In his work “The lawyer of the future”, the most relevant expert in the field of law, Richard Susskind, asks himself “to what extent can the work of a lawyer be done differently, faster, cheaper and more efficiently? , but with higher quality? One of the possible and most likely answers to this complex question comes from document automation. A technology that allows the processing of large amounts of legal information, well-known document management, in a faster, cheaper and more efficient way.

As with other areas of innovation, its main development centers are in the Anglo-Saxon environment, particularly the United States and Britain; countries traditionally endowed with highly industrialized legal professions because of their distinctive characteristics. However, our country also has some of the leading companies in this technology.

One of them is La Ley, who is Director of Innovation and Content for Spain and Portugal, Cristina Retana, explains that in both national and international contexts there is a clear trend in law firms and consultants to prioritize the digitization and automation of the management and lifecycle of their legal documents and, in particular, contracts, which are likely to be the most relevant document types for companies. “This is a change of not only the process, but also the mentality,” he highlights.

That change must begin with the design phase of these tools. A moment for that, explain Joseph Medina, Wolters Kluwer THE LAW’s Chief Technological Officer for Spain, France and Portugal, a closer approach between technology and business will be required all the time. In this way, just as legal profiles must understand a bit of technology, technology profiles must understand users and their needs.

This knowledge exchange, Retana points out, should also allow progress to be made on two key issues in this process: the limitations of the project itself and expectations regarding the technology. In this case, he suggests setting limited but “achievable” goals, in terms of impact and outcomes. And don’t forget that technology is constantly evolving, the changes of which you must constantly prepare for.

Thanks to this methodology, Retana also points out, an evolution towards optimization of smart forms, models and templates, not only contractual or procedural, but also administrative or even commercial in nature, can be seen. Also noteworthy are advances in automatic document reading, which provide a huge advantage in tasks such as: feasibility test, where it is necessary to analyze a large number of often unstructured files, such as documents in Word, pdf, or email formats. In this area, the involvement of law firms specializing in mass litigation using automated chat systems or chatbot to configure requests based on user responses.

This automation process begins with the digitization of documentation. In this case, Retana suggests starting by digitizing workflows in all their phases, “after digitization, automation will come”.

And although he warns that automation “will not do 100% of the work and will always require human review”, it is a milestone that marks a change in the way things work. Automation, Medina points out, can be extensive in basic processes, while in more complex activities that require manual intervention or legal knowledge, what will be achieved is to provide automated support for final decision making.

In this homework, Beatriz Perez-Olleros, Director of Marketing & Marketing Solutions Spain & Portugal from LA LEY, advises companies to have an open-minded attitude that does not limit document automation to the use of templates for contract management. It is a process in which allies must be sought and in which customers are called upon to play a fundamental role.

The fact is that the implementation phase of these tools is a critical point that requires commitment of their users and the provision of adequate training by companies, because “tools that are not known or understood, will not be used”, Pérez-Olleros concludes.

Of course, once implemented, these tools require constant monitoring and mediation to ensure that they are fit for purpose.