Will Web-enabled Document Automation Disrupt the Legal Profession?

An On-Line and Off-line Discussion

The eLawyering Task Force of the Law Practice Management Section of the ABA is sponsoring a roundtable discussion on this topic at their Quarterly Meeting at the Loew's Hotel in Philadelphia, Saturday. October 22, 11 am to 1 pm. This on-line discussion is designed to complement and supplement that real-time, in-person discussion in Philadelphia. This on-line discussion will last for 30 days, from October 17. 2005 and end on November 17, 2005. Document assembly software automates the production of legal documents, usually through an interview process. You answer questions and a custom draft is automatically built. Although the concept is simple, many applications involve sophisticated decision trees and web interfaces.

Document assembly, as a desk-top Windows Application, has not lived up to its promise, despite the huge efficiency gains it creates. However, as this technology has migrated to the Internet most recently, there have emerged a number of law firms and non-law firm entities that are using web-enabled document automation technologies to increase their market share, provide new value to customers and clients, and new streams of revenue.

Web-enabled document automation is similar to desktop document automation, but because of the reach of the Internet, in the hands of either law firms or Web entrepreneurs, a new economic calculus has evolved which suggests that this technology can have a disruptive impact on the legal profession. Corporate law departments like Cisco's are de-lawyering large swaths of routine document work. Courts and legal aid programs are delivering free online forms to the public. And a variety of nontraditional legal service providers with capital and entrepreneurial zeal are clamoring to seize opportunities evidently being left on the table by lawyers. All of these efforts raise important questions and issues. This On-Line Discussion will address the following questions:

• How is web-enabled document automation different from desk-top document automation?
• What technologies are involved?
• What are the ethical and professional liability pitfalls?
• What kind of investment is required to launch a web-enabled document automation strategy?
• What is the revenue potential?
• How does this strategy dovetail with the lawyer's billable hour and the off-line internal economics of the law firm?
• How do the economics of the delivery of legal services change when they are offered on-line using the platform of the Internet as a delivery system?

» Go to the off-line ABA forum

» Go to the on-line Cyberweek forum

Downloads

• Structural Straitjackets - Darryl Mountain - Barriers to Innovation requires permission from him. I have cc him on this email. I am sure that he will get back to you today.

• Economics of On-Line Document Preparation - Gregor Weeks - background on identifying all of the issues in delivering on-line document automation