How We Turned Document Prep from Hours to Minutes for a Texas Law Firm
Property tax litigation involves a lot of documents. For each petition, attorneys need to gather property data from county records, verify ownership, calculate assessed values, and generate multiple legal documents—disclosure forms, petitions, and supporting materials.
When a Texas law firm specializing in property tax cases, came to us, they were doing all of this manually. Each case required 2-3 hours of document preparation, pulling data from 25+ different county websites with wildly different formats and interfaces.
With hundreds of cases to file, this manual process was becoming unsustainable. They needed a way to automate document preparation while maintaining the accuracy required for legal filings.
Here's how we built a system that reduced document prep time from hours to minutes—and what we learned about automating complex, regulated workflows.
The Challenge: 25 Counties, 25 Different Systems
Property tax data in Texas is maintained at the county level. Each of the state's 254 counties has its own appraisal district, its own website, and its own way of organizing data.
Some counties have modern search interfaces. Others have legacy systems from the early 2000s. Some require multi-step navigation. Others use frames and outdated JavaScript. None have standardized data formats.
The Manual Process
Before automation, preparing documents for a single case involved:
- Identifying which county the property is in
- Navigating to that county's appraisal district website
- Searching for the property using an account number or address
- Recording property details—owner, address, assessed value, exemptions
- Downloading relevant documents if available
- Copying this information into templates for petitions and disclosures
- Generating Word documents for filing
- Reviewing everything for accuracy
Multiply this across dozens of cases per filing cycle, and you can see why the firm needed a better approach.
Why This Matters for Legal Practices
Time spent on document prep is time not spent on legal strategy, client communication, or business development. For firms handling high volumes of similar cases, automation isn't just about efficiency—it's about scalability.
The firm could either hire more staff to handle document prep, or build systems that let attorneys focus on law instead of data entry.
Is your legal practice drowning in manual document workflows? Let's talk about your situation.
The Solution: Automated Data Aggregation and Document Generation
We built PetitionCreator, a system that automates the entire document preparation workflow while maintaining the accuracy and audit trail required for legal work.
Component 1: County-Specific Web Scrapers
The first challenge was pulling data from 25+ county websites with different structures. We built custom web scrapers using Python's Scrapy framework—one scraper per county.
Each scraper understands that county's specific website structure:
- How to navigate search forms
- Where property data appears on results pages
- How to handle pagination and multi-page results
- What to do when data is missing or formatted inconsistently
The scrapers run on-demand when a case needs property data. They pull current information directly from county appraisal district websites, ensuring documents are always based on the latest records.
Component 2: Integration with Clio Legal Practice Management
The firm already used Clio Manage to track matters and client information. Rather than forcing them to maintain data in two places, we integrated PetitionCreator directly with Clio using their OAuth API.
When an attorney opens a matter in Clio, they can trigger document generation directly from the Clio interface. PetitionCreator:
- Pulls case details from Clio
- Retrieves property data using the scrapers
- Generates all necessary documents
- Sends completion notifications back to Clio via webhooks
This tight integration meant attorneys didn't need to learn a new system—automation happened within their existing workflow.
Component 3: Template-Based Document Generation
Legal documents require specific formatting, language, and structure. We implemented mail merge capabilities using docx4j for Word document generation.
The system maintains templates for each document type:
- Property tax petitions with county-specific requirements
- Disclosure forms with standardized formatting
- Supporting materials with property details
When generating documents, the system:
- Pulls the appropriate template
- Populates fields with case-specific data
- Applies proper formatting and structure
- Generates print-ready Word documents
- Creates an audit trail of what was generated and when
Component 4: Case Status Workflow
The system tracks cases through a defined workflow:
PENDING → Case created, property data needed
READY → Property data retrieved, ready for document generation
GENERATED → Documents created and available for review
This status tracking gives the firm visibility into where each case stands and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
Learn more about our approach to custom software development for professional services.
The Implementation Process
Building software for legal workflows requires more than just technical capability—it requires understanding how legal professionals actually work.
Discovery: Understanding the Workflow
We started with structured discovery, spending time with the attorneys to understand:
- How they currently prepare documents
- Where errors typically occur
- What information is critical vs. nice-to-have
- How they track case status
- What their review process looks like
- Which counties they work with most frequently
This discovery phase revealed requirements that weren't obvious from initial conversations—edge cases, county-specific quirks, and quality control needs that proved critical to successful implementation.
Phased Rollout
Rather than building everything at once, we took a phased approach:
Phase 1: Core system with 5 high-volume counties
Phase 2: Expansion to 15 additional counties
Phase 3: Clio integration and workflow automation
Phase 4: Remaining counties and enhanced document templates
This let the firm start seeing value quickly while we refined the system based on real usage.
