L

GAL PROCESS AUTOMATI

 Introduction
The significance of the information era on legal processes
fast-developing nature of information technology,
which stresses the need for sound legal information
and knowledge management practices
legal documents with a high potential for later
retrieval; many interested parties can benefit from
consulting for instance older decisions on cases
similar to the ones they are involved in
Legal interpretation is extremely difficult to
automate. Years of hard work aimed at creating
efficient systems supporting legal interpretation have
barely brought this domain out of research
laboratories into the common legal practice , and
including a great deal of common sense coming into
play, a lack of precision and the ambiguity of legal
provisions, the necessity to take the context of a
given situation and the aim of the legislator into
 What does automation mean to us?
making a process more efficient with the use of
technology.
programming a computer to replace humans and
complete low-level tasks that occur in a consistent
pattern to increase the efficiency of legal processes
and eliminate errors
If the task can be done consistently and predictably
each and every time, can save me time or money
Using stand-alone software, addons or functionality
built into programs to have the computer do work much
more quickly and accurately than one could ever do it
(e.g., create a standard document from a template,
insert specific text in a document or email).
Smart implementation of rules, routines and
procedures. And frees you up to do higher-level work
and thinking.
 Legal processes that could benefit most
from automation
Document automation :
insurance defense litigation or estates and trust work
standard pleadings, letters, contracts
Communications with clients
Billing
Use of standard off the shelf products like Text
Expander to create short snippets of text that
automatically turn into words, phrases, and even multi-
paragraph email communications. Commonly used
examples include contact information such as email,
address, and phone and fax numbers
Voice automation - eg Siri and the like. Products like
Dragon NaturallySpeaking not only transcribe your
dictation, but can actually control you whole your
computer by voice and custom commands. It is also
 Legal processes that could benefit most
from automation
An integrated automation system like document
assembly Document assembly has been one of the
most popular and successful examples of automation
it saves lawyers time and aggravation by being able to
produce a professionally-formatted document with a
minimum of effort on the lawyers part. Theres also the
problem of potentially leaving other client information
from the previous document in your new document.
Document assembly helps to avoid all of these
problems
Small automation focuses on reduction or elimination of
high volume repetitive tasks
Email rules,
automatic renumbering of sections in documents
 Legal processes that could benefit most
from automation
Work force engagement
Contract document automation software (like contract
express)
Finding your agreements
Keeping your agreements in a central
repository
Making your agreements searchable and easy
to find
Automatically extract key provisions
Client Intake Process
Expense Management
Incident Management
 Client Intake Process Explained

To automate client intake, the following steps are involved:

1. Sketching out the intake process.

2. Creating an electronic client intake form.

3. Creating intake documents to send to the client for completion

(such as fee agreements and new matter questionnaires).

4. Linking the electronic intake form to trigger the intake

procedures (such as customizing and sending the intake
documents to the client for completion and entering client
information into case management or accounting software).
Sketch Out Intake Process
 Create Initial Electronic Intake
Form
The entire process is triggered by the client filling out
an electronic form to capture necessary information
such as contact and billing information.
There are a few ways to create the initial intake form.
We can easily create a customized web-based form for
your clients to access. Since we maintain our own
website we can use readily available tools like Word
Press, Ninja FormsorGravity Formsto create the
intake questionnaire. Creating a form via Google Forms
may also be an option.
 Sample Electronic Intake Form
Fields marked with a * are required.
First Name*

Last Name

Email*(Use your real e-mail address or you will not receive the
sample documents)

Address

City

State

Zip / Post Code

Please add me to the Nomura E-Discovery Update List.
Submit
 Create Client Intake Documents

create customizable, dynamic client intake

documents.
For example we may create a fee agreement and
a new matter questionnaire. Both will be sent to
the client automatically after submission of the
electronic intake form and will be customized
based on the information entered by the client.
For instance, the clients name and address will
be added to the fee agreement.
To create dynamic document for this example,
we may useWebmerge, a web-based service
that permits users to build electronic documents
to send to others.
 Link the Intake Form to Trigger the Intake
Procedures
Once your intake form and intake documents are ready,
they need to be connected so that data may be
transferred from the form to the intake documents and
into your client management and accounting systems.
We can create a customised software or utilise a
commercial software like Zapierwhichpermits users
to automate tasks by creating zaps connecting two
different apps. By connecting apps, Zapier permits
users to transfer data from one app to another and
trigger the second app to perform a function based on
data collected from the first app.
For this example, once the client completes the initial intake form
Zapier would:
Trigger Webmerge to send, via email, copies of the fee agreement
and the new matter questionnaire to the client for completion.
Add the clients contact information to your firms matter
management system
 Link the Intake Form to Trigger the Intake
Procedures
1. Selecting the two apps to connect (In this particular
instance it is the form software used to create the initial
electronic intake form and WebMerge).
2. Inserting a link provided by Zapier into the settings of
the electronic intake form.
3. Selecting the correct WebMerge document in Zapier so
it knows where to transfer the information collected by
the intake form software.
4. Matching up fields in the electronic intake form to the
corresponding merge fields in the intake documents
created in WebMerge.
 An Integrated approach for Automation of
legal Processes
The proposed system may consist of
following
Corporate Insolvency Management
System (CIMS),
Case Accounting System (CAS)
Support Services Management System
(SSMS), a
File Management System (FMS), and
a Workflow (Document/Content)
Management System (WDMS).
A Corporate Insolvency Management System (CIMS)
facility to manage the administration of corporate
insolvency cases.
Case creation, search and summary: provides functions
for user to search and retrieve a specific case and then
to view pertinent summary information regarding the
case.
Pre-winding up activities: This module helps
users in the generation of letters to consent to
act as liquidator or to suggest that a private
liquidator be appointed as liquidator.
Pursuance of Statement of Affairs (SA)/Statement
of Assets and Liabilities
Asset management: This module supports users
in the administration of the assets of the wound-
up entity.
A Corporate Insolvency Management System (CIMS)

