Emma Robot – Automate Complex Workflows with AI

Contract Drafting & Assembly

Creating standardized or bespoke legal agreements—ranging from NDAs and supplier contracts to partnership agreements—requires heavy drafting work and frequent reuse of standard clauses.

Step 1

Document Template Management

Law firms and corporate legal teams often keep a library of Word docs with pre-approved clauses or entire templates. Manually sifting through these can introduce errors (using outdated versions) or wasted time. Emma organizes clauses in a contract lifecycle management (CLM) tool such as Ironclad, DocuSign CLM, or Conga, tagging them by type (e.g., confidentiality, liability, indemnity). This ensures drafters always pull the latest version.

Step 2

Client/Party Data Insertion

Basic contract info (names, addresses, effective dates) must be added every time. Emma automates this by pulling data from an intake form or CRM (e.g., Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics), merging it into placeholders in the contract template. This eliminates repetitive copy-paste tasks and potential typos.

Step 3

Clause Selection & Dynamic Assembly

Depending on risk level or jurisdiction, certain clauses (e.g., dispute resolution, governing law) might change. Emma can apply rule-based logic: if the transaction is cross-border, insert the relevant arbitration clause. This ensures each contract is tailored to the correct scenario, boosting compliance and efficiency.

Step 4

Version Control & Collaboration

Lawyers or clients often mark up contracts in different tools, causing confusion over which version is current. Emma acts as a single source of truth in platforms like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, or CLM software—merging redlines, highlighting changes, and preventing the dreaded "final_final2.docx" chaos.

Step 5

Finalization & E-Signature

After internal approvals, Emma seamlessly routes the contract for e-sign via DocuSign, Adobe Sign, or HelloSign, tracks who has (or hasn't) signed, and notifies the appropriate parties. Once executed, Emma archives the final contract and any metadata (e.g., expiration or renewal dates) in a central repository.

Contract Review & Negotiation

Reviewing an incoming contract draft from third parties, identifying risks or deviations from company policy, and negotiating terms with counterparties.

01

Automated Intake & OCR

Contracts might arrive as PDFs, Word files, or scanned documents. Manually reading and extracting text is cumbersome. Emma uses OCR and text extraction to digitize the contract in tools like Kira Systems, Evisort, or Luminance, so attorneys can easily search and annotate.

02

Risk/Deviation Analysis

Using built-in AI or custom rules, Emma compares each clause to company-approved language. Deviations—like an unusual indemnity limit—are flagged. This "red flag" approach prevents lawyers from missing subtle but important changes.

03

Clause Suggestions & Playbooks

Many legal teams maintain negotiation playbooks describing fallback clauses or acceptable alternatives. Emma references these guidelines to propose alternative language when it detects certain high-risk wording. This shortens the back-and-forth with counterparties.

04

Collaborative Markups

Negotiating parties often exchange multiple draft versions. Emma logs changes, merges redlines, and keeps a clear audit trail within a collaboration platform or CLM tool. This ensures no changes go unnoticed and speeds up final agreement.

05

Approval Workflow

Complex deals may need multiple approvals—e.g., from compliance, finance, or executives. Emma automates routing each new draft or critical revision for sign-off in solutions like ContractPodAi or Agiloft, so the negotiation doesn't stall in someone's inbox. This ensures faster deal closure and complete transparency on the approval chain.

eDiscovery & Litigation Support

Identifying, collecting, and reviewing electronic documents (emails, files, chat logs) relevant to a lawsuit or investigation. eDiscovery is notoriously document-heavy and time-consuming.

Step 1

Data Collection & Preservation

To comply with legal holds, teams must locate relevant data across email servers, file shares, or cloud apps. Emma automatically crawls authorized data sources—like Microsoft 365 or Google Vault—exporting relevant files while logging a chain of custody. This reduces the risk of missing or spoliating data.