Quality Control and Testing
Legal document accuracy is non-negotiable. We implemented multiple quality controls:
- Scraper validation to ensure data accuracy
- Manual review checkpoints before final filing
- Audit trails showing exactly what data was used and when
- Version control for document templates
- Testing against known-good cases before production use
The system assists attorneys—it doesn't replace their judgment. Every generated document goes through attorney review before filing.
The Results: Hours to Minutes
The impact was immediate and measurable.
Time Savings
Document preparation time dropped from 2-3 hours per case to 5-10 minutes. That's a 90%+ reduction in time spent on administrative tasks.
For a firm handling dozens of cases per filing cycle, this time savings translates directly to capacity. They can handle more cases with existing staff, or allocate attorney time to higher-value work.
Accuracy Improvements
Automated data retrieval eliminated transcription errors. Property details pulled directly from county records are accurate by definition.
The structured templates ensure documents are formatted consistently and include all required information.
Scalability
Before automation, growth meant hiring more staff for document prep. Now the firm can scale case volume without proportionally scaling administrative overhead.
The system handles peak filing periods without breaking a sweat—something manual processes couldn't match.
Client Experience
Faster document preparation means faster case initiation. Clients see movement on their cases sooner, which improves satisfaction and reduces support burden.
Lessons From Automating Legal Workflows
This project taught us important lessons about building software for professional services:
1. Automation Should Assist, Not Replace
We designed the system to handle tedious data gathering and formatting while keeping attorneys in control of legal decisions. The technology does what computers do well—repetitive data processing—while leaving judgment to humans.
2. Audit Trails Are Critical
For regulated professions like law, being able to show exactly what was done and when is essential. We built comprehensive logging from day one.
3. Integration With Existing Tools Matters
Rather than forcing attorneys to adopt entirely new workflows, we integrated with their existing Clio system. This reduced training requirements and increased adoption.
4. Handle Edge Cases Gracefully
County websites occasionally change. Scrapers sometimes fail. Property records have missing data. The system needed to handle these gracefully with clear error messages and fallback workflows.
5. Phased Implementation Reduces Risk
Starting with a subset of counties let us prove the concept, refine the approach, and build confidence before rolling out more broadly.
Beyond Property Tax: Broader Applications
While PetitionCreator was built for property tax litigation, the principles apply to many legal workflows:
- Contract generation from standardized templates
- Discovery document processing and organization
- Court filing automation with jurisdiction-specific rules
- Client intake workflows with document collection
- Regulatory compliance tracking across multiple jurisdictions
Any legal workflow involving repetitive data gathering, document generation, or multi-step processes can benefit from similar automation.
See how we work with legal and professional services firms.
The Broader Impact on Legal Technology
Legal practice increasingly means knowing when and how to leverage technology to deliver better client service at better economics.
Small and mid-sized firms often can't afford the enterprise legal tech solutions designed for large firms. But they face the same pressures around efficiency and scalability.
Custom automation—built specifically for a firm's unique workflows and practice areas—provides enterprise-level capabilities at small firm economics.
When Custom Legal Tech Makes Sense
Consider custom development when:
- Your practice has specialized workflows that generic legal software doesn't support
- You're doing high volumes of similar cases where automation creates measurable ROI
- You need to integrate disparate data sources that don't have pre-built connectors
- Your competitive advantage comes from doing things differently than other firms
- You have repetitive document preparation or data gathering tasks
The investment in custom automation pays for itself through time savings, increased capacity, and improved accuracy.
Getting Started With Legal Workflow Automation
If you're a legal professional dealing with repetitive workflows, document preparation bottlenecks, or data aggregation challenges, automation might transform your practice.
Questions to Ask
Start by identifying opportunities:
- What tasks take the most time but add the least value?
- Where do errors most commonly occur?
- What would you do with 10 extra hours per week?
- What's limiting your ability to take on more cases?
- Where are you manually copying data between systems?
If you're spending significant time on tasks that follow predictable patterns, there's probably an automation opportunity.
Start With Discovery
The first step isn't building software—it's understanding your workflows and identifying the highest-impact opportunities.
Our discovery process documents how your practice operates, identifies automation candidates, and provides realistic assessments of what's possible and what it would cost.
Sometimes the right answer is off-the-shelf legal software. Sometimes it's custom development. Sometimes it's a combination. Discovery helps you make that decision with confidence.
Your Practice Deserves Better Tools
Legal practice is demanding enough without spending hours on document preparation that software could handle in minutes.
The firms that thrive in today's market are the ones that embrace technology strategically—automating what can be automated while focusing human expertise where it creates the most value.
If you're ready to explore what automation could do for your practice, let's talk.
Schedule a discovery session to discuss your specific workflows and explore what's possible.
Or reach out with questions about legal workflow automation, document generation, or practice management integration.
We've helped law firms transform document prep from hours to minutes. We can help you do the same.