HotDocs has been available to create extraordinary document automation systems in an online mode for nearly fifteen years, first via HotDocs Server, and more recently via HotDocs Document Services and HotDocs Cloud Services. It supports innovative service delivery methods that combine the power of machine intelligence and network distribution.
For legal service providers, cloud-based assembly doesn’t just make document creation more convenient; it opens up new ways to allocate work to the most appropriate resources. Document apps in online portals support full or unbundled service delivery. Clients can fill out questionnaires and produce drafts with or without lawyer review.
大多数文档起草应用程序——无论在线还是离线——仍以单人用户为主。每次仅有一人通过软件输入信息或生成文件。有时多人轮流处理同一事务或交易。例如，律师会让秘书输入基础数据，或让客户通过外联网填写智能问卷，以此降低数据收集成本并提供背景指导。
These hand-offs raise interesting possibilities, such as ‘templates built for two,’ in which different experiences surface depending on the user’s role as a client or service provider. Client-facing versions of intelligent questionnaires – or entire sites and apps – can use appropriate vocabulary and be personalized. The very language can be switched – say from English to Japanese – based on a user’s profile or momentary preference.
Imagine an estate planning system in which attorneys see this:
在客户通过此类界面提供基本信息和初步决策后：
（此示例基于Legal SystematicsSpeedMatters™应用程序。）
This sequential client/lawyer scenario is an example of the “co-production” of legal work.
如今，企业法务部门正通过提供自助式合同组装服务，为外勤人员实现协同创作。而在非营利、公益及"低收费"领域，无力承担商业律师费用的群体正利用拆分式服务——例如代笔服务——来满足法律需求。
Document systems can also be engineered for cooperative work among lawyers. For example, they can be modularized to allow specialists to focus on distinct aspects of a large transaction: tax experts here, environmental law gurus here, intellectual property folks over here. Lead counsel can review the consolidated input and make final adjustments. Such systems can usefully support the partner/associate relationship. Associates may do much of the answer configuration and drafting, while supervising partners can access features for quick review and commentary.
Virtual practice and e-lawyering are hardly all-or-nothing propositions. In-person, face-to-face meetings will (thankfully) be with most of us for the indefinite future. But interacting with clients, colleagues, counterparties, and decision makers through electronic media is increasingly convenient. And those media don’t just overcome limitations of time and space. They enable rich forms of human engagement, some that are impracticable if not impossible in the physical world.
Marc Lauritsen, author of The Lawyer’s Guide to Working Smarter with Knowledge Tools, is president of Capstone Practice Systems and of Legal Systematics. He’s a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and co-chairs the American Bar Association’s eLawyering Task Force.
编者按 本文最初发表于 HotDocs.com.2024 年 6 月，Mitratech 收购了高级文档自动化平台 HotDocs。此后，我们对内容进行了更新，以纳入与我们的产品、法规变化和合规性相一致的信息。
