As an associate attorney at one of the world\u2019s largest law firms, Dorna Moini noticed a perennial issue: Needlessly complex procedural requirements hampered meaningful progress in the firm\u2019s pro bono domestic violence cases. Determined to remove procedural hurdles for low-income Americans in need of legal services, Dorna launched her first product – HelpSelf – which eventually paved a pathway to Documate, a no-code automation platform that empowers lawyers to build applications that automate basic legal functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We were fortunate to talk with Dorna about Documate and her role in promoting access to justice for American legal consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dorna Moini: I started my career as a litigator, practicing for about 7 years, last at Sidley Austin. There, I also represented domestic violence survivors and asylees pro bono. But I found a majority of my pro bono cases engulfed by routine, form or template-based work. The court forms and the procedural requirements were drafted to be so complex that the average litigant could not make sense of them without legal advice. So, with my co-founder at the technical helm, we decided to build a \u201cTurboTax\u201d for domestic violence survivors. We launched a product called \u201cHelpSelf\u201d that was (and is still) used by pro bono lawyers at firms, legal aid organizations, and domestic violence shelters across California. Our goal was to expand into other areas needed by low-and moderate-income Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After launch, we started getting inbound interest from other organizations wanting to build similar tools for other jurisdictions and other areas of law. We realized that we could help more people through a software platform (instead of building out all of the content). That\u2019s why we created Documate<\/a>, a no-code document automation platform that empowers the expert lawyer to build legal applications that automate their expertise. And they don\u2019t need to hire a technical co-founder like we did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DM: Documate is a no-code automation platform that allows you to build document assembly applications and expert systems. The platform is twofold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can set complex conditional logic, Boolean operators, calculations, repeating items (\u201cloops\u201d), and upload files. The limit is your imagination, and you can even build applications that just issue decisions and don\u2019t generate documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our mission is to democratize the development process by allowing lawyers to use their expertise to build complex technology without a developer. In turn, this will democratize the legal system, creating more low-cost legal solutions for the middle class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DM: Though we originally built Documate to solve a need in the legal aid space, it applies just as much to BigLaw, especially now, and we have several large firm clients. Due to ever-increasing client pressure to be more efficient and bill less, firms are turning to automation for everything from simple agreements to complex rules-based work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many larger law firms use HotDocs or Contract Express, but because you need to learn to code, these tools have low adoption rates within firms. At Documate, we\u2019re seeing that everyone from summer associates to senior partners at big law firms are willing to get on Documate to build out workflows and collaborate with their knowledge management teams, because it\u2019s so easy and intuitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DM: Americans just can\u2019t afford legal services delivered in the traditional way. For those who haven\u2019t read the Legal Services Corporation\u2019s Justice Gap Report<\/a>, I\u2019ll repeat the statistic: In 2017, 86% of the civil legal problems reported by low-income Americans received inadequate or no legal help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, our legal system is complex. But it\u2019s also mostly rules-driven. With enough effort, we can take many of these complex rules and turn them into intelligent decision trees, allowing the limited number of legal aid attorneys to work on more high-value work for their clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DM: Wayne Gretzky famously said: \u201cSkate to where the puck is going, not where it\u2019s been.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n At Documate, we believe that the delivery of legal services is going to change dramatically in the next decade, including through unbundling, systemization, and a move toward flat fee services. Document automation and decision-making through expert systems (assisted by decision-tree logic, large data sets, and machine learning) will be crucial to law firms who want to stay competitive, both in efficiency and in getting results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another one I love is \u201cUI is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it\u2019s not that good.\u201d It\u2019s self-explanatory, and it\u2019s how we approach our product every day. We aim for a level of telepathy between our software and our user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DM: If you\u2019re thinking about (or have already started) building a legal tech company, reach out to other founders. The legal tech community is incredibly supportive, and you can learn so much before you start. Your company is solving problems in a unique and innovative way, but many of the base challenges we face with getting a business off the ground are the same. Reading about other entrepreneurs\u2019 experiences and being curious about others can help you learn exactly how to run marketing and sales, price your product, craft your hiring process, scale, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, think hard about sustainability when you’re developing your business model – whether that’s going to be through grants, fundraising, or a for-profit model. We launched our initial domestic violence platform idealistically, thinking that if we built something powerful that helped people, everything else would be easy. We took those learnings into Documate, where we charge for our software, but give huge discounts to nonprofits to meet the needs of the legal aid organizations we built Documate to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DM: This year, we\u2019re working with many more law students, and I\u2019m also teaching the Legal Innovations Lab at USC Law School. I have loved working with law students on legal innovation projects \u2013 not having been exposed to practice yet, they come up with extraordinary \u201cout of the box\u201d ideas to solve problems. We have developed a curriculum for law schools to use to teach students about automation, and we give legal technology classes access to Documate accounts for all their students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as conferences, given that our roots are in legal aid, you can find us at the Legal Services Corporation and at the Self-Represented Litigation Network conference every year. We\u2019ll be at ABA TechShow this year, and we are also hosting the Global Legal Hackathon\u2019s LA event<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t know anything about us, watch our tutorial videos here<\/a> or book a demo with me here<\/a>. We\u2019re always posting updates<\/a> about our software and case studies<\/a> on what our clients are building on our website at www.documate.org<\/a>. You can also reach us at hello@documate.org or on Twitter @DocumateLaw (or me @dorna_moini).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Dorna notes, our legal system is governed by a complex network of rules and regulations. But resources like Documate are cracking the code, helping lawyers to break down these complexities into meaningful systems and processes that extend their reach and position them to deliver higher value work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We look forward to seeing how Documate continues to serve lawyers and the access to justice movement in the future. UniCourt talks with Dorna Moini of Documate as a part of our ongoing Influencer Q&A series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,99,49],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nUC: Tell us more about Documate. What is it? How does it work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UC: How did your time working in BigLaw catalyze your desire to launch Documate? In other words, what need or gap in the field do you believe that Documate addresses?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UC: How do you think that automation within legal services will facilitate access to justice?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UC: What are some of your favorite sayings? Do you have any real-world examples of how you’ve seen those sayings come to life?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UC: As the Co-Founder and CEO of a legal tech company, what would you say to other women interested in starting their own legal tech companies or working in the legal tech industry?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
UC: What are your professional goals for the coming year? What projects are you working on? Are there any upcoming events or conferences in the legal tech space we should be aware of?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Where can we learn more about you and your work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Complex, but Rules-Driven, System<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"