01/01/12 – In this whitepaper, Seth Rowland goes over the case for Document Automation in general, how to assemble a document from a template and the best desktop and cloud apps for Document Assembly.
A Tale of Two Firms: Adventures In the Cloud
As Published in Probate & Property Magazine’s Jan-Feb 2014 issue — As Cloud Offerings become ever more diverse, law firms become more uncertain on how to decide when to move into the Cloud and how to do it. In this 2014 article from ABA Probate and Property, Seth Rowland tells the tale of two firms who took the plunge into the cloud. He details the processes he went through with these firms to determine which were the best Cloud options for them and how to create a Cloud transition process that would guarantee acceptance by their staff. Although the article is 6 years old, the advice is still fresh and relevant.
Moving Past Roadblocks to Automation: The Magical World of Document Assembly
As Published In Probate and Property Magazine‘s May-June 2019 issue — Welcome to Diagon Alley! In this article, Seth weaves the story of a young associate named “Harry P” into a review of all the major document assembly products on the market.
The Bots Are Coming! And They Are Here to Help
As Published In Probate & Property Magazine’s November-December 2019 issue — In this column, Seth discusses what artificially-intelligent software can currently do for law firms, as well as what it could possibly do in the future.
Legacy Document Automation
Document assembly systems have been around for a LONG TIME. Some say, going back to the ancient Sumerians working with Cuneiform tablets. A carver would prepare form tablets, leaving a few blanks to add names and amounts, and sell them to itinerant businessmen. In medieval times to the present, Hebrew calligraphers would prepare elaborately scripted marital contracts (called Ketubah’s) and leave blanks for the names of the bride and groom, data of marriage, and witnesses.
More recently, with computers came the invention of “templates” and “stop codes” to allow a user to pick up a form, and fill in the blanks. When I was a young college student (ages ago), I connected via time-sharing to a Honeywell mainframe at Dartmouth College, to answer questions which would draft a “letter to Mom”. It was quicker than handwriting, and it included an optional request for money (ostensibly for food).
So document assembly is not a new concept. Over the past two decades a number of very creative software engineers have written and marketed powerful document assembly engines. A number have been successful in getting converts to invest in their software and build document automation systems. A lot of great stuff has been done. However, as time has passed, the developers of these platforms have abandoned them, either forcing their users to “upgrade” to new software or just simply closing their doors for lack of funds.
These OLD or LEGACY systems worked (and continue to work). But there are often few people around with knowledge to support them, or give them the ongoing refresh required to maintain a document assembly system to allow it to adapt to the ever changing legal and business environment. It is for this reason, the Basha Systems has invested time in understanding these legacy software systems, and provided an alternative. We do not seek to maintain users on these system. Rather, we work with them to extract the legal and textual content, business logic and know-how and migrate them to modern, well-capitalized software platforms like HotDocs, ContractExpress/DealBuilder and others.
If you have invested time in any of the automation systems below, we encourage you to explore these pages, and get a feel of what we might be able to do for you. Some of the systems are just “history”. Others are still viable, but leave many reasons to changes.
Legacy Automation Systems
There are a number of systems out there that just don’t cut it. These are systems that people use every day and work. The vendors of these systems either don’t support them anymore, as is the case for CAPS Author, HotDocs 4.2 and ThinkDOCS, or they are out of business, as in the case of PowerTXT. The systems are described below. Please click on the links to the left (or below) for more details about the benefits of converting these systems to HotDocs or DealBuilder. Other systems, loke IBM Displaywriter, SmartWords, Visual Workform, and Xyrite have long ago entered the dust heap. We can help with all these programs.
XpressDox Document Assembly
Document assembly conjures up thoughts of expensive software that often becomes shelfware once lawyers realize that they cannot figure it out without professional help. Document assembly consultant Seth Rowland has helped many firms that decided to invest in professional help. But in this TechnoFeature article, Seth reviews XpressDox, a new document assembly program that sells for $150 and promises ease of use regardless of your skill level. Who better to test this claim than Seth? Read his review to see what this expert thinks of this new expert system.
