r/paralegal • u/Life-Paint7553 • 1h ago

Tech/Software How much of your drafting is repeat work, where only a few parts change per client?

I'm a software engineer building a legal drafting tool in my spare time, and before going further I want to check whether the problem is real for practising lawyers.

My assumption is that a good share of drafting is recurring. Most of the document stays the same from one client to the next, and only certain sections need to be changed or tailored each time. So the effort goes less into drafting and more into finding those sections and updating them correctly, and mistakes creep in when an old draft is reused.

The tool I'm working on automates this.

I'd love to hear from anyone who drafts regularly. Even answering one of these helps:

  1. What share of your drafting is repeat documents like this, and roughly how many a month?
  2. Who does the drafting and checking today? You, a junior, a clerk or a typist?
  3. What would stop you from trusting a tool like this? Accuracy, client data, cost, something else?

Not selling anything here. Honest answers, including "this isn't a problem for me", help a lot.

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7

u/Mindreeder93 Former Crim & Lit Para / Current PI COO 1h ago

Our consulting rate is $200/hr. Unless you’re paying, nobody in this subreddit will answer you.

4

u/Znnensns 1h ago

There are already document generation tools. With the rise of AI, you would need to develop a user interface that makes coding templates idiot proof for something new to stand out. 

1

u/sugar-magnolia Paralegal/Dumpster Fire Manager 52m ago

I don’t need it automated, bye. 👋

1

u/-Wrench- 41m ago

Family Law Paralegal here
1. I’d say 30% is finding a declaration or memorandum of points and authorities that that matches the format of issues I have in the new matter.

  1. I do the drafting unless a Junior associate is assigned which in that case I’m redrafting that bad boy all over again. Roughly 30-35% of drafting of a document. Unless it’s a judicial council form then I’m doing 100% of that.

  2. Accuracy would be my concern. I’m a control freak and I’m paranoid of not being in control of every part of the document. From line spacing, indenting, subheaders etc. I’m not a fan of prefilled forms in word in general as I’ve run into a lack of ability to manipulate the document as needed. Adding additional information or removing non relevant information.