If you’re like most lawyers, you’re likely experiencing some level of burnout with the job. The passion for practicing law often crashes against the cold, hard reality of the mundane and tedious parts of the profession. So, it’s no wonder that almost 80 percent of legal professionals are feeling burned out.
Fortunately, with the rise of AI and legal workflow automation software, law firms are getting a much-needed lifeline. By outsourcing repetitive tasks to artificial intelligence, lawyers can get back to doing what they love most: strategizing winning tactics and building a relationship with their clients.
But legal workflow automation doesn’t just involve pressing a button and watching the AI “do its thing.” While workflow automation tools are powerful and adaptive, they still require diligence and oversight to work correctly. Overall, it’s best to view legal workflow software as an assistant, not a replacement.
As more law firms adopt these programs to handle various administrative tasks like doc review and legal research, now is the perfect time to start learning legal workflow automation so you can save time and energy so you can focus more on your clients, not the busy work.
What is Legal Workflow Automation?
As a lawyer, you already use legal workflows in your practice. A legal workflow is the sequence of tasks lawyers perform to move a matter or case forward. A prime example of one of these workflows can be legal research and drafting. Broadly speaking, the workflow can include these steps:
- Discovery and Document Request
- Research and Analysis of Relevant Case Law
- Drafting Letters and Correspondence
- Drafting Contracts and Agreements
- Submitting Documents to Appropriate Entities (e.g., the client, the court, etc.)
Ideally, your workflows will already be streamlined and detailed, meaning you and your team follow a specific list of steps so you always know where you’re at with a particular case or task. Even if you’re struggling to build or implement workflows, automation can still make your life easier.
Legal workflow automation is when you can automate specific, repetitive tasks within a particular sequence. Using our example from above, legal workflow software can handle things like drafting messages, finding relevant case law, or organizing documents digitally.
It’s crucial to note that legal workflow automation doesn’t remove you or your team from the process entirely. Law firms still have to review the automation tools to ensure accuracy and relevance. However, these tools can increase productivity, reduce errors, and speed up the entire legal workflow from start to finish.
Benefits of Legal Workflow Automation
When implementing legal workflow automation software, you should start to notice some immediate improvements, such as:
- Fewer Mistakes and Human Error – A computer can parse through documents and data more accurately than a person can, especially when handling dozens or hundreds of pages.
- Faster Workflow Times – Smaller law firms can benefit immensely from legal workflow tools since they often can’t afford paralegals and interns. By focusing on routine tasks, these programs improve overall efficiency.
- Improved Client Satisfaction – Since you and your team aren’t worried about administrative tasks, you can spend more time communicating with your client and building a stronger relationship. Improved client satisfaction can help build your legal practice and give you a competitive edge.
- Scalability – Once you start relying on legal workflow automation tools, you can scale everything from client intake to document review to billing. In most cases, legal workflow management software builds a stronger foundation for your firm, meaning you can take on more clients and make more money.
Types of Automation Tools for Law Firms
Understanding the value of legal workflow automation is one thing, but what can these programs specifically do for you? Here are a few core examples of how legal professionals are turning to AI:
- Client Intake – Legal workflow software can help qualify leads and score clients based on unique variables and questionnaires. This allows you to focus your energy on top-tier clients where you can deliver the best results.
- Document Creation and Automation – With the right AI program (e.g., one designed specifically for legal purposes), you can draft legal documents quickly and efficiently. While you still need to review them before sending, you can save hours of typing and editing.
- Client Communications – A big part of building a successful legal practice is having incredible client satisfaction. Legal workflow automation tools allow you to notify clients about updates and handle inquiries, even if you’re busy in court or working on another case.
- Time Tracking and Billing – Although you probably have existing systems for tracking billable hours, it’s easy to miss time when buried in paperwork or administrative tasks. Workflow automation software can track time automatically, even if you’re working on multiple cases simultaneously.
Best of all, legal workflow software is fully customizable, meaning you can build your own triggers based on your needs. Or you can use trigger templates for certain tasks (e.g., sending a retainer once a client signs on) and then customize others once those programs are up and running.
Implementing Automation the Right Way
Many law firms fail with legal workflow automation because they assume a program can step in and start automating by itself. However, you can’t just pay for an AI tool and expect it to run your firm for you. Instead, here’s how to implement these automation tools the right way.
