Best Legal Document Automation Software

1. Quick Generation of Documents

This is an important criterion for any good document automation program that is frequently overlooked: the ability to swiftly merge and populate a letter or form and export the information into a PDF or Word document. With document assembly software for lawyers, even the most complex documents would ideally require significantly less time to merge into an easy-to-access format.

2. Easy Storage of High-Volume Documents

The last thing that lawyers need is the nagging concept of a data restriction and the worry of perhaps running out of space since they already have so much on their minds. These days, a lot of document automation software and document management systems charge based on how much space is used. This has a very quick and high potential cost. Legal professionals should have complete peace of mind knowing that document management software for lawyers offers unlimited storage.

3. Enables to Find Files Seamlessly

A crucial component of document automation for large firms is the ability to quickly and easily search for documents for attorneys. In addition to searching titles and folders, a decent document management system should be able to search text within the papers themselves. In any Word or PDF document, it needs to be possible to swiftly and simply find specific words or phrases.

4. Allows Electronic Signature

It has become a common thing to connect and communicate with clients online. It is critical to gather signatures without sending tangible documents or having to be in the same room as the client. The capability to deliver newly created documents for signature collection swiftly and easily utilizing a cloud-based platform is a crucial component of any successful document management software.

5. Allows Remote Access

Lawyers frequently need remote access to their files at any time. It can be exceedingly challenging—or impossible—to access legal papers remotely if they are kept on a local server at the firm or in an office computer. Finding cloud-based software that enables remote access to your papers from your home office or from the witness stand is a crucial component of any system.

6. Store Documents Direct from the Source

Document automation software for lawyers must have a feature to store all documents efficiently in one place. The software must have the capability to automatically file documents in an appropriate location after they are prepared; this reduces the amount of labor that attorneys must perform.

7. Capture Billable Time for Documents

The attorneys can quickly bill time for a document by synchronizing the document automation and management software with a legal practice management system. It should be possible for good document automation software to support various practice areas and to promptly bill time to any matter or client for any document connected to that matter or customer.

8. Makes Sync, Share, and Tracking Seamless

Legal documents should be simple to send and secure to track for attorneys using legal document automation software. Sharing legal letters and forms with clients and other attorneys, as well as keeping track of any changes made along the route, should be a function that every tool has.

9. Secured Storage of Documents

A solid cloud-based legal document automation and management system should have strong security, making it difficult for hackers to infiltrate the system, and tight data policies, preventing any improper treatment of data.

1. Automating documents saves time: While moving document management procedures to the cloud will undoubtedly save business time for legal professionals, document automation dramatically and immediately impacts efficiency and time. Simply put, document management makes it simpler to locate and access papers.
2. Error is decreased with document automation: Legal firms can organize and easily retrieve papers with the help of document management or storage. However, it need not necessarily have an effect on the documents' accuracy. The fact that the documents are still hand-produced means that human mistake is still a possibility. Because it transforms a static, crucial document into a dynamic template that is simple to edit, evaluate, and process, document automation can actively lower risk for your firm.
3. The customer experience is improved by document automation: Online document management can be useful in enabling the legal firm’s staff to easily access crucial documents when servicing consumers. Document automation is the procedure that will significantly improve the customer experience, nevertheless, when it comes to revolutionizing the way legal firms service their clients.

1. Increases Efficiency

Lawyers produce papers more quickly than they could normally with the help of excellent legal document automation software. Instead of looking for a similar document, opening it in Word, saving a copy to the proper location, and then copying the information they need into that document, it is far quicker to click a button and create the document.

Automation programs for legal documents connected to a CRM or database tool generate duplicates of legal documents while quickly fusing them with the information available in the directory. Therefore, if you already have your client's docket number, address, and beneficiary details stored, you can immediately create a new form with all of that data filled out in the proper places.

2. Reduces Manual Errors

One of the most important problems in both legal services and software is the repercussions of error. Therefore, with the help of legal document automation software, law firms can eliminate errors.

When an attorney has several copies and versions of a legal document, they can put themselves in a situation where mistakes can propagate quickly. Even worse, one can find a mistake and fix it elsewhere but not in that particular area where it is necessary.

In addition, legal professionals can run the risk of introducing human mistakes and mucking up new documents while manually copying fields from a database to a document rather than automating document production. The likelihood of error in the data transfer stage is eliminated when this manual step is swapped out for a computer-driven merge procedure.

3. It Eases the Hectic Tasks

If a legal professional is not using a legal document automation system, they are undoubtedly browsing relevant or model documents to find anything to include in their newly generated draft. That is laborious and can be time-consuming. Furthermore, if they believe in the science of decision fatigue, they are depleting their willpower by continually hunting for sample documents and data to add to them.

Producing new official documents in accordance with your prescribed formats removes the time-consuming procedure of looking up these samples and the necessary information for them, saving attorneys from frequent document searches.

4. Improves Quality of Work

Spending less time on administrative activities will allow legal professionals to devote more time to practicing law and helping their clients. By using legal document automation software, lawyers can meet client pricing requirements without sacrificing income. So, without suffering a financial loss, attorneys can charge flat fees or discounted rates.

