I want to briefly discuss an important part of every e-lawyering application, the questionnaire(s). I have seen my fair share of questionnaire implementations. Most have been in various online legal document sites, the bulk of which are uncontested divorce document sites. If you do a search in any major search engine for online divorce, you will see a massive quantity of so-called online divorce sites.
Why the large amount of uncontested divorce sites?
This is a good question with a simple answer. Programming an uncontested divorce questionnaire is very straightforward. First, everything is pretty much static. This means that a paper-based intake questionnaire can easily be transformed into a semi-functional electronic questionnaire. The same was true for the proliferation of bankruptcy document preparation sites a few years back. Most of these sites require an uncontested situation because it keeps things very simple. More importantly, an individual does not need a fundamental and working knowledge of the law to throw up an uncontested divorce site. This is literally a job that can be handed off to any programmer.
The difference between questionnaire-based sites and elawyering apps
The elawyering applications that I envision do rely on questionnaires. However, these questionnaires are far more advanced and intelligent than your run of the mill divorce document site. This is where a true elawyering applications becomes far more useful than a typical do-it-yourself product. The highly intelligent questionnaires that I am referring to are a infused with deep legal knowledge. These questionnaires are a product of advanced programming and design techniques. The questionnaires of the future anticipate the client's issues, inform the client, and are developed to provide a rich client experience.
More than uncontested divorce
The next-generation elawyering questionnaires can serve multiple client personas from one interface. Not only can they do simple things like collect information for an uncontested divorce, they can do things like walk a customer through a complex child support matter. On the back end, the questionnaire compliments the interaction of the legal professional. In other words, your questionnaire will allow you to gather pertinent information, be notified of any major issues, integrate your marketing strategy, and deliver personal assistance to the client. As you can see, this requires a much more advanced programming model than a simple conversion of paper-based intake questionnaire into electronic form.