Step 2

Deduplication & Filtering

eDiscovery sets can run into millions of documents. Manually sorting duplicates or obviously irrelevant items is impossible. Emma leverages advanced deduplication and concept clustering in eDiscovery tools (e.g., Relativity, Everlaw, or Logikcull), drastically shrinking the review set. This saves attorneys from hours of scanning identical documents.

Step 3

Keyword & Concept Search

Traditional paralegals use keywords to cull data. Emma integrates with AI-based searching, grouping docs by topic or entity. She highlights relevant patterns (like mention of certain contract numbers or key employees). This ensures counsel invests time on genuinely relevant documents.

Step 4

Review Management & Tagging

Document reviewers need to tag items (privileged, relevant, needs redaction). Emma automates preliminary tagging, suggesting categories or marking potential privileged content (like attorney–client communications). This jump-starts the manual review, significantly reducing costs.

Step 5

Production & Reporting

When it's time to produce documents to opposing counsel or regulators, Emma collects the selected documents, applies Bates numbering, and exports them in the required format (e.g., TIFF with load files). She then updates a final privilege log if certain items are withheld. This ensures compliance with eDiscovery rules, minimizing errors in production sets.

Compliance & Regulatory Tracking

Staying up to date with laws and regulations—like GDPR, HIPAA, or industry-specific rules—and ensuring the organization’s policies align. Non-compliance risks hefty fines and legal exposure.

01

Regulatory Monitoring

Governments and agencies constantly update rules. Manually monitoring official websites is tedious and prone to oversight. Emma scrapes relevant sources—like the Federal Register (US), the European Commission, or local authorities—alerting in-house counsel when new regulations appear that match defined keywords (e.g., "data protection," "financial disclosure").

02

Policy Gap Analysis

If a new law arrives, Emma compares it to current company policies, highlighting areas of discrepancy. For instance, a new consumer data right might require an updated privacy policy or revised data retention. Emma's side-by-side comparisons reduce guesswork and help counsel quickly see what must change.

03

Internal Stakeholder Updates

Many departments (finance, HR, IT) need to adapt to new regulations. Emma routes summaries and recommended actions in a workflow tool like Confluence, SharePoint, or a compliance management system (e.g., OneTrust, NAVEX). This transparency helps prevent departmental miscommunication.

04

Document Revision & Control

Once changes are identified, legal must update policies, disclaimers, or internal guides. Emma auto-fills the relevant amendments and triggers an approval flow for final review. After sign-off, she logs version changes, distributing the new policy to employees or publishing it in a compliance portal.

05

Reporting & Audit Trail

Regulators or auditors may request proof of compliance efforts. Emma compiles an audit-ready packet: meeting notes, policy changes, training records, and sign-off documents. By capturing each compliance action, Emma helps the legal team demonstrate the firm's due diligence if questioned.

Intellectual Property (IP) Management

Handling patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. IP management includes filing, renewals, monitoring infringement, and ensuring IP portfolios remain valid and defended.

Companies can own dozens or thousands of IP assets, each with deadlines. Manually maintaining spreadsheets for filing dates or renewal windows is prone to error. Emma organizes all assets (patents, trademarks, etc.) in IP management software like Anaqua, CPA Global, or Patricia, tracking each's status and next action.

Patents and trademarks require periodic maintenance fees or renewals. Emma automatically calculates due dates based on filing or grant dates, alerting counsel well in advance. This ensures no accidental lapses and avoids surcharges or lost IP rights.

Brands must monitor new trademark applications or potential trademark/patent infringements. Instead of scanning trademark databases manually, Emma receives watch notices (e.g., from WIPO or USPTO) and flags potential conflicts. If a new trademark is too similar, Emma alerts counsel to prepare opposition or negotiate usage.

IP filings demand specific forms for each jurisdiction. Emma auto-fills the forms with applicant data, claim details, or references, saving hours in repetitive tasks. She then e-files or forwards the docs to outside counsel, verifying no mandatory fields are missing or invalid.

