Many lawyers and staff don't really know what document assembly is. The simplest example is to compare it with search and replace and the use of forms, and that is a good place for you to start getting ready for document assembly. Creating a form: Take a document you use frequently, like a simple deed. That document will contain information specifically related to that file, such as seller name, buyer name, town and county of property, consideration, and tax stamps, to name a few. Take the deed form, and in place of the name of the seller, type in qa. This will appear in several places. For the buyer, qb, and so forth, each particular piece of variable information will have a short letter combination that does not appear in the English language. You now have a form. In that form, q* is better than a blank line or series of asterisks, as will appear.
Using the form: When you open a real estate file, have available a sheet with a copy of the list of the q's (variables) and what they stand for, and fill out the list with this specific variable information. Every real estate form should use the same q's, so that in a settlement statement, the seller is also shown as qa. Now, to generate a document, you pull up your read-only deed form, search for qa, replace with the seller's name. It appears in the granting clause, the reference clause, the signature line and the acknowledgment, and you only had to type it once. If you do this with all your forms, you can prepare documents more efficiently, and are on your way to document assembly, because the simplest document assembly system is simply a batch search and replace.
Merge function in word processing (Optional): The next step is to use the 'merge' function of your word processor (you can skip this step if you own a document assembly program). On your form, replace qa with 'mergecode' (seller), or whatever merge function your word processor uses. Next, you have to set up the q's as the merge code list in your word processing program. Of course you will have one selection of q's for real estate files, a different set for corporations, litigation, business entities and so forth. A q can be used for one word, like first name, or for a whole paragraph or envelope address. Now you have the form, you have the q's and are ready to assemble a document. Fill in the q's in the program with information from the case file, select the forms you want, and the program searches for all the q's at the same time and replaces them with the appropriate information.
Document assembly and the law practice management
program: Simple document assembly is built into practice management programs like Amicus and Time Matters, which make it easier to set up your lists of variable information related to each practice area, and to create or import forms. They accept the forms you created under the last paragraph, so if you have already created merge forms, they can be easily imported. They are compatible with both Word and WordPerfect. Once you have the system set up, a document, such as a pourover will, can be generated in seconds. Document assembly programs also have file management routines, so that documents generated for a file are organized with the file for easy location.
Wrap up: So, the simplest document assembly routine involves 1) preparing a variable information list (the q's) for a practice area, and 2) developing a form whenever you have a document that may be useful as a template, using the variables from the list. That's how you start. Of course, document assembly can be much more sophisticated, involving a setup that asks you not only for the variable information, but also asks for information that will enable the program to build a document from a bank of clauses and paragraphs that you have developed. HotDocs seems to be the most popular of these programs, and is compatible with Amicus and Time Matters.
© Robert R. Howard, 2005.
