'HelpSelf' Legal App Uses Lawyers to Automate and Fund Self Help
The makers of a recently released legal AI, aptly named HelpSelf, has stepped up to the plate of providing better access to justice, and it plans to keep on climbing. Currently the company's focus is on helping users, both individual and attorneys, fill out and file legal forms.
For individual users, the company currently offers help with preparing forms for domestic violence restraining orders, debt collection defense, and clearing California marijuana convictions under prop 64. For attorneys, the AI provides tools to construct forms and automate certain processes, such as inputting data from forms into pleadings or other documents.
Low Bono AI Services
The model for the form drafting service is simple: attorneys pay a licensing fee to use the document automation platform, and individual users get to benefit from a low flat fee service (starting at $15) that helps them fill out their legal documents, and potentially even file those documents where efiling is available (and at an additional cost if one is associated with the filing).
The attorney behind this revolutionary idea explained that the document automation platform is "available to any lawyer who wants to create similar 'Turbo-Tax-like' workflows, either just to streamline their internal work or to contribute to the library of legal tools available to the public."
Next up for the service is expanding the consumer offerings to include child support, conservatorship, and guardianship. Additionally, the service does have hopes of expanding into immigration law as well.
Why Attorney's Should Automate Intake
Attorneys that do client intake the old fashioned way might be wise to step into the 21st century and start using online or automated forms. Particularly for attorneys that do high volume practice, allowing clients to provide you all the information you need in an online form can save quite a bit of time.
And quite a bit more time can be saved if you can have the data the client inputs placed directly into the form or document you are working on. Sure, you'll probably want to edit the client's language, but you won't have to shuffle between documents or different computer tabs to do so. Protip: If you are going to be using online forms, make sure the site you use is secure. Protip 2: If you edit or finish filling out the client's intake form, you won't have to worry about the client's sloppy language.
Related Resources:
- 5 Office Tasks Law Firms Should Automate (FindLaw's Technologist)
- How Can Lawyers Survive in an Automated World? (FindLaw's Technologist)
- Automation Replaces About 23 Percent of Lawyer's Work (FindLaw's Technologist)