First, draft your legal workflows, step by step. What you’ll likely discover is that there are workflows inside of workflows, so you’ll need to break them down further as necessary. For example, doc review may require multiple steps, so it will require a unique workflow as part of the overall research and discovery.
Next, identify the steps that are causing the most significant bottlenecks. These tasks may require third-party action (e.g., submitting a document to the court or a client), or they may just take extra time to complete. So, when marking these pain points, be sure to note how and why they are causing delays and inefficiencies.
Once you have these pain points mapped out, look for specific workflow automation tools that address your specific needs. Ideally, one program can handle multiple bottlenecks, but don’t buy a “one-size-fits-all” solution if you only need one piece of it.
Finally, roll out your new software slowly and focus on training and adaptation. You’ll invariably run into setbacks or roadblocks along the way, so you’ll need to be able to switch back to manual workflows as you adjust the system. Once one automation tool is running smoothly, add another.
Legal Workflow Processes You Can Automate Today
Now that you know the steps to implementing workflow automation the right way, what are some ways you can get started immediately? Here are some common examples that can work for many smaller law firms:
- Intake and Conflict Checks – Speed up your client intake by automating questionnaires and filtering potential clients based on specific factors, including conflicts of interest.
- Calendar and Task Assignments – On the administrative side, you can use AI and automation tools to handle your calendar, including notifications, scheduling, and task management. For example, when one person completes a task, it can trigger the next step while notifying everyone on the team.
- Document Generation – While you shouldn’t outsource all of your documents to AI, tools that specialize in legal workflows can help streamline the entire documentation process.
- Case Status Notifications – Make sure everyone, including clients, are on the same page with a case as new developments arise. Automation helps prevent details from falling through the cracks.
- Discovery Collection Workflows – AI can handle many of the repetitive tasks associated with discovery collection, including reminders and notifications.
Overall, as you identify bottlenecks and pain points, figure out which automation programs can have the most significant impact and deploy those first.
Deep Dive: Document Automation
Generating and managing legal documents can take up a huge chunk of time and resources, and small law firms can’t afford to hire more help to handle it all. Fortunately, AI software can fill in the gaps and make your firm more competitive. Here are a few ways document automation can alleviate these pain points:
- Faster Generation – At first, you’ll need to double-check AI-generated documents for accuracy, but once your tool is trained on the right verbiage to use, you can start auto-generating documents like agreements, letters, and pleadings. In fact, you can set up triggers so these documents are ready for review as soon as you are.
- Reduced Human Error – Mistakes and inconsistencies can happen frequently, especially if team members are burnt out or working on multiple cases. AI is much more precise and can handle more than one case without errors.
- Fewer Bottlenecks and Speedier Turnaround Times – When document generation takes up so much time, it prevents legal professionals from working on more important tasks. By outsourcing this process to AI, you can move cases through faster and streamline your entire operation.
In many cases, document automation offers the fastest and most significant ROI for smaller law firms because they don’t have the resources to eliminate these bottlenecks the old-fashioned way.
Automating Client Communication
Client communication is an essential part of running any practice, and it’s easy for lawyers to fall behind when updating their clients on case details and relevant information. When that happens, clients become unhappy, and the practice can suffer from poor reviews and distrust.
Thankfully, legal workflow automation software makes it easy to keep clients in the loop at all times. AI can help schedule and manage appointments, provide detailed updates about a client’s case, and answer basic questions, even if you’re busy.
Not only can automating client communication help build trust and satisfaction, but it can also lead to fewer missed appointments and no-shows, as well as ensure everyone stays ahead of relevant deadlines.
Best of all, advanced AI tools can imitate your tone, meaning you can maintain empathy and compassion with all of your clients throughout their cases.
Automation, Billable Hours, and Productivity
For many smaller law firms, tracking billable hours is almost a full-time job by itself, especially when working on multiple cases and having to switch back and forth regularly. In many situations, lawyers have to estimate hours, meaning some are invariably missed or written off by mistake.
Fortunately, automation can alleviate this problem when deployed in different legal workflows. The system can track hours automatically, even when you’re working on multiple cases. Now, you can reduce the number of missed billable hours and ensure the best profitability for your work.
