The practice of law is all about writing and documents---no matter what you see on TV and in the movies. The sheer number of documents that you need for a particular case, and the mind-numbing repetition of words, phrases, and basic client and case information that you need to add to all of those documents takes up hours and hours of your valuable time that you cannot bill for, spend on client development, or use for your mental and physical health.
Document assembly software lets you and your staff quickly and easily create and edit documents using flexible and automated forms which are made—by us—to fit your specific practice area and jurisdiction. This permits you to provide services to your clients faster, at a lower cost, and with fewer costly and embarrassing errors.
If you are interested in learning about or using document assembly software in your practice, take a look at these 5 benefits of doing so. You will see how this software can increase your firm’s revenue and profits, and how it will let you serve more clients and do it better than before.
1. Save Time
Automated document assembly produces documents up to 80% faster than if you do it the old way—copy and paste, find and replace, etc. It’s so much faster and easier to select a document—or 5, or 10, click a button and produce all of them at the same time, than it is to find one from the last case you needed it for, open it in Word®, save a copy to the file, and then type in or copy the information you need into that document.
Document assembly programs let you quickly print out copies of your documents by instantly merging them with the client and case information you enter once—and only once. So, if you already have the index or docket number, Court information, client and case information, adversary information, and other such items, you can instantly create new documents with all of that data inserted in the right place, and the right time, and with no errors.
2. Earn More
Spending far less time on document creation and data entry leaves more time for you to spend actually practicing law and serving your clients. In other words, more billable time at higher rates. Or more time marketing and generating new clients or new matters from your existing clients. It also lets you earn a profit from some lower cost work where you would not otherwise be able to do so. You can now make money from fixed fee work or lower fee work that you could not do in the past.
3. Reduce Costly and Embarrassing Errors
The cost of an error in one of your documents can be substantial: a malpractice claim, and ethics complaint, a loss of a fee, or damage to your hard-earned reputation.
When you have multiple copies and multiple versions of those copies, you increase the chances of making an error and repeating it over and over again throughout th
e documents. Worse, you might find and fix one mistake but not all of the instances of it in the other documents.
4. Life is Easier. This is Good
Digging around and looking for similar or sample files to locate something you can use for your new document, or for information you know you have someplace but just can’t find it right now sucks the life out of you and your staff. That’s bad for you and for your firm. It can also wreck your ability to focus and be productive because you are constantly stopping to search for sample documents and the information you need to put into them.
Automatic document assembly forms—like ours—that are based on your practice area and jurisdiction eliminate this problem and gives you and your staff a much calmer, simpler, faster, and easier way to do your work each and every day.
5. Staff Hiring and Development is Simpler.
When you standardize an office process, it makes it much easier to teach it to new employees. And it saves that information so that everyone in the office knows how to do it and how things work. The worst position you can be in is that your key processes are controlled by the memory and experience of only one or two staff members.
Everything can and should be repeatable and knowable to your entire staff. The drafting and assembly of legal documents is a big part of that process. Using automated document assembly software means that drafting a subpoena, pleading, or notice of hearing can be taught and learned in an afternoon.
If you are interested in exploring how our form sets can benefit you and your practice, please visit us here.