Last week I wrote about the role that automation could play in delivering legal services to the public, using products that firms of all sizes could buy in. Wills and employment were the two areas that I mentioned, relating arguments that, although margins in this area might fall as automation increases, these basic services could ultimately still provide firms with a good return, as they were an opportunity to offer a product at reduced cost, enhancements on the core offering, and the chance to market other services to these clients.

Since then I’ve seen the demonstration of one of these products – one aimed at smaller firms that should soon be generally available. The cost looks reasonable, the software seems flexible, and crucially it has the capture of client data, and follow-up steps with clients, built into it. I can’t be sure it is the answer, but any workable solution should do all these things.

The top four main types of instruction this automation can handle are wills, employment, partnership agreements and share transactions. The cost for using each of these types is mostly around £300 per product per month, plus £50 per practitioner who uses it per month. That seems accessible for most practices.

The demonstration I saw showed how a practitioner can vary the programme to add their own preferred clauses, and also showed how the process saved time. The solicitor wasn’t absent from the process, but could both supervise it and concentrate on client service. The programme also forced the solicitor taking the enquiry to record client contact, and pushed them to follow up that contact to secure the instruction, or ask how else the firm might help the client.

Such products deserve the attention of law firms as they come to market. I’m not sure ‘commoditised’ is the right word for the product I saw demonstrated – although a large part of it could be described as ‘industrialised’; it was definitely a tool for a traditional lawyer to deploy, rather than a substitute for that lawyer.