Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | November 13, 2017 | wbjournal.com Bowditch going digital BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor F O C U S I N N O V A T I V E W O R K P L A C E S I t's an old stereotypical scene: a lawyer carrying a briefcase stuffed with files into a courthouse, or poring through a pile of docu- ments preparing for a case. At 103-year-old Worcester law firm Bowditch & Dewey, those scenes will soon be more or less a thing of the past. The firm is going paperless, and that includes giving attorneys tablets to use in court, and getting rid of dozens of filing cabinets worth of legal files in Bowditch's Main Street offices. "That's the trend," said Robert Cox, a new managing partner who oversees the new digital efforts. "I'm about looking to the future." Looking to the future can be easier for some companies than others. Law firms aren't exactly tech companies – they focus on winning cases or advis- ing clients. But Bowditch sees a mod- ernization of its technology as part of a larger effort that will include a new website and updated logo. "We really need to go paperless in order to do everything we need to do," said Sam Sendrowski, the firm's tech- Bowditch & Dewey managing partner Robert Cox Jr. (left) and Sam Sendrowski, technology innovation manager, are standing in the law firm's now empty law library. nology innovation manager, who was hired in July. Cox, an environmental lawyer with more than three decades at Bowditch, is the firm's new managing partner as of Nov. 1. He helps lead the company's hiring efforts and is coordinating with Sendrowski on the digital efforts. Going paperless is enough of a trend for law firms the American Bar Association has a page on its website devoted to the effort, including answers to common ethics questions. Bowditch is eliminating nearly all of its filing cabinets that have been a ubiquitous presence in the offices for decades. So far, about 20,000 boxes of paper files have been removed. The extra space opens room for more offices, and a library once filled with books on state laws will be over- hauled into general-use space as part of the firm's unrelated renovations. The firm is going floor-by-floor to update to a brighter, modern look. Paperwork on old legal cases will be scanned into searchable files, making archival searches far easier. Attorneys now work off tablets, not briefcases of files, when in court. Data security is a primary concern, P H O T O / G R A N T W E L K E R W Vote for your favorite companies in over 40 categories that include best aer-work bar, best bank for business, best advertising agency, best place for a business dinner and more! e winners will be unveiled in the January 8, 2018 edition of the Worcester Business Journal, and honored at a special networking reception following the issue in late January. Voting closes on December 1, 2017 www.wbjournal.com/BOBAwards Who are the best business-to-business companies in Central Massachusetts? The Worcester Business Journal wants to know and is asking you to vote on the region's best B2B companies in our 5th annual Best of Business (BOB) online readers poll. Presenting Sponsor BOB A W A R D S B E S T O F B U S I N E S S VOTE NOW! Supporting Sponsor said Jason Matthew, Bowditch's direc- tor of information services. "We stay up-to-date with best prac- tices and partner with outside vendors who provide multiple layers of protec- tion to safeguard against potential threats," Matthew said. In the meantime, Bowditch is hiring more lawyers at a time when far fewer graduates are coming out of laws schools. The firm, which has offices in Boston and Framingham, has a total of 60 lawyers, up about eight from two years ago, and 120 employees in all. Bowditch sold its 65,000-square-foot building at 311 Main St., known as the Central Exchange Building, to Cliff Rucker, the owner of the Worcester Railers hockey team. The sale was com- pleted last December for $2.8 million. The firm said its renovations were nego- tiated as part of a lease agreement. W

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