If infringement is confirmed, Emma compiles relevant proof (registration certificates, product design documentation, usage history). She triggers the enforcement workflow, e.g., sending a cease-and-desist letter or preparing documentation for litigation. This structured approach helps in quickly halting unauthorized use of IP.

Legal Research & Knowledge Management

Finding case law, statutes, regulations, or internal precedents to support legal arguments or decisions. Knowledge management ensures lawyers don’t reinvent the wheel.

Lawyers may search commercial databases like Westlaw, LexisNexis, or Bloomberg Law. Manually copying relevant passages into personal notes is inefficient. Emma automates queries, capturing relevant results in a knowledge library. She also tags them by topic (e.g., "employment law," "IP disputes"), so future searches are faster.

Reading through a 50-page opinion is time-consuming. Emma uses NLP to generate brief summaries—highlighting key holdings, cited statutes, or controlling precedents. This quick snapshot helps attorneys gauge relevance before investing deep reading time.

Firms with large archives often lose track of past briefs or memoranda that could be reused. Emma indexes these internal documents, making them searchable by topic or outcome (e.g., "motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6)"). This knowledge base fosters consistent arguments and saves drafting time.

Courts regularly issue new opinions. Emma sets up alerts for relevant practice areas, automatically delivering them to attorneys. This prevents missed developments that might reshape a strategy or argument, such as a newly overturned precedent.

Lawyers often share research findings in email chains or informal Slack chats. Emma organizes them in a central knowledge management tool like SharePoint, Confluence, or HighQ, preserving context and providing version control for future reference or staff transitions.

Matter Management & Time Tracking

Legal departments and law firms juggle multiple “matters” (cases, deals, compliance projects) at once. Tracking progress, documents, tasks, and billable hours is crucial for budgeting and resource allocation.

Step 1

Matter Intake & Setup

Whenever a new case or project arises, attorneys open a "matter" with basic data like client, case type, assigned team. Emma can parse intake forms or new business requests, auto-filling matter details in solutions like Clio, Actionstep, or Thomson Reuters Elite. This ensures each matter is consistently labeled and fully documented from Day 1.

Step 2

Task & Deadline Tracking

Court dates, filing deadlines, or internal milestones are easily overlooked if kept on personal calendars. Emma syncs matter deadlines to a shared calendar in Microsoft Outlook, Google Workspace, or specialized matter management tools. She auto-sends reminders or escalations to assigned team members.

Step 3

Billable Hours Logging

Lawyers often input time logs at the day's end or after a phone call. Emma tracks attorney schedules, emails, or phone records, suggesting time entries based on recognized events. By integrating with TimeSolv, Toggl, or built-in modules in Clio, Emma drastically reduces unbilled hours and forgotten time logs.

Step 4

Document Association

Emails, PDFs, or briefs need to be associated with the correct matter. Emma reads metadata (client name, matter number) and categorizes them in a DMS (Document Management System) like iManage, NetDocuments, or SharePoint. This consistent organization helps teams quickly locate all relevant files.

Step 5

Real-Time Reporting

Partners or GC (General Counsel) often want snapshots of matter status, budget vs. actual hours, or upcoming deadlines. Emma compiles these metrics in dashboards (e.g., Power BI, Tableau, or built-in matter management reports) so leadership can proactively manage capacity and costs.

Court Filing & Docket Management

Submitting legal pleadings or motions to courts, which often have strict e-filing guidelines and deadlines. Monitoring dockets ensures no missed hearings or briefing schedules.

Step 1

Document Preparation & Formatting

Courts demand specific formatting (margins, fonts, PDF bookmarks). Manually adjusting each file is tedious. Emma uses macros or integrates with e-filing software (like CaseLines or local court portals) to ensure documents comply with each court's rules, drastically reducing rejected filings.

