Cloud-Based Law Practice Management Software with Advanced Document Assembly and Automation
Client and his team are experienced users of this kind of application. This way, we were able to easily learn about user concerns and goals.
The main questions we wanted to answer during the research stage were: 1. Is client’s request relevant for most of the law practices, 2. What are the most appropriate ways and patterns to implement requested features?
Next, we analyzed the product competitors to get familiar with common patterns, and define which decisions can be reused and which ones should be avoided.
Since one of the aims of the product was to create a new way of managing cases, we analyzed not only competitors in the legal niche, but also various software from completely different industries, but which perform the same tasks that we needed
To build an easy-to-use and clean system with a big amount of features and modules, we need to prioritize and structure the information. This allows us to meaninfully place pieces of information on every page and create self-exploratory layout even for system with high load of content.
After the business side and the information hierarchy were clarified, we started gathering information about our users and their problems are. Two main groups of users were identified:
Using previously gathered information, we could organize and visualize actions that a user should perform to complete a specific task. The main objectives of this step are to make each task as easy to use as possible, decrease the amount of cognitive load and number of clicks, and also to organize related tasks in the system.
AAfter we made it clear what to do and how, we started building wireframes from module to module. As a result, we created a fully clickable black-and-white prototype that included all content and actions.
Product prototypes allowed us to approve business logic and confirm that we organized flows in the best possible way
Creating a case is one of the important but difficult parts of the system. It starts from the first communication with the lead and filling in information about the lead and possible case. If the firm is hired, it converts to an actual case in an easy way. No need to do the double job, just add missing information and create the case. To make this process even easier, we’ve broken it down into steps related to each aspect of the case: information about the client, the case, and the team that will work on it. When organizing the order of the fields, we turned to the order of questions that are usually asked during the first communication in law firms.
The work of a lawyer involves a lot of repetitive work, creating the same type of documents and letters, and each area of practice requires a different way of completing tasks. To simplify their workflow, we’ve introduced automation rules that allow users to create their own triggers and actions. e.g. User could define a trigger as changing the status of the Lead Creating a lead triggers the creation of a letter from the template and sends it along with a set of messages at specified intervals, the sent messages trigger the creation of a calendar event. Invoicing, reporting, case management, etc. could be shifted from the shoulders of the law firm to the system.
One of the main requirements of the client was the creation of an Advanced Document Assembly. Our research has shown that other platforms do not provide the ability to create and edit templates from documents within the system, which significantly impairs user interaction.
We implemented a file editor right inside the system. Users can create a document from scratch or download a file and use it as a template.
More importantly, users can create conditional fields in templates that are populated when the template is converted to an actual document. No need to rewrite tons of letters to each client. Just answer the question, and the system will adapt the template content to the occasion and fill in the relevant data from the relevant customer.
One of the challenges of a lawyer is keeping track of time for various tasks. We have implemented a time tracker that automatically starts counting down the time when a new task starts. It can also be done manually and select which task the user is working on. A lawyer can work on several tasks at the same time, then one of the tasks can be suspended and go to another.
Lawyers’ time is expensive in every sense. In order to preserve it and create a convenient and easy interaction with the user, we decided to implement inline information editing, which will allow the user to read and edit information at the same time and does not require additional clicks or redirects that can distract from the current task. To prevent errors, access to inline editing depends on the user’s permissions, and every change is displayed in Activity logs.
When creating the UI, we relied on Fuse - Angular 8+ Material Design since this style was most suitable for the task that we faced with, namely, an understandable, unloaded style.
Full Design System Case
When developing a design system, we looked at the best examples for creating an optimal design system for this product. The best example for this project was the Atlassian design system.
Bases are the simplest entities. The whole system consists of them. These are the bricks in the construction of the system. Font styles, colors, icons are all examples of bases.
Elements are simple entities, they consist of bases. Not independent and often found in different cases and modules. They do not carry the semantic load by themselves. Are more technical entities.
Components are intermediate entities between patterns and elements. If you divide the pattern into entities, you get a component.
If you combine elements into some entity, but it is not completely independent, as a pattern, it is a component.
Oleksandr Belkin
Project Manager
Viktoria Lozova
UX Designer
Antonina Shalaieva
UX Designer
Bogdan Bilich
Lead UI Designer
Megan Baghaturia
UI Designer
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