About Direct Document Solutions

Direct Document Solutions is a company based in Brisbane, Queensland that specialises in custom document assembly systems utilising the HotDocs® document assembly platform. Ian Burrows is the sole director and service provider. I do not build and support "off the shelf" documentation packages for bulk re-sale. My focus is to create document assembly systems that embody the intellectual property, workflow and specific requirements of my clients. Everything custom design and programming, whether with HotDocs, Word native functions or VBA. My view is that when a document is created, it should be as close to finalised as possible, if not 100% ready for use, filing or sending to your client. I feel that off the shelf template packages dont offer this level of efficiency and "first draft finalisation", as they are not customised to your firm or company, with your drafting styles, your wording and your exact requirements.  They have their uses, but that's not my service focus.

Every system I design and program is written from the ground up with your precedents and templates. I consult with your people regarding every phrase, paragraph and nuance in every single piece of correspondence, memo, contract, document and form. The result for my clients is that such systems embody many of the decisions (in some cases, all decisions) that a staff member would make in creating the same document manually. Whether its specific "one click" lists of liquidators in a winding up system, automatic calculation of fees and court costs in a debt recovery system or hundreds of options to be selected (or not) to produce a lengthy lease, its all in the system. My systems are built with your data and your intellectual property to reduce your document production times at every turn.

Why I Advocate HotDocs for Document Assembly

There are several document assembly platforms available to the market in Australia. Alternatively, many firms utilise in house systems, often consisting of VBA macros with MS Word merge templates (optionally with Excel or Access as a data source) or WordPerfect macro libraries. We chose HotDocs (by Lexis Nexis) as the primary development platform for several reasons:

• Ease of use and navigation for the end user
• Low system overhead and ease of installation/maintenance
• Ability to share code quickly and easily between templates and libraries of templates
• Relatively "simple" programming language (when compared with GhostFill or VBA)
• Native integration with several leading document management systems
• Market penetration by Lexis Nexis in Australia means the product is not supported by only one firm or company (however, for quality document assembly systems, there are very few consultants in Australia generally).
  

Without attempting to market HotDocs, I've found it simply has the features required to produce intelligent document assembly systems that can massively reduce drafting times. There are other products available on the market however they either utilise a very complex programming language or are supported by a very limited number of entities in Australia.

Credentials

My name is Ian Burrows, director of Routine Automation Pty Ltd, trading as Direct Document Solutions.  I have been involved in document assembly, templates, styles, VBA macros/systems (Word and Excel) for approximately 7 years now.  Since HotDocs 5.1 I have been steadily pushing the envelope to design HotDocs systems that do more, require less and incorporate as much of the intellectual property and decision making process as possible.  Last, but not least, I am a HotDocs Certified Independent Consultant.

Prior to starting a consultancy business, I worked in the legal industry - mostly as a debt collection, litigation and insolvency paralegal.  I have a strong interest in technology with something that few tech boffins have - an understanding of a law firm from top to bottom. About the only job I haven't performed at some point in a law firm is that of "solicitor".

I have designed and built numerous systems for clients, mostly under the banner of Basha Systems LLC - a New York based consultancy firm.  I have been working closely with Basha Systems and its principal, Seth Rowland Esq. for over 5 years.  During this time, I have been fortunate enough to design and work on some of the most complex and detailed document assembly systems imaginable.