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Clifford Chance and DWF have banned their lawyers from working from printed documents during the coronavirus pandemic, as other firms implement new measures for hard copy usage while their lawyers work from home.

Client confidentiality is at the heart of many of these measures, according to several firms, with CC having banned the unnecessary printing of documents since March in a bid to discourage lawyers from leaving sensitive documents accessible within their home working spaces.

One CC London partner said that over the past three months, he has printed just two documents — a marked change to his normal printing output.

"There have really only been a couple of occasions where I would have liked to have had hard copies of documents", the CC partner said, adding that there had been a smooth transition to  documents being marked using laptops and iPads.

DWF has also banned working from paper files for the duration of the U.K. lockdown period.

"Working digitally and as paper free as practical, including correspondence to and from clients, will not only improve DWF's security and safety but also improve our ability to work from any desk or location," the firm said in a statement.

Osborne Clarke general counsel Mary Mackintosh said that the coronavirus lockdown had prompted the firm to provide extra support for its remote workforce, which includes increasing the firm's usage of digital signature apps and collaboration tools.

She added that the firm had already seen a fall in hard copy printing over recent years due to an increase in agile working practices among staff, but that rather than implement a formal printing ban for the lockdown, the firm has operated a centralized 'click and collect' secure print facility.

Pinsent Masons' chief information security officer Christian Toon meanwhile said that the firm had taken a "flexible approach" to printing, which includes implemented a range of measures to improve data security.

"This includes central monitoring and oversight of what is being printed and where, advice and training on confidential destruction, and looking at specific client requirements and safeguarding data — all key components of data loss prevention strategies," he said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Linklaters, meanwhile, said that the firm had reduced its paper usage by 20% between 2010 and 2018, and that the pandemic had "progressed this by further reducing unnecessary printing."