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As law firms face pushback from clients on high rates and large legal bills, firm leaders are looking for durable ways to increase efficiency. The prospect of an economic downturn creates even more pressure to boost productivity and streamline processes.

One area where law firms stand to gain the most in terms of efficiency is document automation. In the simplest terms, document automation is the process of transforming frequently used documents or forms into dynamic templates—then creating a new document by guiding users through an intelligent interview process, the answers to which will customize the document to a firm's exact requirements. Knowing the documents to be produced will be accurate and consistent with far less effort is a key benefit of document automation.

The Push for Efficiency

There is nearly universal agreement among law firm leaders that efficiency is one of their top priorities. In a recent flash survey on 2019 Law Firms in Transition, Altman Weil solicited survey responses from 362 law firms with 50 or more lawyers, including nearly half of the U.S.'s largest law firms. Of those law firm leaders surveyed, 96% agreed that a focus on improved practice efficiency is a permanent trend in the industry.

At the same time, firms are bracing for a widely predicted economic downturn. The top concern of the managing partners surveyed was the prospect of a broad economic recession. While no one can know with certainty when the next recession will occur or how significant it will be, the consensus is that it will happen and not all firms will fare as well as others. An impending economic downturn only heightens the need for improvements in efficiency that will cut costs and reduce financial risk. In order to best position themselves going forward, firms are turning to technology like document automation to lay the groundwork for long-term sustainability.

The Benefits of Document Automation

Much of a law firm practice revolves around documents—drafting, revising, standardizing, editing and proofreading are all tasks that take up a significant number of hours every day. With the right document automation technology, however, these tasks take far less time, allowing attorneys to focus on higher-value work that benefits clients.