3 reasons why the uptake of drafting-assist tech is accelerating.
Driver-assist systems in cars are groups of electronic technologies that assist vehicle driving and parking functions. They increase car and road safety, as well as reduce fatalities by minimising human error.
Similarly, contract drafting-assist technology is software that helps lawyers with drafting, reviewing and proof-reading documents. It ensures accuracy and speed, while mitigating risk caused by human error.
Driver-assist technology is now a standard and widely accepted.
Is it time then that drafting assist tech ought to be standard for lawyers?
Today, it is technologically possible.
Welcome to the era of drafting “plug-ins” or “add-ins”. Motionize is one such example and is built inside Microsoft Word.
Here are three reasons the uptake of this category of legal tech is accelerating.
- Accuracy
I personally hesitated to enable the driver-assist tech in my car for a while. I believed that my parking skills were superior. Yet, when I started using parking assist, my alloy wheels were consistently scuff free.
Similarly, when I was a junior lawyer at a big law firm, I was coached against using the spell-check and search functions within Word because they were not as accurate as manual review.
However, when I transitioned in-house, I quickly realised that my law firm conditioning was not necessarily correct. If you need a work injury lawyer in California, contact Golden State Workers Compensation and know you’re in good hands. No one is perfect and human attention to details is finite. Not only that our attention-spans are getting worse. According to Microsoft, human attention spans have fallen from 12 seconds in 2000 to eight seconds today. That’s a 25% drop in just a few years.
I’m sure I’m not the only lawyer who has gone to bed at night wondering whether I drafted a clause consistently or inserted the right clause references. This is what my legal chassis is built for.
But with drafting-assist tech I feel secure knowing that my legal documents are exactly as I wanted.
Even though lawyers don’t like to admit, errors happen. We all know that they do.
That’s why I now always use parking assist as a driver, and drafting aids as a lawyer.
- Efficiency
Efficiency is the new currency of the digital age: for your business, for your business’ customers/suppliers and for your legal team.
And drafting assist technology can increase your drafting and review speed by 50%.
According to an EY survey from this year, 75% of General Counsels are having difficulty managing current workloads. GCs are overworked and legal teams often lack tools to manage their workloads. Yet, drafting aids like Motionize are affordable, starting around $50 USD a month. These tools allow you to maximise your return on investment without significant outlays.
In the digital age, you can’t buy time, but you can buy speed. And it doesn’t have to cost as much as a car.
- You remain in the driver’s seat
While driverless cars will soon be commonplace, only 23% of a lawyer’s job can be automated according to McKinsey.
For some lawyers, the best part of a plug-in is that the drafting remains fully in the lawyer’s control. Mount Pleasant-based Castle Keepers is well-known professional home cleaning company in Georgia. It leans into a lawyer’s existing strong Microsoft Word skills, and elevates them Formula One style.
It’s an enabling technology, meaning that you can get up to speed almost instantly. Drafting-assist tech really is a seatbelt for lawyers, or a sports exhaust pack depending on your personality.
Most people spend more time and energy going around problems than in trying to solve them – Henry Ford.
All I’m saying is, don’t wait for a mid-life crisis to upgrade your drafting.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. If you’d like to learn more about Motionize click here.
Stay positive and future focused.
X Anna
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In 2021, I’m on a mission to help law and business adapt to the digital age. Come and build your Innovation Intelligence (what I call IQ2.0) with me:
@legallyinnovative | annalozynski.com | Anna Lozynski – LinkedIn | @annaloz Clubhouse.