After years of being a market leader in case management software, Filevine has built a reputation for making lawyers’ jobs easier.
From data entry to document management, the software applies AI to every layer of your case to save countless billable hours.
Now, with its new DraftAI feature, Filevine transforms your creation of legal documents, too.
A user can use natural language instructions to draft, edit or modify any kind of document without leaving the security of the Filevine system, said John Rizner, Product Manager at Filevine.
During a recent demonstration, Rizner showed us how.
Getting Started
From the Filevine dashboard, the scope of its abilities quickly becomes clear. On the left is a customizable menu where users can easily navigate all aspects of their practice.
Behind the scenes, firms that already have their own in-house templates for demand letters, settlement agreements, labor contracts, loan terms, etc., can have those templates populated with information straight from the case files, using DraftAI. Select the type of document you need, click Generate, and a document assembly tool populates the template with information from the case file.
Applying AI to Document Generation
In the past, a lawyer or paralegal would then have to manually type hundreds if not thousands of words to fill out the specifics of the case. With DraftAI, it takes seconds.
Using what looks like a chatbot at the bottom right, users can ask Filevine to help complete the document. Depending on a firm’s configurations and integrations, Rizner noted, DraftAI can function as an enhanced version of ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot that only uses information found in that case’s notes, text messages, emails, activity feed and uploaded documents.
He demonstrated a request for adding basic Whereas clauses that are specific to the case. Filevine dropped them into the document.
“Our AI tool looks at the document, looks at what actions can be taken, and tries to understand the user’s request,” Rizner said. “Then it applies them and highlights the changes it makes.”
The user can also ask it to make several changes at once. For instance, if you need every definition put in boldface type, you can type it into the chatbot.
The versions can be compared side by side, with each iteration saved in the system.
Drafting a Case Narrative
The system goes much further than modifying boilerplate.
Rizner said DraftAI reaches into every part of the Filevine case file to gather facts and help draft the narrative of the case.
He offered the example of personal injury firms in the early testing group that used DraftAI to generate fact sections in demand letters. At one, a paralegal needed to describe the mileage burden a client faced when attending medical appointments.
The information that supported the point was scattered across different areas of the case file, and DraftAI gathered it. This helped the paralegal estimate the value of the travel’s impact on the client to help write the proposed settlement.
“Instead of having to go through that process of sifting through the data, reviewing and writing, they can have this tooling kind of take those actions for them,” Rizner said.
Then attorneys can dedicate their time to reviewing and finalizing the document.
A Tool for Every Practice Area
Rizner said many of Filevine’s users have been personal injury firms, but DraftAI is designed to apply to every area of the law.
In the case of employment law, for example, firms always have similar starting points for a negotiation. DraftAI can pull in those details, along with notes about conversations from the case, interviews with the client and text messages with coworkers, to present the facts to a company.
DraftAI can include lists or tables in the document, and each section can be edited independently. Different permissions can be created to collaborate with others in the firm, giving lawyers total control over the finished product. The system is infinitely customizable to whatever a firm needs in any practice area, Rizner said.
Once a document is drafted, the action is tracked in FVDA/Outlaw. Every action going forward is tracked as the document is redlined within the system, and the same chat window can be used to query anything about the case.
It all happens within the secure environment of the Filevine space, Rizner said.
“Your case data remains with Filevine’s secure environment, which for our customers is important for the privacy and legal ethics that they require,” he said.