Best Scanner For Lawyers | #1 Choice for Law Firm in 2023

Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 3.1, WiFi	30	60	50 sheets	400 sheets	Click for more info

Let’s talk about the Fujitsu Scansnap IX1500 a bit. From our experience, law firms, just like other companies, range from 1 employee to literally thousands. So when choosing the best scanner for this, we take into account the size of the law company as well.

This scanner is best suited to small law firms, or larger ones that are decentralized. Let’s take the price into account first, this device costs under 500 dollars, so pretty much any lawyer can afford it. So it fits the bill for the smallest law firm, a single lawyer to be exact.

Now, when it’s a larger company, but let’s say you have a lot of offices but with a single lawyer in them, this device will shine again. It can scan and send documents through the wireless feature, so this will be of big help.

This scanner is a logical evolution from older scansnap models, the ix500 be more precise. It has faster scanning speed, faster wireless transfer, a bigger ADF and small little features that the older model did not have.

We have to concede that as a user, you are getting a really small machine, that can scan and send through wireless, reasonably fast scanning speed and a pretty decent price. I love the versatility of the thing, that it works pretty well in both small, or really large companies. The operators will love the thing, with the touch screen this is really easy to use.

I really love the evolution of the Scansnap ix1500 when comparing to the IX500. We get a bigger screen, a faster speed, more or less small incremental changes that in the end result in a pretty nice device. What I would have loved is to have even a bigger screen and also a better scanning speed at duplex. test

Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W		A4 – 215.9 mm x 355.6 mm ( 8.5 in. x 14.0 in.)	Gigabit Ethernet, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 or Wifi	30PPM	60IPM	50 Sheets	3000 Sheets	Click for more info

We have worked with Brother Scanners before, but I must say, the Brother ImageCenter ADS-2800W was not one of them. Still, we took it out and used all our experience when testing the device.

We focused only on aspects that the Fujitsu IX1500 did not have, mainly the gigabit ethernet transfer. So we focused on this device as an integrated scanner into the local network. Yes, the scanner will work well for a single lawyer, but you get the feeling the ethernet is better suited to an office with interconnected users.

Otherwise, we see that the scanning speed is more or less like the Fujitsu IX1500, with the only mention that duplex guarantees quite a quick capturing speed of both sides. I don’t know about the evolution over the previous models, as for me the ads2800w was always a device that was developed to target a specific market.

Still, what the user has to know is that there isn’t that much difference to an IX1500, but the Brother can be a bit more expensive in certain markets.

But we love the fact that Brother went specifically after the office environment. They have developed this device with a Gigabit Ethernet connection, which at the time of the launch was definitely something nice to have in this range.

And at the end of the day, this is the only aspect I can think of, that will separate it over a Fujitsu Scansnap. The other features are more or less identical, except for the price of the Brother, which is a bit higher.

Kodak Alaris E1035

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Kodak Alaris E1035	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 2.0	35	70	80 sheets	4,000 sheets	Click for more info

From our experience and after seeing it in person, Alaris this is specifically designed to work as a standalone office scanner. Nothing major here, just a budget scanner with USB transfer, that you can buy for around 400 USD.

I don’t see much evolution in terms of features over older Kodak Alaris model, except maybe for the scanning speed and ADF size. Oh, and yes, the CIS capturing sensor is great to have, because it decreases the price, weight and also the overall size of this scanner.

From a user point of view, I really enjoyed the transport system of the scanner. I don’t know what Kodak Alaris does, but it seems that this scanner will never paper jam. We rarely cleaned the rolls during testing, and honestly, even then, we were striving for perfect transport. I am not sure we were really supposed to clean the rollers.

What I really love though and what Kodak Alaris has focused on with this scanner is the ease of use through buttons. Would I have loved a touchscreen ? Of course I would. But I don’t think it’s really needed, as you are running the scanner with software, directly on the PC. Still, they have shortcut buttons which can be pre programmed, so you do get the benefits of quick scanning.

But in all honesty, despite its low price, I don’t know what would it have to do to fight with the Fujitsu or the Brother in this test. It’s not a bad scanner, but it does not have anything going for it, except maybe the price.

Kodak Alaris S2040

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Kodak Alaris S2040	A4	8.27 in x 11.69 in	USB 3.1	40	80	80 sheets	5,000 sheets	Click for more info

When I first opened the box of the Alaris S2040, I struggled to find real difference when compared to the other Alaris, the 1035. It really just feels from our experience to be another scanner to fit into a public tender and have diversity when it comes to specs.

You would expect that speed to be an important factor to take into account. But it’s not really that fast over the E1035. It’s just a 5 ppm difference, which is not really enough to justify the price difference.

I would say that from my experience, the difference between them that is notable is the USB connection. This scanner comes with USB 3.1, which from what we’ve seen allows the computer to keep up with the scanner. I must say that this is something I do like and I can agree it’s a plus.

Also, the general feel of the device over the older Kodak Alaris models is noticeable. It has brough Kodak into the 21st century, and the products look way better.

Will this be of help to a user ? It has not done much for me during the testing phase, but I will say the scanner does not look bad.

This device is also missing the touch screen, when compared to rivals from other brands. I don’t know what Kodak Alaris were thinking when designing this, but I guess it has something to do with its USB only connection. They probably think that there is no use for it, this being a scanner for connection to a single scanning station.

Fujitsu fi-7460

Product	Format	Scanning area	Connectivity	Sheets per minute	Images per minute	ADF Size	Daily Duty Cycle	Price
Fujitsu fi-7460	A3	11.69 in x 16.54 in	USB 3.0	60	120	100 sheets	9,000 sheets	Click for more info

Out of all the devices we have talked about, this is the one that really makes me interested. When I took this out of the box, it already felt like something special. That is because it was bigger and heavier when compared to the other devices.

This is the only one of the scanners in this test that works with A3 documents directly. Unlike the others, that will work with A3 if you fold the paper and stitch it, this scans them direcytly.

Fujitsu did not have an older model that did these things, rather it focused on building a new market for A3 office scanning. This is exactly what Fujitsu had in mind when designing the FI 7460 scanner. Build a document scanner that is not an evolution, rather a revolution.

So when taking a law firm into account, this will go through all of the documents, no matter the size. It scans 60 pages per minute and will be able to scan small batches or really large ones if required. Any operator will be really happy to know they can count on this scanner to scan everything they throw at him.

You would almost think that Fujitsu was designing the product specifically for the operators stuck in a larger law firm, that have difficulties scanning that odd A3 document in the batches of folders.

I must say, I really like this device, and for me it’s clear that the A3 scanning capability is the selling point here. Yes, there are other aspects, such as the features of the Paperstream driver and also the paperstream Capture software. But in all honesty, what makes this a great machine is that it’s relatively small, but it will still scan A3 documents.