Case study Attorney’s administration tasks automation
Eliminating boring administrative tasks from an attorney’s daily work
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Challenges
Getting rid of repetitive tasks with every new client
- > Re-typing client data into multiple documents on client intake (Minutes of meeting, Power of attorney and Case cover for register.
- > Re-typing client data into multiple places in the contracts (header and signatures sections). Multiplied by number of parts in contracts (multiple parts and counter parts).
- > Manual creation of the case folders and organizing all files.
Keep it low on changes
- > Try to keep the status quo in organization of the work, tools, procedures.
- > So the Attorney may continue working almost the same way without any changes.
- > Introduce changes where necessary and effective.
Goals
- Speed up intake
- Getting rid of repetitive tasks with every new client
- Standardize folders and improve organization of files
- Generate the documents with as little work as possible.
Phase 0 — Foundation & Readiness
Microsoft 365 in place but not business level services- Inconsistencies: Accounts and emails accessing various services
- Absence of client database, only outdated Excel spreadsheet
Accounts and Access management cleanup- MS licenses purchase and management
- Data consolidation and migrations among all existing accounts – SharePoint as 1 place of truth
- SharePoint pages and storage creating
- Templates creation from client documents
Solution
Technical solution and tools:
Implemented flow:
Automated processes:
Technical solution and tools:
- > Using Microsoft ecosystem (as attorney already uses MS One drive, Word, Excel, Outlook), so not big changes needed.
- > Introduce new MS services needed for automation of the processes: Sharepoint, Power Automate, Power Apps.
Implemented flow:
- > MS Word Templates for all documents to be created allowing multi parts and counterparts
- > MS Sharepoint List to store the clients data and docs meta data and documents themselves
- > Power Apps as the user interface for attorney data entries and connecting all tools.
- > Power Automate to do the hard lifting: loading and processing data, populating templates, doing calculations, creating folders and all documents, updating database tables and communicating outputs to Power App.
Automated processes:
> Starting a new case
- Fill the client’s and case info in Power Apps
- Assign the case ID automatically
- Generate the case folder structure in MS SharePoint
- Create and save documents in the client’s SharePoint folder (Case cover for register, Minutes of intake meeting, Power of attorney)
> Contract creation (multi-party)
- Select the contract template
- Generate the draft of the contract with client and counter parties data filled in all the right places
- Create the file with the right name and save it in the correct client’s folder
- Send the draft via email or prepare for printing
> Land registry filing
- Pre-fill the filing document with parties data
- Save to the client’s folder
> Email confirmations and calendar entry
- Confirmation email to the client
- Calendar entry where relevant
Outcome
- > ~30 min saved at intake per new matter
- > ~30 min saved on each contract draft
- > Considering the total number of new clients and contracts created yearly it is up to 90 hours saved hours 2 and half weeks. Of possible extra holiday or more clients served with hourly rate 50 to 100€ it is about 4-9 thousand extra € yearly.
- > Consistent folder structure and file naming
- > Error-free workflow: zero typos in parties/addresses, once correct data in database, all subsequent documents created programmatically without any errors.
Used Tools
- SharePoint, Microsoft Lists, Power Apps, Power Automate, Word
Next steps
Adding other features:
Client creates invoices in MS Excel, some one of, some repetitive monthly. Full automation of monthly invoicing from creating, pdf, print, sent e-mail to client, store in sharepoint.Expand
New cases needed to be backed by previous court decisions… automate scraping of the courts decisions with script, automate their analysis with AI and prepare case relevant summaries with AI for human review.
Ready to work less and get more done? Start automating your practice.
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