In this article, you will learn the meaning of legal OCR and why it’s important in the legal field. We also cover its various applications and share our simple OCR process for legal documents. Read on to learn more.
Legal OCR (Optical Character Recognition) refers to the process of converting scanned legal documents, such as contracts, briefs, case files, and other paperwork, into editable and searchable digital text using OCR technology. This technology scans printed or handwritten text and converts it into machine-encoded text.
Example: Legal OCR, such as Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, allows law firms to convert scanned contracts and court filings into searchable PDFs, significantly enhancing document accessibility.
OCR is important for a number of reasons, some of the most common include:
OCR allows legal professionals to digitize and organize large volumes of paper documents, making it easier to store, retrieve, and manage documents electronically. This significantly improves efficiency and productivity.
OCR enables advanced text analysis and data mining techniques. This helps in extracting relevant information, identifying patterns, and gaining insights from legal texts, case law, and statutes, making legal research more effective.
During the e-discovery process, OCR technology automates the scanning and processing of electronic documents and emails. This makes them searchable, allowing for more efficient review and analysis, and ensuring compliance by considering all relevant documents.
OCR provides clients with more efficient and timely access to their case documents and other pertinent information, enhancing client satisfaction.
OCR helps create digital archives of legal documents that can be easily accessed and preserved over long periods without the physical degradation associated with paper documents.
Use our 10 step OCR process to effectively manage your legal documents. Simply follow the steps below:
OCR begins with scanning physical documents to create digital images. This step converts paper files into electronic format, making them ready for OCR processing.
Example: Using a high-speed scanner, a law firm scans 500 pages of client contracts in one hour, creating digital images for OCR conversion.
The digital images undergo preprocessing to improve their quality. This step includes adjusting brightness, contrast, and removing any noise to enhance the OCR accuracy.
Example: Software like Adobe Acrobat preprocesses scanned documents by removing smudges and adjusting brightness, resulting in clearer images for OCR.
OCR software analyzes the preprocessed images to identify and recognize text characters. This step involves converting visual text into machine-readable text.
Example: Using Lido, the system converts scanned images of legal briefs into editable text with a 99% accuracy rate.
After recognizing the text, the software extracts the text data from the images. This step isolates the text from the rest of the image content.
Example: An OCR tool extracts the text from scanned court filings, enabling legal assistants to quickly search and edit the documents.
The extracted text is then structured into a readable and organized format. This step ensures that the text data is arranged logically for easy access and use.
Example: The OCR system structures the text from a scanned lease agreement into paragraphs and sections, maintaining the original document layout.
The structured text is indexed for quick search and retrieval. This step tags the text data with metadata to enhance searchability.
Example: OCR software indexes a batch of 1,000 legal documents, tagging them with keywords like “contract,” “agreement,” and “client name” for fast searching.
Quality assurance checks are performed to ensure the accuracy of the OCR conversion. This step involves reviewing the converted text for errors and making necessary corrections.
Example: A paralegal reviews the OCR output of a 200-page deposition to correct any misrecognized words and ensure the document’s accuracy.
The OCR-processed documents are integrated into the legal firm’s document management system. This step ensures seamless access and use of the digitized documents within existing workflows.
Example: The OCR-converted documents are uploaded to the firm’s case management system, allowing lawyers to access and edit them directly from their software.
Digitized and OCR-processed documents are archived for long-term storage. This step ensures that legal documents are preserved and easily accessible for future reference.
Example: The firm archives thousands of OCR-processed case files in a secure cloud storage, ensuring they are safe and accessible for years to come.
Finally, the digitized documents are made accessible to clients through secure online portals. This step enhances client service by providing timely and easy access to case documents.
Example: Clients log into a secure portal to view and download OCR-processed legal documents related to their cases, improving transparency and satisfaction.
McLaren Law Firm is a leading law firm that aims to improve the handling of client documents from receipt to archiving. Here’s how they implemented our simple 10 step process.
McLaren Law Firm uses a Canon DR-G2140 scanner to digitize 800 pages of legal documents daily, creating digital images for OCR conversion.
The digital images undergo preprocessing using Adobe Acrobat, which removes smudges and adjusts brightness to improve image quality for OCR.
Lido is utilized by McLaren Law Firm to convert scanned images of legal documents into editable text with a 98% accuracy rate.
McLaren Law Firm’s OCR tool extracts text from scanned court filings, allowing paralegals to quickly search and edit the documents.
The OCR system at ABC Law Firm structures the text from scanned contracts into organized paragraphs and sections, preserving the original layout.
McLaren Law Firm’s OCR software indexes a database of 10,000 legal documents, tagging them with relevant keywords for efficient searching.
Paralegals at McLaren Law Firm review the OCR output of lengthy depositions, correcting any inaccuracies to maintain document integrity.
McLaren Law Firm integrates OCR-processed documents into their Clio case management system, facilitating easy access and collaboration among lawyers.
McLaren Law Firm archives thousands of OCR-processed case files in Microsoft Azure, ensuring secure and long-term storage.
McLaren Law Firm provides clients with access to their case documents through a secure client portal, improving transparency and satisfaction.
We hope you now have a better understanding of what OCR in the legal field is and how to implement our OCR process in your legal practice. If you enjoyed this article, you might also like our article on legal document data extraction or our article on OCR cost per page in legal field.