How automation is a little-known process that produces big results

Does the phrase “document automation” ring any bells? If not, don’t worry. You are not alone.

Despite the significant benefits of document automation, many lawyers still don’t know much about this innovative process — let alone use it daily. But, given the ever-increasing pressure on firms to produce more in less time, it is a process you need to know about if you want to stay competitive.

What is document automation in law?

As its name suggests, document automation can help streamline document creation, making it easier to produce thorough, error-free documents in a fraction of the time. In the context of the legal profession, you can use document automation software to create virtually any legal agreement or contract.

This process uses your existing legal documents to create automated templates for future use. This means you no longer have to start from scratch or waste time looking for an example form — which you would need to rewrite anyway. Instead, you simply enter the relevant information into a questionnaire and your document automation software generates your new legal document.

Document automation allows you to produce important legal documents in mere moments instead of days while lowering costs, eliminating inefficiencies, and reducing the risk of errors.

Imagine what you could do with all that extra time.

When automation really pays off dividends

While you can use document automation to help draft nearly any legal document, the benefits are particularly significant when dealing with documents you must complete repeatedly for multiple clients — yet are extremely time consuming to draft manually.

Some common examples include:

• Real estate documents such as leases
• Business-related documents, including share purchase agreements, company formation documents, security agreements, and credit agreements
• Employment-related documents, including employment contracts and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs)
• Estate planning documents, including wills, trusts, and powers of attorney

Times have changed — shouldn't you, too?

Manually drafting legal documents is an arduous task, especially if you’ve never completed a specific type of document before and don’t know where to start, which can result in omissions and errors. Even if you have experience drafting a particular kind of contract or agreement, it is tedious to rewrite the same agreement for the umpteenth time.

While there was no alternative to manual document creation in previous years, there is now. Document automation allows you to spend less time working on documents, so you can focus more on your clients — meaning your profit margins are higher and your clients and lawyers are happier. If you haven’t already, consider implementing document automation software at your firm.