Please enjoy this blog authored by Shannon O'Connor, Legal Systems Manager, Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP.
Document Automation, also known as document assembly, has long been a staple of the legal field. It’s a standard for several reasons, including faster drafting and minimizing errors. Document automation takes a standard set of documents, identifies variable fields such as names or dates, and then uses a form interface to gather the necessary data. The data is populated across the documents, generating a new set of documents that reflect those changes. This approach saves lawyers time, freeing them to focus on higher-value work.
Common Roadblocks
After working with multiple document automation programs and various practice groups over the past 20 years, I can tell you that conceptually, it's a great idea. These products would not continue to be so popular if they weren't. While some products may be superior to others, the software isn't really the problem. The problem is an overly ambitious project scope.
Picture this: a partner comes to you with a collection of documents that are used repeatedly, eager to automate them and save time for their team. You may already have some software available, or you may need to find something, and there are plenty of options to choose from.
The next part becomes more complicated. You'll also need to decide who will code the document. Will you outsource this work, or do you have a resource in-house with the capacity to develop and maintain the templates?
Once you have identified who will do the technical work, they will need to engage the partner to understand the assignment. The partner may delegate an associate or junior lawyer to review and mark up the document variables, and the developer can proceed. At this stage, the project seems to be on track.
Once the technical groundwork is laid, the next challenge is ensuring consistent engagement from stakeholders.
- Roadblock #1: The developer may need clarification or a review of an early draft, but the partner might be preoccupied with other priorities. As a result, the project stalls for weeks or even months, falling behind other deadlines and more pressing work.
- Roadblock #2: Suppose you overcame the initial delays and completed the automation and Q&A. After training and rollout, usage reports may reveal that the template isn’t being adopted. Why not? One reason could be users’ reluctance to change established habits or skepticism about the new workflow. Another reason could be that the documents selected for automation were not as frequently used as previously thought.
Strategies for Success
To avoid these pitfalls, it’s important not to get swept up in the idea that document automation is the perfect solution for every workflow. For example, it may not be an excellent fit for a lengthy, repetitive contract that you produce a few times a year. Reducing eight to ten hours of work to just one hour is appealing, but that’s a long-term goal best reserved for later projects rather than your first attempt at automation.
Instead, start by doing your homework and aiming for an easy win. Ask lawyers to identify documents that are short and simple but produced in high volumes each month. Next, have them calculate the average time spent preparing each document. Completing a return-on-investment (ROI) analysis will help quantify the project’s potential success.
Less complex documents mean less time required from lawyers and developers, and a faster path to launching the automation. Practical training and effective communication are key to user adoption; regular reminders about available templates and ongoing usage reports can highlight areas that require additional support or training. Once people are comfortable with the platform, you can gradually introduce more templates. It may take some time, but as word gets around, teams may identify more use cases for Q&A templates. Document automation is particularly valuable in fixed-fee matters, but in any scenario, enabling lawyers to focus on higher-value work benefits both the business and its professionals.
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