Step 2

E-Filing Submission

Different courts have distinct portals (e.g., PACER for U.S. federal, individual state e-file systems). Emma automatically logs in, uploads documents, and confirms acceptance. She also checks for e-filing fees, creating a payment request if needed. This eliminates staff from late-night or last-minute filing panics.

Step 3

Docket Updates & Tracking

Courts update dockets with hearing dates, judge orders, or new filings from opposing counsel. Emma periodically scans these dockets, capturing any changes and notifying the legal team. This real-time awareness means attorneys never miss a scheduling change or newly filed motion.

Step 4

Calendar Sync

Once a hearing or deadline is posted, Emma syncs it with matter calendars. She sets reminders and tasks for attorneys (e.g., "Draft reply brief by X date"). This ensures the entire team sees the updated schedule, preventing frantic scrambles or overlooked deadlines.

Step 5

Archiving & Review

After a case concludes or a motion is resolved, Emma archives the court filings—complete with the final docket sheet and all associated documents—in the matter's folder. This thorough record is vital for appeals or future reference, saving attorneys from rummaging through multiple systems later.

Client Intake & Conflict Checks

When a new client or case comes in, firms must verify no conflicts of interest exist (e.g., representing opposing parties) and gather essential KYC (Know Your Customer) data for compliance.

01

Initial Inquiry & Data Capture

Potential clients submit details via forms, calls, or emails. Manually re-entering these details can lead to incomplete records. Emma automatically extracts names, addresses, matter types, and potential adverse parties into a CRM or matter management system like Leap, Clio, or Salesforce.

02

Conflict Search

Firms maintain a conflict database tracking all prior and current clients, plus related parties. Emma cross-references the new client's data, searching for matches or potential conflicts in a matter management or conflict-checking tool (e.g., iManage Conflicts or InTapp). If flagged, it alerts the responsible partner or conflict committee.

03

KYC & AML Compliance

Regulatory or bar association rules might require verifying a client's identity, checking watchlists, or performing Anti-Money Laundering checks. Emma automates these queries in databases (like World-Check or LexisNexis Risk Solutions), logging the results securely. This ensures the firm meets ethical and regulatory obligations.

04

Engagement Letter Generation

Once cleared, the firm sends an engagement letter. Emma populates standard terms, scope of representation, and fee structures, then routes it for e-sign. This immediate and automated approach reduces time from inquiry to official retainer.

05

Data Security & Permissions

After the client is onboarded, Emma sets up secure access controls in the matter management system so only approved attorneys and staff can view the matter. This upholds confidentiality and ensures compliance with data protection obligations (e.g., GDPR or bar association rules).

Corporate Governance & Board Minutes

Corporations must maintain formal records—board meeting minutes, resolutions, compliance with bylaws—especially for public companies or regulated industries.

Boards typically meet quarterly or upon special request. Emma helps schedule these meetings, ensuring each director's availability is considered. She also compiles agenda items from executives or committees, distributing a final version to all participants via email or a board portal (e.g., Diligent, Boardvantage).

Board members receive pre-read materials (financials, strategy docs). Emma automatically merges these into a single packet, stores it securely, and sends personalized access links. This avoids manual emailing of large PDFs that might be overlooked or get stuck in spam.

During meetings, a designated staff or a minute-taker might quickly type notes. Emma can assist by recording audio (with permission), using speech-to-text to generate a rough transcript. She tags action items (e.g., "Finance to provide updated forecast") or decisions, facilitating a polished minutes draft afterward.

If directors pass formal resolutions, Emma pulls the resolution text from a library of standard templates, edits it with the specifics, and then routes it digitally for each board member's signature. This ensures a swift, traceable record of board decisions.

Some decisions require filings with regulators (e.g., SEC, Companies House, or state business registries). Emma auto-completes the necessary forms, logs the submission, and archives the board minutes. She sets future reminders if any follow-up or re-filing is needed (like annual reports).