Benefits of Outsourced Print Services for Law Firms

Should law firms outsource their printing process? This guide helps you decide when outsourcing print services makes sense to improve costs, security, and workflow efficiency.

Key Takeaways

• Outsourcing managed print services is best when printing-related issues impact deadlines, staff productivity, or risk tolerance.

• Managed print services are particularly beneficial for law firms facing high case volumes, rising print costs, unexpected downtime, security concerns, or limited internal support.

• The decision to outsource printing operations should focus less on print devices and more on how printing is strategically managed within the firm’s operations.

• A strong managed print services partner acts as an operational extension of the firm, rather than a vendor focused on hardware replacements.

• Outsourcing printing processes gives law firms greater visibility into their printing setup, costs, and usage, enabling more informed, tailored decisions.

When to Rethink Your Law Firm’s Print Strategy

Printing is at the heart of the legal industry, but it’s often managed informally. As firms grow, increased scale, security needs, and unpredictable costs can make printing a significant operational concern.

When this shift occurs, firms must decide whether their current approach remains effective or requires greater structure and external support. It’s a decision that requires stakeholders to carefully consider all variables before making significant changes that affect both security and compliance.

When Outsourcing Print Services Makes Sense

Outsourcing is not suitable for every firm, but it is appropriate when certain challenges arise:

Your Firm Handles High-Volume Printing Needs

Law firms managing commercial, corporate, real estate, regulatory, or employment matters often face significant paperwork. Large case files, due diligence folders, contracts, forms, and internal checklists can keep printers running continuously across all departments.

That’s where Managed Print Services (MPS) can step in to help busy offices by:

• Placing printers and copiers closer to the teams that need them

• Balancing workloads across the fleet

• Automating toner management so supplies are always available

• Reducing reprints through consistent settings, such as duplex defaults

This approach ensures your print environment aligns with your workload, enabling IT teams and legal professionals to focus on core responsibilities. It also helps secure the firm’s print infrastructure across the print job lifecycle.  

Confidentiality and Secure Legal Printing Are Essential

Law firms manage sensitive documents, including confidential legal documents with client information. Improper device configuration or unattended printouts can result in avoidable security incidents.

Today’s print solutions offer several important security features:

• Enhanced security with user authentication minimizes the risk of unauthorized access.

• Secure printing with pull-print release, so jobs only print when the user is present.

• Audit trails of print jobs to support compliance monitoring.

• Encryption and robust device configurations to reduce exposure.

Networked printers and copiers are integral to a firm’s IT infrastructure. Without proper management, the print infrastructure may become a target for cyberattacks, allowing hackers to move laterally and access other systems, and increasing the risk of data breaches.

An MPS provider can help secure print environments, enhance security, and ensure that all stakeholders adhere to the firm’s policies. 

An established third-party partner can also help bridge the gap between paper and digital legal work. By connecting scanning, document storage, routing, and print release directly to the document management system, staff can move securely and seamlessly between digital files and printed documents.

You Need Better Control Over Print Costs

Without centralized print management, costs can go unnoticed. Administration may order toner, IT handles service calls, and operations manages leases, but without a unified view, spending remains unclear.

MPS gives law firms detailed insight into:

• Total monthly and annual print costs with regular reviews

• Device-level performance and utilization

• A better understanding of which offices or departments generate the most print volume.

• Color versus black-and-white output

• Where cost savings and more cost-effective behavior are possible.

Accurate data enables firms to optimize device placement, update policies, and develop a more sustainable, predictable print strategy.

IT Struggles to Focus on Case Management and Core Systems

IT teams manage cybersecurity, case management platforms, cloud-based collaboration tools, and technology solutions that support client services. Printer maintenance and troubleshooting aren’t the best use of in-house IT resources. 

Outsourcing these tasks allows service providers to manage repairs and supplies, enabling IT teams to focus on higher-priority work.

However, a single issue may not justify change, but multiple problems occurring together often do. At that stage, the focus shifts from addressing individual issues to deciding whether printing should remain reactive or be managed proactively.

How to Evaluate a Managed Print Service Provider

When choosing an MPS, law offices must consider:

• Their experience with the legal industry and legal printing.

• Secure printing and authentication options.

• Integration with the in-house document management system and other software solutions.

• Remote monitoring and responsive on-site support.

• Transparent reporting of costs, usage, and performance.

