Digital White Papers

44 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Developing a Document Assembly Platform That Works first dras than humans do. During development, we compared first dras created by our junior aorneys with those created using the platform. The platform consistently generated documents with fewer typographical errors, cross-reference mismatches and formaing issues. Also, once a document has been assembled, aorneys have more time to review the documents with fresh eyes. Our survey reveals that a healthy 57 percent majority believe the platform has improved the quality of their draing. More Cost-Effective: Comparing legal costs of fund launches advised by SRZ before the platform was deployed and those using document assembly suggests that the platform has reduced the average cost of fund launches by as much as 20 percent and the average amount of write-offs by approximately 50 percent. And the survey shows that about 73 percent of users believe the platform has reduced the cost of draing. Smarter: As part of every draing project, junior aorneys review the detailed annotations embedded in our forms and primary and secondary research resources. This ensures that the documents are perfect and gives these aorneys the substantive legal knowledge they will need when clients ask questions about the dras. By reducing the time and energy it takes to produce first dras, we have given our aorneys more time to proofread and gain a deeper understanding of the documents they dra. Our survey reveals that most users agree. Happier: One Friday afternoon, I was chatting with a senior attorney who was lamenting that a client's aggressive deadline for completing first drafts of fund documents would require him to work late nights all weekend to complete the project. I quickly turned the conversation to our document assembly platform, which the attorney had heard about but never used. By the end of the conversation, the attorney was excited to try the technology on a project he had just been dreading. I later asked him about his weekend and he replied that the platform had changed his assignment from impossible to possible. I have heard many such stories from our attorneys. Our survey indicates that a remarkable 79 percent believe the platform has increased their job satisfaction. The document assembly platform allows attorneys to satisfy not only client needs but their own as well. Attorneys are excited by the prospect of using new tools and want to know their firm supports them by exploring and implementing new technologies. Document assembly can address these intangible desires. ILTA PATRICK DUNDAS Patrick Dundas is a Knowledge Management (KM) Associate with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP's investment management group. Patrick provides the group with practice support, including advising on new issues of law affecting the private investment fund industry, connecting people with information resources, conceiving and developing new systems and procedures designed to increase efficiency, maintaining information repositories, and overseeing compliance with internal procedures. Patrick also serves as liaison between attorneys and the firm's business departments, helping translate business needs into systems and procedures. Contact him at patrick.dundas@srz.com. Want a more comprehensive description of building a form development project? 39 By Patrick Dundas, associate at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP In many legal practices, a significant portion of attorney time is spent drafting documents. If an attorney spends this time efficiently – for example, by starting with an appropriate precedent or form, or by using a document assembly program, and finishing off the draft by utilizing expert drafting skills developed over years of practice – the end result is a high-value, high-quality document. Conversely, if the attorney does not have access to precedents, forms, or document assembly programs and lacks basic drafting skills, the end result may be a low-value, low- quality document that the client over pays for and exposes the law firm and the client to risk. A well-articulated document drafting strategy, prepared and executed by a firm's knowledge management depart- ment in collaboration with others, can set a firm on the right path by providing attorneys with the tools necessary to prepare outstanding documents, while increasing the firm's profit and improving attorney satisfaction. This chapter describes several elements that every law firm must consider when developing such a strategy. Drafting as a product: Alignment of business strategy with document strategy Law firms provide services to their clients in connection with disputes (such as civil and criminal cases), deals (such as mergers and acquisi- tions), entity formations (such as start-up businesses and investment products), regulatory advice, and dozens of other categories of legal services. One may think of legal services as falling into one of the following three major categories: (i) legal research, analysis, and advice (which may be dispensed orally or in writing); (ii) persuasion (such as negotiating a deal or preparing a brief for a litigation); and (iii) drafting agreements and similar written work. Each of these categories depends heavily on written work product. In many instances, the written work can be thought of as the product that the client is purchasing, which Chapter 5: Legal document drafting – Tools and practices that enhance a firm's competitive edge CLICK HERE »

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