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ARTICLE

Emerging Technology to Streamline Your Family Law Practice

Meredith McBride

Summary

  • Explore AI tools that streamline family law practices, improving efficiency by automating client intake, communication, and document management.
  • Discover how virtual assistants, scheduling software, and email management tools reduce administrative burdens and save time for attorneys.
  • Learn about AI-powered time tracking and document drafting tools that help attorneys save time, optimize productivity, and improve accuracy.
Emerging Technology to Streamline Your Family Law Practice
Nicholas Reid via Getty Images

Lawyers are notoriously slow to change and adapt to new technologies. However, in a world where your time is literally your money, leveraging technology to handle non-billable tasks can give you precious hours back—hours you can use to build your practice or, perhaps, achieve that ever-elusive work-life balance.

Last year, we discussed ways that AI can be integrated into a family law practice. AI remains a game-changer and integrates into the specific tools and programs developed in recent years that are worth your attention. These tools not only promise efficiency but can also improve client service and give solos and small firms a competitive edge.

But first, this article is not going to address technology and programs that you should already know about and be using, such as practice management/time keeping software, co-parenting apps, alcohol monitoring devices, and tools like Family Law Software. Those are essentials that every family law attorney should already know and use. If you are unfamiliar with them or not using them, then at the next ABA Family Law conference, you better make your way to those sponsor tables to learn more about them and also talk to your fellow colleagues about what they are using and recommend.

This article is also not going to discuss general use of large language models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. If you are still new to those, check out last year’s committee corner article or one of the many, many articles, videos, and CLEs explaining what they are, how to use them (and how not to!), and how they can help your practice!

Instead, this article discusses technology and tools designed to reduce tedious tasks and make your practice more efficient.

Streamlining Client Intake and Communication

The first interaction with a client is critical to setting the stage for a successful case. Technology can simplify the intake process and ongoing communication, saving time, and creating a professional experience is key to a successful first impression and continued relationship.

Scheduling Tools

Scheduling client meetings, coordinating with opposing counsel, or organizing meetings with multiple people often involves lengthy and time consuming back-and-forth emails and coordination of schedules. Scheduling tools eliminate this inefficiency.

Tools like Calendly and Acuity Scheduling allow clients and colleagues to book appointments based on your availability. You can customize the types of meetings that can be booked with you that have their own settings and automations.  For example, a Calendly link can include a specific option for “Initial Consultation” that before booking requires payment of a consultation fee and after booking automatically sends intake forms and/or follow-up resources directly to the prospective client.

Not ready to pay for automated scheduling? Free Alternatives are available through Gmail and Outlook which have built-in scheduling functions that sync with your calendar and allow others to view available slots. Through Outlook you can also send a scheduling poll of all required attendees of times you select. Once everyone has completed the poll, it will automatically send out a calendar invited with a Teams link for the first date and time that all participants are available.

Virtual Receptionist Services

Programs like Smith.ai and Ruby provide virtual receptionists who answer calls, schedule meetings, and even collect preliminary intake details. This is especially helpful for small practices without dedicated administrative staff, allowing attorneys to focus on substantive work.

Communication Tools

Tools for automating and streamlining communication ensure clients stay informed while minimizing disruptions to your workflow. Zipwhip and Lawmatics enable text and email automation. Use them to send reminders for court dates, follow up on document submissions, or provide updates on case progress. Similarly, Zapier can be used to automates repetitive tasks, such as sending emails or notifications when clients submit documents or payments. Zapier has numerous automation features outside of just communication that can also help to streamline your practice.

How can you use all of these tools together? Let’s say a client misses a deadline to upload a financial document, Lawmatics automatically sends a text reminder. If they still don’t respond, Smith.ai can follow up with a call, saving you or your assistant from chasing them down.

Email Management Tools

Managing an overflowing inbox can be a full-time job in and of itself and for attorneys who are regularly in court for hearings and trial, it can be hard to stay on top of your e-mails.  Important e-mails can easily get lost in the chaos. Tools like SaneBox and Clean Email automatically sort and prioritize emails, flagging important client communications while filtering out spam. Missive integrates team collaboration with email, making it easier to manage shared inboxes for small firms.

AI-Powered Tools for Document Drafting

Drafting legal documents can be a tedious, time-intensive task. AI tools provide quick, accurate, and thorough drafting support.

Spellbook integrates into Microsoft Word and helps draft and review contracts by suggesting clauses, highlighting risks, and identifying inconsistencies. A prenuptial agreement can be drafted faster while ensuring compliance with state-specific requirements.

LegalMation automates the drafting of pleadings and discovery responses. Uploading a complaint or discovery request allows the platform to generate a tailored response.

Briefpoint automates the creation of discovery requests and responses.

AI.law provides AI-powered chatbots for document review, analysis, and drafting, enhancing both speed and accuracy. AI.law can also review and summarize deposition transcripts (or hearing/trial transcripts) saving time and resources.