• Support for cloud-based workflows and case management tools.

• A roadmap for future upgrades as technology and firm needs evolve.

Key questions law firms should ask an MPS:

• How do you support secure printing for confidential client documents?

• Can we track print jobs, toner usage, and costs by team or matter?

• What does your uptime guarantee look like in practice?

• How quickly do you respond to device failures or supply requests?

• Do you support cloud-based document routing or case management workflows?

• What reporting do we receive monthly or quarterly?

• How do you integrate with our document management system?

• What happens if we reduce or increase print volume over time?

Whenever answers feel a little too generic or unclear, dig deeper. An established partner will start by learning about the firm’s needs and provide recommendations. They will focus on uptime, visibility, and the protection of sensitive data, and not just selling more machines.

What “Good” vs. “Bad” Managed Print Looks Like

Decision-makers should distinguish between a provider’s capabilities and their suitability for the organization. While most providers can supply equipment, few understand a law office’s specific printing needs.

Effective managed print services engagements typically include the following elements:

• The provider starts with a discovery process rather than focusing solely on device counts.

• Initial discussions address workflows and challenges before considering hardware solutions.

• Recommendations are incremental and carefully measured to avoid unnecessary disruption.

• Success is measured by ongoing outcomes, not just by installation or rollout.

• Continuous review and optimization are integral to the provider-client relationship.

• The provider is willing to advise against unnecessary changes.

Less effective engagements often display the following patterns:

• There is a strong focus on hardware refresh or consolidation.

• Pricing is discussed before gaining a clear understanding of operational needs.

• Providers make generic assumptions about law office operations.

• There is limited clarity regarding how they will measure success over time.

• Support is positioned to be reactive instead of proactive.

So, the partners should assess providers based on their behavior and approach, not solely on feature lists.

Building a Long-Term Partnership with a Managed Print Services Provider

For law firms, the real benefits of MPS emerge over time as the relationship shifts from setup to ongoing management.

A long-term partnership changes the way the firm manages printing, not just how it’s supported.

Printing Becomes Predictable, Not Reactive

In a mature partnership, printing becomes predictable. Issues are identified early, addressed proactively, and managed through established processes instead of reactive, ad hoc responses. When there’s alignment in the services provided and the firm’s needs, there are fewer interruptions, fewer urgent decisions, and the IT team spends less time on issues that shouldn’t need their attention.

Accountability Is Clear and Shared

Short-term contracts can make responsibility unclear. In contrast, long-term partnerships make it more transparent and straightforward.

A trusted MSP understands where their responsibility begins and ends, how they intersect with internal IT and operations, and how the practice will measure success over time. That clarity reduces finger-pointing, streamlines operations, and creates confidence that printing is being actively managed rather than merely serviced.

The Print Environment Evolves with the Firm

A long-term MSP relationship enables the print environment to adapt gradually, avoiding disruptive overhauls as the practice evolves and scales. Adjustments are planned based on usage patterns and operational context, rather than triggered by breakdowns, extended downtime, or complaints.

Decision-Making Improves Over Time

As the relationship matures, leadership gains clearer insight into how printing functions operationally across the firm, rather than just technically. That insight supports better decisions about standardization, investment, risk tolerance, and long-term sustainability. 

In other words, printing becomes easier to evaluate alongside other operational systems rather than remaining an isolated concern.

Vendor Behavior Shifts from Sales to Stewardship

In transactional arrangements, incentives are often misaligned, but in a longer-term partnership, they will converge. An MSP invested in the relationship is more likely to recommend restraint, question unnecessary changes, and prioritize stability over expansion. Over time, the provider’s success is driven more by operational consistency than by device volume.

Leadership Time Is Preserved

Perhaps the most practical benefit is the least visible. When printing is well governed, IT teams and management rarely need to address it. There are fewer escalations, exceptions, and surprises requiring the attention of senior partners. 

In other words, printing returns to the background, as it should.

Final Thoughts

Outsourcing print services doesn’t mean giving up control. It means creating a print setup that supports legal professionals while protecting client information. A quick internal review and a conversation with a trusted service provider are often enough to determine whether outsourcing is the right next step for your organization.

A managed print services partnership should feel less like outsourcing and more like delegated responsibility with oversight. The goal isn’t handing off responsibility, but to establish a stable, accountable operating model that supports the firm over time.