was gaining traction.

“One day my fiancé said to me, ‘Did you see what's going on with your YouTube channel? That scanner video you have is doing pretty well.’ so I logged into YouTube studio, and it was huge. It was the video that made the whole channel run. I thought ‘Okay, that's cool.’ and then it just went from there and made me think a bit more like ‘Wow. What else can I do?’” - Sean Dillman, Attorney

Although his first videos aimed at lawyers had minimal activity, Sean’s review of the ScanSnap iX1600 stood out and quickly gained thousands of views. Following up on the success of his iX1600 content, Sean made further related videos responding to viewer questions and reviewing other scanners including the ScanSnap iX1300 and fi-8170. Sean realized that for every person who asked a question, many likely had similar ones, and that by answering questions as completely as he could in one video, he could reach countless others and answer their questions as well. People wanted to know how to work with their ScanSnap scanners, and, as a result, Sean’s channel took off.

“I'm just so thrilled that if a person goes to YouTube or Google and you type in ‘iX1600’, my face is probably going to come up and I didn't mean to cause that. I would have never imagined that it would be that way but that's just kind of how it happened. That's the story.” - Sean Dillman, Attorney