AI-Powered Discovery Tools

Compiling and providing financial disclosures can be one of the most time-consuming parts of a family law case. Clients hate pulling together all of their documents—and inevitably dump it on you in an unorganized mess. If you are a solo without support staff, it can be hard to justify billing your full rate for the administrative task of compiling and reviewing their document production.

Disclosure Ready streamlines this process by automating the intake, organization, and analysis of financial documents, saving countless hours of manual work. Clients upload their financial records directly into the platform and Disclosure Ready uses advanced algorithms to organize and categorize data, flag missing or inconsistent information, and compile it into comprehensive, easy-to-review files for attorneys.

DISCO simplifies large document reviews, efficiently reviewing all of your documents, flagging relevant content, and creating a timeline.

Lexlink.ai is an all-in-one platform that can analyze and extract information from legal documents, financial documents, and transcripts. It will categorize documents, identify discrepancies and missing data, provide a comprehensive case analysis, and create a case timeline.  It can also draft discovery requests.

Everlaw uses AI-powered tools to organize, search, and analyze large datasets, uncovering critical information quickly. Everlaw can create early case assessment, complete discovery review, and provide help prepare for depositions, trial, and settlement negotiations.

Valid8 is another AI tool that can review financial documents to process and categorize transactions and trace assets to streamline lifestyle analysis.

AI-Powered Legal Research Tools

Legal research is often not a huge percentage of a family law attorney’s practice, but when it comes up, it can also be time-consuming and tedious. AI-driven legal research platforms can help make legal research more efficient.

LexisNexis and Westlaw are hardly new to attorneys, but what may be new to you is that they have now integrated AI tools to their platforms to predict case relevance, flag weak arguments, and suggest strategies for building stronger cases.

Descrybe is a generative AI legal search engine available in English and Spanish free of cost to all users, for those looking to test out AI legal research without paying a hefty fee.

Tools to Assist in Settlements

Legaliser harnesses AI to craft precise, enforceable divorce settlements. It analyzes agreements to identify ambiguities, risks, and discrepancies. It also interprets terms and offers recommendations to strengthen agreements. It efficiently helps reduce negotiation and revision time, streamlining settlements providing agreements less likely to need future litigation reducing both emotional and financial costs for clients.

AI-Driven Case Management Software & Time Keeping Software

I know I said this article would not include case management or billing software, but there are some AI tools to cover these types of tools that are new and utilize AI.

CaseFleet is a case management software that helps organize and analyze complex divorces and custody battles. It has the ability to create detailed case timelines, link documents to specific events, track key issues like child custody or asset division, and manage facts and evidence more efficiently.  CaseFleet can review, analyze, and outline documents, videos, audio recordings, and transcripts—focusing your time and efforts on key information and providing counsel to your clients.

Motion is an AI-driven time tracking tool that does every attorney’s least favorite task for you—your billing! Motion integrates with digital devices to automatically capture work-related activities by analyzing app usage, website activity, and more, it tracks time accurately without requiring manual start-and-stop inputs. It claims that as a result, no billable task will be missed. In addition to reducing the burden of time tracking, it also provides insights into work patterns in order to identify inefficiencies and optimize productivity.

Platforms

“Victoria” at Divorce.law is a trained AI consultant with expertise in divorce laws and procedures across all 50 states powered by OpenAI and Anthropic and created by a divorce attorney. It markets itself as an AI Divorce Consultant to assist divorce professionals and their clients by delivering data-driven guidance to help navigate the complexities of divorce. Victoria offers divorce information through its own chat feature—allowing divorcing individuals to ask questions related to their divorce that they would typically ask their divorce attorney, while including the disclaimer that it does not offer legal advice.  Divorce.law also has divorce professional directory. Some of the listings are cultivated from the internet and drafted by AI while others (like many other directories) are paid listings.

It will remain to be seen whether Victoria and similar tools encroach on our role as divorce attorneys or whether it becomes a helpful tool that is a boon to business. At the end of the day, there is no technological tool that can beat the value of personalized expertise and advocacy and the human touch.

Conclusion

New and emerging technology can transform family law practice, improve efficiency, enhance client satisfaction, and reduce administrative burdens. You may not be ready to embrace all that there is to offer, but integrating technology thoughtfully and securely can help you stand out, have greater client satisfaction, and greater personal satisfaction.

However, before adapting any new technology, you must ensure that you properly vet it. As attorneys we have certain ethical standards we need to comply with and as divorce attorneys, we are responsible for maintaining highly confidential information for our clients. Ensure that you verify compliance with your local bar rules, take extreme cautious when using open-source software, and be aware of what built-in security measures exist with any technology you plan to integrate into your practice. In July, 2024, the ABA issued its own formal opinion and guidance related to the use of generative artificial intelligence in the practice of law be sure that you review it and your bar’s rules regarding the use of artificial intelligence and technology.

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