Marcus RichardsWill lawyers are trained to help families feel more confident about their future. However, everyone makes mistakes – lawyers included. And many times, the mistake is a human error – one that could have been easily avoided if the attorney would have paid more attention.
Luckily, we live in a time of technology – a time when a human error can be sidetracked with the use of technology. Sometimes, the problem is very small, but it’s still one less mistake to deal with later on. Here is how technology can help will attorneys.
1. Paper Documents vs. Computer Data
As a will attorney, you will have to sign a few papers here and there. Sometimes, there may be even more papers, depending on how many family members you are covering. If you still work with the paper system, you can get lost in all the files sitting on your desk and you may end up losing crucial signatures – signatures that could have determined whether someone gets part of the assets or not.
Technology can prevent this from happening. For instance, most companies in Waldorf already use digital documents, as a means to combat inefficient paper use. Nowadays, Waldorf will lawyers simply send a PDF document, using electronic signatures rather than the classic pen-on-paper one.
If paper documents are still used, will lawyers can scan them and store them on a computer. This way, even if a document gets lost, there will be a digital copy of it in a secure place.
2. Communication
Law companies are reliant on communication, especially when putting a will together. Whether they need to communicate with their clients or other representatives of the law, poor communication may come at a steep price.
As a will lawyer, you will have a lot to talk about with your clients. Sometimes, you may even need to schedule a face-to-face meeting. It’s expected of you, especially when it comes to creating a bond of trust with your clients. You can go with a classic phone call, but as you cannot see the other person’s face, it can seem impersonal.
However, technology can help break down barriers of communication, preventing any failures coming from asking insufficient questions. With the use of video conferencing apps or translation tools, technology can make sure all the right questions are asked at the right time.
3. Law Errors
An average of 16% of malpractice claims are caused by law errors, often led there by human mistakes. This can be a document or drafting error that happens because of inadequate knowledge of the law or failure to obtain the correct advice at the right time.
Technology will help decrease these errors through the use of AI systems and various apps. For instance, lawyers can use systems where they can put down the circumstances of a client, triggering Advisor Alerts if there are some changes in the will.
For instance, if one of the beneficiaries passes away, gets married, or somehow changes their status, the AI will draw that information from the system and make the update in the case.
4. Document Automation
Aside from digitalization, technology can help attorneys in one more regard: business automation. At first, this might not sound like something very important – but we have already established that as a will attorney, you will have many documents to handle out there. Some of those documents simply involve the technicalities of your job, which means they may not be that different from one another.
Writing all of these documents from scratch can take a lot of your time, which is why technology can turn out very helpful. When you are rushing to write a document, you could easily skip a clause or make an error in a document due to negligence.
Technology can help prevent that if you use document automation software. This can automatically create document templates for your case, whether you are drafting a will or preparing the documents to hand down the assets.
Plus, this technology can save you a lot of time when it comes to proofing and data entry. Not only will this spare you any costly errors, but it will also give you more time to do what you know best: exercising the law.
The Bottom Line
The future has come a long way, and lawyers can already see the difference. Will attorneys, in particular, have to deal with numerous clerical kinks – so, technology can be there to help them out.
