One key tool the law firm relied on were paper-based folders (called tri-folds) that stored all of the information related to a particular case. Inaddition to the burden of searching through these cases, the workers had to ensure that the attorneys stayed on track with time-sensitive court dates and relevant communication that included both postal mail and email. Legal assistants also had to stay on top of other important case-related information, ensuring that all of the paperwork needed for a case was in this folder and available for an attorney.

Ricoh Innovations knew that many digital systems provided informationbased user interfaces. What we saw from observing Fenwick & West was that they needed something different: A design that took into consideration the task-based way in which they actually worked.

Innovation

Based on the information our team gathered during the observation phase, our team developed a simple but powerful prototype to replace the trifolds the firm was using. The prototype itself was a "paper token" whose design was specifically based on our understanding of the important tasks related to handling all aspects of case-related information. The token leveraged all of the advantages of an existing paper practice, and at the same time, dramatically improved it.

Replace trifold with a paper token.

We designed the token with all of the important tasks readily visible and available on an actual printed page. All of the paper-based information related to the task was scanned and stored electronically, and a barcode on the paper token enabled workers to search and retrieve all of the digital information related to the case.

Key features of the token