Lawyers today still can spend as many hours at financial printers’ offices as they did 15 years ago. But just as electronic filings ended those “mad dashes” by lawyers to Washington, D.C., to meet the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 5:30 p.m. deadline, lawyers’ dealings with the printing industry have changed too.

Many 1980s-era national and regional printers are out of business. The industry now is dominated by “global” printers, which offer a new array of services.