When the pandemic began, law firms were forced to improvise. Mailrooms started scanning paper mail and emailing PDFs to attorneys just to keep work moving. That stopgap became standard practice, and years later, many firms are still running their mailrooms the same way.

Facilities Management (FM) teams operate these scanning mailrooms without proper design, technology, or governance. What began as a temporary solution has turned into a daily source of risk that few people at the firm ever see.

Security and Governance: The Hidden Exposure

Every piece of mail that enters a law firm has the potential to include sensitive or regulated information. It could be a client record, a court order, or a document protected by HIPAA.

In most scanning mailrooms, that mail is opened, scanned, and sent as a PDF to an attorney or assistant. The email might be forwarded again to other recipients, creating multiple copies across servers, inboxes, and desktops. None of these copies are tracked, governed, or protected inside the firm’s document management system.

The result is a complete breakdown of information security. A single scanned PDF can expose client data in ways that the firm cannot control or even detect. The firm takes mail it is required to protect and handles it in a way that does the exact opposite.

Exceptions and Tribal Knowledge: Processes That Cannot Scale

Inside many mailrooms, exceptions have become the rule. Attorneys often make personal requests like “don’t scan my mail” or “only deliver mine by hand.” Those preferences are managed through sticky notes, printed lists, or the memory of whoever happens to be on duty that day.

If that person leaves or misses work, the process falls apart. Nothing is documented, and the system depends entirely on who happens to be in the room. This tribal knowledge makes operations inconsistent and error prone.

Mail is one of the most sensitive intake points for a law firm, yet many firms continue to rely on informal and undocumented processes that would never be acceptable in any other area of governance.

Productivity and Quality Control: No Oversight, No Audit Trail

Quality control in the typical scanning mailroom is virtually nonexistent. Pages are missed, documents are scanned out of order, and emails are sent to the wrong recipients. There is rarely any method to confirm that all mail was processed, that images are legible, or that the right people received the right documents.

Without an audit trail, firms cannot prove that information was handled correctly. That means wasted time, repeated work, and unnecessary exposure. Every missing page or misrouted email represents not only inefficiency but also real risk.

The FM Model: Good People, Wrong Incentives

The people working in mailrooms are not the problem. They are doing the best they can within a flawed system. The problem is the model itself.

FM providers are rewarded for maintaining smooth daily operations and avoiding complaints, not for improving processes or introducing technology. Their goal is to keep attorneys satisfied, not to rethink how mail is managed. In fact, if digitizing the mailroom could reduce labor costs by 40 percent, many FM providers would resist because it cuts into their business model.

This keeps the mailroom stuck in a cycle of outdated practices that are invisible to firm leadership and resistant to change.

Bringing the Mailroom Into the Light

The modern workplace cannot rely on patched-together workflows or unsecured PDFs. Firms need a digital mail process that is designed for security, efficiency, and accountability.

A true digital mail solution should:

• Protect sensitive information through controlled, governed workflows
• Eliminate manual exceptions and undocumented workarounds
• Provide visibility and auditability for every mail item
• Reduce cost by improving process efficiency

DocSolid’s Airmail2 suite was created for this purpose. It enables firms to digitize and govern incoming mail from the moment it arrives, ensuring every item is securely delivered, quality checked, and fully auditable.

What happens in the mailroom should not stay there. It should move securely and transparently through the firm, supporting governance, compliance, and client trust at every step.