Tuesday, July 7, 2015

CONFESSIONS OF A LAWYER ON DOCUMENT AUTOMATION

Cassandra Townsend, Manager, Precedent Lawyer


When I was practising in law firms, having access to a precedent, rather than drafting a document from scratch, made life much easier.
There were a number of precedent systems I used such as: 
  • merging a master file of client details in Word Perfect with precedents for commonly used letters and Court forms in our existing precedent bank;
  • copying a document used in a prior matter, manually changing the details where relevant;
  • typing out a precedent found in a trusty text in the Law Library; or even
  • creating a precedent myself, maybe saving it in my own drive on the firm’s computer system where no other lawyers in the firm could access it (or even know I had it).
When I started working at Cleardocs, I learnt about online document generation – single use, pay per use document creation. In my experience, lawyers are used to storing precedents for multiple use – where use of a precedent to create a document tailored to specific circumstances of a client or matter has varying degrees of manual elements.
I can now appreciate the benefits and efficiencies that online legal document generation brings to the working day of professionals. The table below sets out some benefits, using our ClearWill withTestamentary Trusts document package as an example:
Benefit
ClearWill with Testamentary Trusts
An online service avoids the time, cost and complexity of installing software.

Cleardocs is easy to implement – visit our website and sign up to Cleardocs for free. You can then immediately start creating your documents.

An online service is available 24/7.

Through Cleardocs, you can create your documents anywhere and anytime, at your convenience.

There is no need to retype the same details – the automation provides a solution to the cumbersome manual form filling.

A complex will can be 50 pages or more. Rather than typing say, the willmaker’s name on each page required, you type it once into our online question interface and the Cleardocs system populates it all required parts of the document.

If your firm does not have a precedent, using an online document provider allows the firm to efficiently operate in new areas.

You can easily create a complex will for a client even if estate planning is not generally an area you practise in.
Using online legal document providers avoids the need for you to spend time updating your existing precedents to reflect changes to the law, allowing you to spend more time with your clients.

ClearWill with Testamentary Trusts, as with all our documents, is consistently and comprehensively maintained by our lawyers at Maddocks to comply with all laws.
Credible online legal providers work with law firms so that you can be confident you are delivering quality documents to your clients.

Cleardocs partners with Maddocks lawyers, a top 20 Australian law firm. Maddocks signs off all master documents, question interfaces and legal information on our website.


You can read our earlier blog about problems with using precedents to create legal documents.
For more information about ClearWill with Testamentary Trusts, or any of our other document packages, please call us on 1300 307 343.

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