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We're going green

ContactsLaw is helping to make Birman & Ride as paperless as possible

ContactsLaw is legal practice management software written by Overtech Technologies. With its detailed searches and time keeping records, ContactsLaw keeps all of our contacts, files and accounts in one easy to use paperless system.

How?

  • Online information – part of our new look website includes online brochures and easy-to-read forms about the legal services we offer. This includes information on Wills, powers of attorney, deceased estates, property settlement, family dispute resolution, debt management, financial planning and investment, applications for extra ordinary driver’s licences and much more!
  • Reducing our carbon footprint – from Midland to Mindarie, everyone at Birman & Ride walks, cycles or catches public transport to work. For each litre of petrol we save, we reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by up to 13 kilograms.
  • Office design – our offices have individual light switches, so we can turn off our lights when we leave the office. We switch our lights off at night and at the weekend to reduce our electricity consumption and we have installed power saving settings on all of our electronic equipment for times when it’s not in use.
  • Paper recycling – we have installed recycling bins into every office with a view to spreading the environmental message throughout our building and beyond.
  • Email – wherever possible, we send correspondence by email. It’s environmentally friendly and reaches its destination much faster.
  • Duplex printing - If we cannot send a document electronically, we can at least send it double-sided. Duplex printing is now standard on every Birman & Ride machine.
  • Electronic files – using ContactsLaw, we keep an electronic copy of your file. This means that we don’t have to print copies of our file notes, emails or correspondence. In some cases our electronic files have entirely replaced the need to keep a paper file.
  • Green paper – when we do print, we use paper which is Australian made and is at least 80% recycled.
  • Advertising – the focus of our advertising is now using the electronic communication including Yellow Pages Online, rather than traditional print-media advertising and paper directories.

How can this benefit you?

We charge our clients for printing and photocopying. The more we use emails, the less paper we use and the more you save! 
We want you to save money
We can send you by email an electronic copy of all the incoming and outgoing correspondence relating to your matter. This is a quick, cheap and efficient way of making sure we keep you informed. Don’t forget to give us your email address 
Be informed
We have an electronic copy of your file at our fingertips, which means you’ll spend less time on the telephone when discussing your matter 
Less time on the telephone
Recycled paper becomes new products, meaning confidential information is destroyed, rather than being left to accumulate as landfill 
Confidentiality

How is ContactsLaw assisting us?

  • Organisation - In a law firm, time is money. Electronic copies of our client’s files mean that our staff can stay organised and manage their files efficiently. Our staff can have full access to their files from anywhere with an internet connection, even when they are not in the office.
  • Lower administration costs – ContactsLaw reduces the time our staff spends time filing and re-filing paperwork. Each staff member assigned to a case has all the relevant information about that case at their fingertips – meaning we won’t spend time moving between offices, file rooms and archive rooms to find what we’re looking for.
  • Waste reduction – on average, 40% of office waste comes from unwanted paper – it is our social responsibility as a business to minimise our waste and to reuse materials wherever possible. Keeping electronic files drastically reduces our paper usage.
  • Space saver – less paper means we require less space to store your files.
  • Dual screens - every computer at Birman & Ride is now equipped with two screens. This means that using ContactsLaw, employees can review a file on one screen while, for example, generating new emails on the other. ContactsLaw reduces the paper on your desk and the paper that you need to work on your files.

What's next?

Electronic forms
 Soon you’ll be able to complete your Will and enduring power of attorney online
Reduce, reuse, recycle
 With new recycling bins on the way we hope to continue to develop our recycling programme and to spread our ideas throughout the City of Perth
Greening the city
  We are going beyond our walls and exploring where we can change policies and practices which are not environmentally friendly. This includes our campaign for duplex printing to become standard in the Court system and our challenge to Sensis to have an ‘opt-in’ policy on the delivery of phonebooks to WA residents and businesses
Make your own coffee
 Ever wondered whether a take-away coffee cup is better for the environment than washing up your coffee mug? We’re researching the answer – keep checking the website to see what we discover

Help us help the environment

Helping the environment is something that everyone should be involved in. If you think we should be doing more – put us to the test and email your ideas to goinggreen@birmanride.com.au.

Other websites we recommend

http://www.howgreen.net.au See how well your local council performs environmentally.
http://www.millenniumkids.com.au  Information about how you can be involved in environmental projects across Western Australia.
http://www.environment.gov.au/settlements/gwci  Your home guide to reducing energy costs and emissions