Posted by Archie Courage, founder of Legal Futures Associate FormEvo
Courage: Structured, reusable data is the future
I have spent much of my working life thinking about something most people would probably prefer not to think about at all: legal forms.
I didn’t exactly set out with that ambition.
I left school at 16 with one O level, in woodwork. Later, while recovering after breaking my neck in a hit-and-run accident, I restarted my education and eventually graduated with a first in business and database management.
That combination – business, databases and a determination to find a better way of doing things – shaped much of what followed.
In the 1990s, I began working with law firms and estate agents, using databases to make processes more efficient. That thinking evolved into Convey Pro, a conveyancing case management system, then SDLT.co.uk, which digitised stamp duty land tax (SDLT) submissions.
Each step evolved naturally from the one before it, with FormEvo the latest chapter.
Today, as we look beyond the UK and towards markets such as Australia, history offers an important lesson. Progress does not always mean starting again. Often, the strongest innovation comes from understanding what has already been learned and evolving it.
Legal forms are more important than we give them credit for
Legal technology has changed enormously during my career. Practice, case and document management systems have all evolved. More recently, AI has dominated conversations about what comes next.
Unsurprisingly, legal forms rarely attract the same attention.
Forms can seem dull. Filling in different answers to the same questions repeatedly certainly is. But behind that seemingly mundane task, forms play a critical role.
Forms are a pivot point in the legal process – where data becomes information. It’s where information is captured, checked and structured before being shared, reused or submitted digitally.
That makes forms integral to compliance, risk management and the flow of data between legal and government systems. Get it wrong at that pivot point, and the consequences can travel much further than a badly completed document.
Legal forms aren’t simply documents at the end of a process. They’re part of the data infrastructure that keeps the entire legal process moving.
The future is structured
I say this frequently because I think it gets to the heart of where legal forms technology is heading: FormEvo is a database, not a word processor.
For years, legal forms were built around documents. Information was typed into a form, the document was produced and, too often, the same information had to be retyped somewhere else. Structured data changes that.
When information is captured as structured data, it can be reused across forms, validated, moved between systems and submitted digitally to government platforms, with the results returned to the firm’s matter or document management system.
Instead of repeatedly retyping the same information, trusted data is captured once and allowed to flow, creating a more reliable single source of truth
That becomes even more significant as law firms adopt automation and AI, where the quality and consistency of the underlying data matters. Structured legal data isn’t just about better forms. It’s about enabling what comes next.
Accuracy does not happen by accident
A legal form isn’t simply a collection of boxes. It reflects legislation, procedure, government requirements, and the nuances of a particular area of practice. All of which can change.
Understanding tech, therefore, is only half the job. In a mature and highly regulated legal market, keeping forms accurate and compliant requires specialist knowledge and constant attention.
At FormEvo, we sometimes describe ourselves as ‘passionately dull’. It’s tongue in cheek, but there is a serious point behind it. Legal forms are a specialist discipline, and experience matters.
Over the years, that experience has also taught us where the forms process itself can work better. Version control and audit trails can strengthen oversight, while expandable forms and clause libraries can improve consistency and remove unnecessary work.
So the value isn’t simply in responding quickly when forms change. It’s in continually finding opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce risk.
What racing has taught me about preparation
I see a useful parallel with another part of my life – motorsport.
Through FormEvo Racing, I see how much work goes into making something fast and effortless. Think about a well-executed pit stop. Everything happens in seconds, but only because the people, processes and technology work together. That’s exactly what good legal forms technology should achieve.
For the user, completing and submitting a form should feel fast, efficient and straightforward. Behind that simplicity, however, there needs to be expertise, integration, accurate data and a great deal of attention to detail.
The best technology looks effortless precisely because so much effort has gone into making it that way.
Mature markets should export lessons, not legacy
Today, developing legaltech markets such as Australia can draw on decades of experience from elsewhere, where many of the challenges of digitisation have already been encountered
That does not mean simply exporting UK technology. Every jurisdiction has its own legislation, procedures, forms and legal nuance. What can be shared are the lessons.
We know that isolated systems create unnecessary duplication. We know that repeatedly re-keying information wastes time and introduces risk. We know that integrations matter. We know that forms need continuous specialist attention to remain accurate and compliant.
And we know that the direction of travel is away from disconnected documents and towards structured, reusable data.
By learning from that experience, newer legal technology markets don’t need to repeat the same journey or mistakes. They can start further ahead.
Legal forms will continue to evolve
The one principle that has remained constant throughout my career is that the development of technology never stops. Legal forms cannot sit outside that evolution.
For law firms, the question is no longer: “How do we produce this form?”
Rather, it is: “How does the data get here? How can we reuse it? How do we know it is accurate? Where does it need to go next? And how does this part of the process connect with the rest of our technology?”
That is why I believe the future of legal forms is considerably more interesting – and more strategically important – than their reputation might suggest.
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