The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/1426259
www.canadianlawyermag.com 21 stemmed from their own negative experi- ence as beneficiaries in managing their grandmother's estate. The first version of Estateably's software was a platform built in 2018 that streamlined the electronic submission of tax clearance requests. Brojde says the company then moved on to an end- to-end estate administration program and is ready to launch a purpose-build trust and Power of Attorney administration product in 2022. As more law firms move to the cloud, Brojde says they are looking for web-based software that can be accessed by staff wherever they are. Permissions can also be granted to allow non-lawyer executors to participate in the administration process, even dividing up tasks if there is more than one executor. Brojde says that "law firms are increas- ingly aware of the massive transfer of inter- generational wealth that is unfolding and will continue to unfold over the next two decades as members of the Boomer genera- tion age and pass away. On the other hand, "they are confronted with a relative shortage of the clerks and other paraprofessionals that are knowledgeable and experienced in estate administration." Technology that helps law firms process the administration of these estates more efficiently is becoming more valuable as they try to capture the opportunity ahead of them and streamline procedures to take on greater volume without adding addi- tional staff. A more efficient system can also handle the increasing complexity of estates as there are more blended families, more second marriages and beneficiaries with competing interests. "It requires software that can embed the required logic to have these managed effectively." Korbitec Inc., a Readers' Choice winner in two legal technology categories. Use the wrong form, for example, and the court clerk will likely reject it, saying to come back with the correct form filled out. What became clear over the past few decades — as forms can now be updated frequently with a few strokes on a computer keyboard — is that law firms need a software platform that allows them to have access to the most up-to- date forms for court procedures in specific jurisdictions. The company's roots date to 1976 in Cape Town, South Africa, but its pres- ence in Canada happened in 2006 when it purchased a Canadian software player that morphed into what the company is today — focussing on its flagship software, ACL (an acronym for Automated Civil Litigation). Korbitec maintains more than 3,500 court forms within its ACL platform which it updates regularly. "So far this year, we have gone through 18 content updates, and we're now working on 19." The platform also helps prevent errors from creeping into a document — a consid- erable efficiency tool. "The most common errors that crop up when firms are putting together documents usually arise from 'cut and paste' errors that [occur] when an existing completed document is used as a template for a new one," Bass says. "Inevitably, not everything that needs to be replaced in a document will be — so, dates could be wrong, incorrect names are left in, the wrong gender pronouns are used." A system that makes the process of filling out court documents less prone to mistakes is a crucial part of a law firm's proficiency and economics. Flexibility to adapt to a particular law firm's procedures and prac- tices is also a hallmark of good document management. Document management as the key to efficiency As document sharing and filing electroni- cally become more standardized, law firms are looking for vendors who provide digital tools to promote greater productivity when managing workflow. In the case of Estateably, first cousins Ari Brojde and Alex Wulkan have developed a platform that streamlines the process of administering an estate. Their idea "Law firms are increasingly aware of the massive transfer of intergenerational wealth that is unfolding and will continue to unfold over the next two decades." Ari Brojde, Estateably