P2P

43 I L T A N E T . O R G out where you were and what is next. If you think you're going to fit template automation in between other things, you're probably never going to finish anything unless you often have nothing else to do. In fact, many law offices that have the greatest success automating documents internally assign someone part or full time to the process. A R E Y O U G O O D AT D O C U M E N T I N G D E C I S I O N P R O C E S S E S ? Most lawyers have never thought to write down every question that must be asked and answered to get exactly the document they want under changing circumstances. It's a mental exercise that has never been reduced to writing. However, that's exactly what is required for template automation. In my experience, some people are good at building out complex decision trees. It's intuitive, logical and fairly easy for them. However, a many people struggle with that kind of thing and they find it to be frustrating. If you like solving puzzles, then you may love automating templates because figuring all the ways language can be disassembled and reassembled to address factual variance is similar to solving puzzles. If you find that kind of thing to be unpleasant, then you will probably dislike template automation. D O Y O U H AV E P R O G R A M M I N G E X P E R I E N C E ? If you have very complex documents and choose a platform that can handle that complexity, then the tool is necessarily sophisticated and feature-rich. The best ones out there can machine out any language you want based upon any inputs; and a software tool that can do anything you can think of is necessarily complicated. Despite what many of the vendors claim, it's often not an "anyone can do this" proposition. Programming experience definitely helps. Conclusion Document automation has had a big impact on the legal world, and it is arguably one of the most disruptive technologies of the last 25 years. If you are in the business of producing complex documents, then DA should be on your radar. It is difficult to improve a process reliant upon recycling old documents into new ones. Even if you never take the step into document automation, creating consistent starting-point documents to use as templates is never wasted effort. You can substantially improve a manual drafting process by creating plain templates with changeable and optional text identified; and doing so is a necessary precursor to automation should you choose that route. If you decide to venture into DA, the right platform for you is primarily determined by the functional criteria your documents require, and whether you intend to do it yourself or outsource it. Getting to the finish line with a DA project is almost never a walk in the park; but the payoff can be huge. ILTA Barron K. Henley Esq. is a Partner at Af finity Consulting Group. He can be reached at bhenley@af finityconsulting.com

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