Administration, adjudication and payment of

claims
generation of the various statutory forms and
affidavit to be used in the process of returning
capital.
supports users in the process of preparing for the
release of the wound-up entity and the discharge
as liquidator upon completion of administration of
the wound up entity.
 Case Accounting System
Creation of chart of accounts manually or through
respective business units
captures the details of payments such as distribution of
dividend, distribution of motor accident compensation,
etc. to be made to the public, thus expediting the
payment process through electronic capturing and
processing.
Audit trails for the critical functions may also be
provided.
The old transaction records may be archived or deleted
after a period of time set by the users.
 Support Services Management
System
May be established to provide an effective and
efficient system to support the users in the
management of court, asset management and
prosecution matters.
May provide functions for printing of letters,
notices and reports.
Facility for users to keep the documents in
document management system.
Authentication of user
 Asset Management

Ability to maintain the agent and contract details

for asset seizure and realization work.
Details pertaining to the realization of the assets
are required to be captured into the system as
well for information and tracking purposes.
 File Management System (FMS)
Maintain file
Maintain storage media (e.g. compact disc):
Maintain storage media allows registry users to
track the movement of storage media e.g.
compact disc.
Maintins multiple files: provides an alternative for
registry users to update movement and archival
of records in bulk.
Registry users can also perform bulk update of
disposal and archival information via this module.
Enquiry: commonly used enquiries needed by the
registry users to find out the information they
required.
Report: generate out simple reports needed for
daily processing.
 Workflow (Document/Content) Management
System
Check-in and check-out documents
Version controlling the documents
Audit trails of document changes
Indexing and keyword management to the documents
Archiving
Content/document search utilities based on document
attributes, i.e. index fields and keywords
Multiple index search at the same time
Document life cycle
Review and annotation capabilities
Storage of all types of documents
Web-based access to authorized users
Work/task shall be assigned using rule-based routing
and ad-hoc routing with options for round- robin or load
balancing capabilities.
 Conclusions
Many lawyers abhor the idea that what they do can be
boiled down into a process that can be commoditized
and systematised. It is not the same as selling a tin of
baked beans, to use the common refrain, and the way
the market is developing will be to thedetriment of
clients.
While there are some aspects of legal work that will
always need the personal touch unless you want to be
represented in court by your mobile phone there is no
reason to think the law will be insulated from the
inexorable advance of the internet and the disruptive
impact it is having on every aspect of life.
Many people still want the reassurance of face-to-face
advice: I have recently been trying to do an agreement
online but found it raised so many questions that I
needed help with that I'm now looking for a solicitor to
draft the thing for me.
 Conclusions
One of the central changes coming to the legal market:
stripping down what lawyers do to focus on the part
where the application of all that training and knowledge
is vital for the client.
Most automation gives significant return on investment
if deployed correctly. The firm will have increased
productivity and efficiency, which in turn can translate
to better quality of life.
Automation allows to reduce the time spent on (or the
cost of paying someone else to do) mundane client and
administrative matters and allows them to focus on the
complex issues theyre actually being paid to solve. By
reducing the number of low-level tasks through
automation, lawyers have more time to find clients,
work, or simply relax.
Automation should be an essential part of every
lawyers survival toolkit. Automating the repetitive work
 Conclusions
Lawyers should be cheering automation on and setting aside some
time to learn to do automation better than they are now. Theres
work that belongs to lawyers and tasks that can be automated.
Lawyers who understand that difference and how to do something
about it are going to be happier and more productive than those
who dont. Make your computers work for you and dont do their
work for them!
Lawyers should never be afraid of any technology advances, in my
opinion. They should educate themselves on the risks and benefits
of using technology, including automation tools, and make an
informed decision about whether these tools make sense for their
practice. But lawyers who have a lot of manual processes should
definitely be encouraged by the help that automation can bring to
their workday.
And while some may argue that computers and automation may
be eliminating jobs for lawyers, consider this: were still years
away from a computer that can process and organize facts,
researching the law, and apply the law to those facts.