Additionally, by integrating document automation with online client intake, lawyers can assist, draw in new clients and increase revenue from current clients. It is unquestionably beneficial to everyone concerned.

Legal professionals must be prepared to choose their software when they have a list of the top legal document automation tools for law firms in their possession and a working knowledge of document assembly.

1. Practice Management Features vs. Standalone Assembly Software

Prior to implementation, the legal professionals must choose whether to use the legal document automation tools included in their practice management program or to employ separate software.

The document assembly features in the legal professional’s practice management software should be tested out. Buying a standalone piece of software can be the best option if document assembly isn't offered as a feature or if the built-in features aren't strong enough.

2. Does it fit seamlessly with the existing tech stack?

For the best outcomes, the legal document automation tool chosen must seamlessly interface with those tools.

For instance, if a law firm uses document management software (DMS), make sure their assembly software can communicate with it or, at the very least, save generated documents to their DMS with just one or two steps.

3. Does it have features that match your firm’s requirements?

Depending on the present tech stack of a law firm, the size of your legal firm, and your particular workflow, you'll require different functionalities. An e-sign function within the document automation platform isn't absolutely necessary if, for instance, they already use a great e-signature solution.

The law firms must make a list of the characteristics that are a requirement and those that are optional. They must include their team in this process, particularly the paralegals, if necessary.

4. Does the software fit your firm’s budget?

For a preferred software by the law firms, they'll most likely have to pay a subscription-based charge either monthly or yearly. Currently, the majority of programs demand a monthly fee per user for using the product. Ensure that the price of the program itself and the price of putting it into use in their practice is within the financial means.

5. Is the software easy to learn and use?

Any software selected should increase the productivity of the business. This means there shouldn't be a steep learning curve, and the platform should be simple to use. Consider the following points:

• Is it simple to use or is it difficult to navigate?
• Does the software integrate easily with other digital devices or does it call for time-consuming workarounds?
• Does the seller provide practical training, or will it be required to learn the software on your own?
• Are there support features built into the software for the platform?

6. Is the software secure to keep legal documents protected?

Protecting the clients' important information is a duty of an attorney. Additionally, document assembly software will have complete access to such information. Legal professionals should pick software with built-in security features like encryption and two-factor authentication.

Here are a few trends that are related to legal document automation tools:

1. Document Parsing

Numerous firms continue to struggle with the stress and frustration of manual data entry. Finding documents, looking through them, and then entering data into a system, all take a lot of time. Costly data input errors are made as a result of this recurring practice. Because of this, a growing number of businesses are using document parsing to automate this procedure.

Document parsers can extract data from documents in a variety of formats, including PDF, Word, Excel, JPEG, and TXT, with almost perfect precision. Both digital and scanned documents can have their data extracted.

2. Email Parsing

In comparison to document parsing, email parsing differs in that it concentrates on extracting information from emails. The ideal method to process emails is to use an automation tool that can reliably extract the data since businesses receive a lot of the information they maintain in their databases via email.

3. Handwriting Recognition

Handwriting Recognition (HWR) recognizes and extracts handwritten content from documents like checks and medical forms by combining advanced document capture and machine learning. Text written on a touchscreen or a paper document can both be recognized using this method.

Handwritten characters are separated from one another by HWR applications, which then analyze each one to determine which character it most closely resembles. For increased recognition output, they can even gradually memorize someone's writing.

4. Intelligent Document Analysis

The term "Intelligent Document Processing" refers to a subset of document automation that combines Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning to evaluate the content of documents, the majority of which contain unstructured data.

5. Contract Automation

The practice of automating contracts involves creating, storing, and administering them using software without the assistance of legal counsel. Non-disclosure agreements and employment offer letters are the most typical uses for automated contracts.

Before the parties involved sign a legal document, an employee usually uses a template, fills in the necessary information, and sends it to the legal department for approval. As a result of this lengthy process, many people have different copies of the same document.

• Document Management Software: Users using document management software can generate, save, and exchange a variety of documents, including correspondence between individuals, as well as conventional contracts and forms. Users may easily traverse business documents with the use of these programs' features, which include document search, image capture, and access control.
• Document Drafting Software: For professionals and attorneys, legal document drafting software streamlines the production and delivery of legal papers. Using a variety of pre-built templates, such as wills, memoranda, intellectual property, and business formation contracts, the software solutions ensure the development of well-structured legal documents that are valid and of high quality.
• Intellectual Property Software: The tracking of patents, trademarks, and other intellectual property is made easier by intellectual property management software. These technologies are used by law firms and enterprises to manage trademark databases, automate forms and correspondence for new and ongoing intellectual property ownership, and monitor potential legal rights infringement for potential prosecution.
• Docketing Software: Docketing software is used to plan, keep track of, and arrange deadlines for legal processes. It can be used to keep track of cases involved in litigation or to make sure you adhere to other crucial legal deadlines. Legal professionals used handwritten calendars or diaries to accomplish their docketing prior to the development of computer software. Legal professionals can efficiently, accurately, and systematically manage all of their due dates with the aid of computerized docketing.