Formatting fails.
Version-control chaos.
Clauses that appear out of nowhere.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Every lawyer’s been there.
Despite “modern” templates and improved workflows, drafting pain points continue to haunt legal teams. Why?
Because these aren’t drafting problems, they’re system problems. And the solution starts with intelligent document automation designed for lawyers and built to complement how legal teams work.
Let’s unpack three of the most common drafting nightmares, and how the right technology can help eliminate them for good.
1. Formatting Fails: The Silent Time Thief
You open a precedent, and everything shifts. Numbering systems break. Cross-references disappear, and margins go rogue. What was meant to be a quick draft becomes an hour-long rescue mission.
Why does it happen: From years of copy-paste, mixed styles, and formatting quirks built into and buried deep in legacy documents.
Fix it by:
- Preparing documents properly before automation
Think of this as a deep clean for your templates. A well-prepped document is your best defence in dramatically reducing formatting chaos later.
Start with:
- Cleaning and standardising house styles.
- Consolidating numbering schemes and cross-references.
- Applying consistent rules for headers, footers, and margins.
- Removing legacy or hidden formatting that triggers unpredictable behaviour.
This foundational set up ensures your documents are automation ready and far more reliable later on.
2. Choosing automation that respects formatting
Even the cleanest template is only as good as the platform it’s built on. Your automation tool must uphold formatting integrity.
Look for:
- Tools that preserve styles during uploads
- Round-tripping without format drift (download → edit → re-upload)
- Robust handling of numbering, cross-references, and layout rules.
- Word integration to fully protect your house style.
Bottom line: Start with structure, then use tech that respects it. That’s how legal teams can escape the formatting spiral and get back to focusing on the work that matters.
2. Template Sprawl: Escaping the Multi-Version Maze
You go to draft an “employment agreement” only to find… seven versions of it. Different regions, different clauses, inconsistent formatting. Which is the latest? Which is right? Choosing the right one takes longer than using it.
Why it happens: Minor variations (jurisdiction, policy, terms) turn into new versions and can quickly snowball into multiple new versions. Before long, you’re managing a sprawl.
Fix it by:
- Consolidating to a single source of truth
Start by pulling all the variants into one master template.
2. Structure variations as smart choices
Use automation to handle regional, policy or clause differences as conditional logic, check boxes, dropdowns, or jurisdiction-based options.
This eliminates redundant templates, accelerate drafting, and keeps everyone aligned on what “the right version” actually is.
Bonus: with one centralised, rules-driven template, reviews become easier, errors drop, and onboarding new team members takes less time.
3. Clauses Gone Rogue: When Documents Write Themselves (Badly)
A clause pops in that shouldn’t. Or disappears when it’s critical. You’re left wondering: how did that happen?
Classic rogue clause syndrome.
Why it happens: Manual drafting relies on memory, copy-paste and unchecked edits, both risky under pressure.
Fix it by:
- Enforcing Logic with Automation
Document automation replaces the guess work with precision. Instead of relying on memory:
- Rules decide what appears, when and why.
- Defaults, exceptions, and mandatory fields are baked into the system. Numbering and cross-references adjust automatically.
2. Using Tools that think ahead
Some advanced platforms offer centralised clause management, which ensures a single edit to a stored clause instantly updates all associated templates. That means fewer mistakes, more consistent language, and smarter documents overall.
The Real Solution: Document Automation That Works the way Legal Teams Do Actually Built for Legal Teams
These drafting nightmares aren’t inevitable. They’re signs that your documents have outgrown the tools holding them together.
The real fix isn’t just smarter templates. It’s document automation built specifically for legal work:
- Where formatting doesn’t break every time you touch it
- Where versions don’t multiply in the shadows
- Where clauses behave exactly as they should
And most importantly, where your team can draft faster, with fewer errors, and more confidence.
This isn’t about replacing lawyers. It’s about freeing them.
Let your documents do the grunt work so your lawyers can focus on what they do best.
