The IT community is getting plenty of green guidance from the Green Grid and an untold number of resources that have popped up in recent months (us included). But what about law firms?

Amy Joyce of The Washington Post writes about Jonathan Martel, an environmental lawyer that got his firm, Arnold & Porter, to curtail paper usage which is undoubtedly measured in tonnage.

At the District firm, which has about 600 employees, computers are set to print two-sided. And internal documents are sent via e-mail or intranet, saving about 350,000 sheets of paper a year.

"If you think of lawyers using one resource the most, it's probably paper," Martel said. He said estimates show each lawyer uses 25,000 to 100,000 pages a year.

His firm is now knee-deep in the Green Office Initiative Project, and with the help of the American Bar Association and the Environmental Protection Agency, which helped to develop the program, they have established a model for other firms to follow. The upside? According to Martel, it's morally correct, saves money and makes for great PR.

Well, it got the Washington Post to write up a story, so you can't argue with that.