Also, as automation software tracks your hours more diligently, you can gather operational insights and see where most of your time is going. From there, you can determine new areas where automation can kick in and focus your resources where they matter most.
Data Security and Automation
If you already have existing systems for managing data security and compliance, you may be wary about how automation will fit in and whether it will disrupt your current operational guidelines. Because you’re often working with sensitive legal documents, you can’t afford to risk your practice with subpar programs that open you up to potential cybersecurity threats.
That’s another reason why it’s so crucial to pick the right tools, particularly ones designed for legal workflows. Standard AI systems may be vulnerable, but if you install a closed system within your practice, the results can actually lead to better data security.
For example, storing and recalling relevant case information and other documents through an AI system means fewer people handling sensitive paperwork. You can also control access points through security passwords and other digital protections.
Additionally, AI can help with compliance. Never worry about missing critical papers or details that may put your practice in jeopardy. As with everything else, human oversight is still necessary, but you can create a leaner, more secure workflow.
How Automation Supports Practice Area Specialization
Being a lawyer isn’t about being a “one-size-fits-all” solution for any type of client or case. Instead, you focus on a specialty, such as immigration or family law. Legal workflow automation allows you to become even more valuable within your practice area, enabling you to expand your client base and be more competitive, even against larger firms.
For example, if you’re an immigration lawyer, you already know the regulations and bureaucratic hurdles clients have to overcome. Automation can help streamline this entire process, such as helping with assembling packets by keeping boilerplate information and changing client details automatically.
Over time, your automation software gets better and faster at handling these tasks, allowing you to build stronger client relationships and turn cases around quicker, improving your firm’s reputation and competitive edge.
Improving Overall Law Firm Operations Through Automation
By now, you should already be thinking about how legal workflow automation software can help your practice. While it’s essential to understand how these tools can assist with specific workflow tasks, it’s also beneficial to recognize their impact on your overall operations. Some of the best tangible benefits include:
- Centralized Data System – Rather than having boxes of files and folders strewn about the office, documents are digitized and centralized in a single system where you and other team members (or collaborating legal professionals) have access.
- Reduced Chaos – Trying to keep paper documents and file folders organized is a challenge, especially when multiple people are working on the same case. Automation helps streamline operations so everything is where it needs to be at all times.
- Improved Collaboration – Whether working with other law firms or outside help, it’s easier to collaborate when you can share specific documents or files digitally. Also, you don’t have to worry about making copies and keeping track of them.
- Removing Low-Value Work From Attorneys – You didn’t become a lawyer to review documents and spend hours on relevant case research. Automation allows you to focus on what matters to you (and your clients) most without sacrificing the quality of the results.
Choosing the Right Automation Tools
We’ve already covered how to implement legal workflow automation the right way, but here are some crucial points to keep in mind as you review and compare different tools:
- Focus on Workflow, Not Shiny New Programs – It’s easy to fall for a slick sales pitch, especially when it seems like a single tool can handle so many tasks. However, you must build your workflow organically and implement automation where it will have the most impact. Basically, build from the ground up.
- Don’t Automate Too Much, Too Fast – It’ll take time to adapt to automation tools, so don’t deploy a bunch of them at once and figure it out as you go. Instead, switch one task for AI, and once you’re used to that, switch to another. As you go, you’ll be able to adapt faster. Also, adopting programs one by one means you can always take one step back if necessary, rather than having to start over from scratch if something doesn’t work.
- Be Objective With Your Approach – Some tools work perfectly for legal workflow automation, while others don’t deliver. Compare and review as many options as possible before making a final decision.
The Future of Legal Workflow Automation
Automating your practice can seem like an overwhelming task, but it doesn’t have to be. Lawyers will still be an essential part of the entire experience, but automation can enable you to focus on strategy and relationships, not document creation and correspondence.
Best of all, automation tools will continue advancing, meaning they can handle more than just administrative tasks in the future. Now is the perfect time to see how automation can make your practice leaner and more competitive, so when the technology does advance, you’re already prepared to adapt with it.
If you’re ready to simplify your operations and avoid burnout, let Levantage help. We can help improve the workflow of your practice so it runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible, without adding complexity or confusion. Levantage AI Advisors is here to make your life easier.
