Document Assembly

The program is compatible and works within various versions of Microsoft Word and WordPerfect with seamless integration. You can smoothly switch between word processors for document assembly.

Installation created no problems, and the DocAssistant shortcut created on my desktop also opened my word processor. During installation, you need to decide where to locate client files, but this also can be readily changed from within the program.

Once DocAssistant is up and running, you are set to create your document assembly library. I decided to start with a few standard letters our firm uses frequently, transmitting documents for review and signature. Because I was looking at an existing document, I found it easy to name each field for the data files. And, because I was naming the data while looking at the document, I could give each field a unique, appropriate name.

This is important in document assembly because when you are looking at field names, you want to be sure the field you have defined is appropriately matched with the client information you are inserting.

With some practice, I could compile a library of about a dozen letters of varying length and complexity. The true test came, of course, when I tried to assemble this library into letters. DocAssistant performed this task with speed and accuracy.

The data notebook is a powerful feature that lets you organize and centralize the location of all documents and the data they contain for any client. The data sheet notebook also contains a tab for the forms associated with the data notebook, so you can see what tools you have associated with this data in the past. By using the separate, customized tabs that can be created at the bottom of each data sheet notebook, you can organize data fields according to categories.

This enables you to keep all the client data for a myriad of documents drafted for this client in one client notebook. Changing data in one document would change that data in other documents associated with it, saving you a tremendous amount of time.

For example, if you changed the address of client John Smith in a will, that change would automatically be made in John Smith’s trust.

One of DocAssistant’s most handy features is the ability to use it with Adobe Acrobat and the Acrobat Reader.

Acrobat allows you to set up .pdf files (the format in which many governmental, municipal and tax forms are found) to use them with DocAssistant, inserting client data fields in the process.

You do need the full version of Acrobat (as opposed to the freely distributed Acrobat Reader) to automate your own forms with DocAssistant, but I tried the feature with the assembled Internal Revenue Service forms included in the program to test its function and found it seemed to operate properly. Anyone with the Acrobat program would find this automation and integration a savory mix.

One missing element is the integration with collectors of client information, such as case managers. This missing link would eliminate repetitive data entry. If you type in clients’ names and addresses in your case manager, you really don’t want to enter it again in the document assembly program.

AtLaw Software representatives said they are working on this feature for future releases.

One thing I liked about the program is it didn’t try to force me to change the way I think about client information to make it work with my documents or program.

I really liked the ability to name the data fields as I saw fit, with fully descriptive names. This allowed me to go back a month or so after entering the data and understand what data was going where and why.

This program could enable a practitioner with a nicely integrated set of existing documents to make a document assembly program work within the practice, rather than make the practice adapt to the program.

Price: $99

Windows 95 and up

Reviewed by Denise P. Ward, Esq., Grean & Ward, Port Chester, N.Y.

Apr/May '01 Issue

PROS
Can use existing documents to create firm forms; can use your own easy-to-describe data field names.

CONS
No integration with case manager.

VERDICT
Yes, for those who have lots of their own forms they want to document assemble.

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Updated 09/18/01
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