I like the potential of this, but not sure how filling out forms could be automated just yet. In a former life, I worked as a legal secretary and there always seemed to be subtle requirements I would have to fulfill like knowing how many copies something needed, who got which copy, and being able to fill out docket sheets based upon lawyer workload and client timing. I eventually developed a suite of tools that helped me in my day to day tasks, but some I couldn't imagine how to automate in a meaningful way.<p>That said, the best thing I ever developed was my own filing system which ran in parallel with official office filing. I had a folder per case and client which I would keep raw documents and an electronic signed version of our pleadings. I would also have a digital copy of the other side's pleadings run through OCR. This process involved day-to-day work to keep it up to date, BUT it allowed me to answer questions like "Which pleading was it that they filed which said x a month ago?" in seconds instead of minutes/hours without robust search.
Doing intelligent templatized form entry seems really convenient. Having signed up with a fake name/email[1], I was expecting to get an idea of what exactly this system would do for me. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have "preview" functionality for anything, and forces the steps to accomplish something to be _very_ linearized.<p>I can very much imagine wanting to "jump ahead" in the process when hiring a contractor. Yes, <Person X> hasn't yet informed Ironclad of their existence, but that doesn't stop me as an employer from knowing terms of the contract like compensation. Unfortunately, the workflow here seems to be:<p>* Get info
* Make initial Contractor Agreement
* Allow both parties to make incremental edits via dropbox (garnered this from other comments in this thread, so it could be wrong)
* When both parties agree, move on to the contracts part and repeat the "offline negotiation".<p>Every contract I've ever worked has been negotiated in person, and either there has been a fully filled contract (save for my details and signature) or no contract at all. I prefer the former case by far, as the latter ends up involving a face-to-face negotiation without the fine print, and inevitably holds up work when the contract has some unsavory fine print.<p>Having a system provide both "checkboxes" for doing things in a normal-ish way AND long-term tracking of documents would make my life a lot easier.<p>[1] No privacy policy means no PII data from me. You've seen plenty of this already in the comments, though.
Are you planning on supporting more then just Dropbox?<p>I do nights/weekend IT support/systems design and setup for some small law practices and most of them are on Box. It's what has been recommended by the bar here in Massachusetts. Plus I've found it to fit a law office's workflow pretty well.<p>Before I could really evaluate this for a law office there would need to be a solid privacy policy in place as well as at least a blog post about data security.<p>I like that you're trying to move quick, but lawyers tend to move pretty slowly in adopting new technology. The concept is cool but as it stands now it'd be a hard sell.
Hey HN! we created a better way to handle the most common paperwork needed by startups. Just sync a Dropbox folder with us and we’ll take care of all the legal paperwork for NDAs, Contractor agreements and LOIs and organize it in that folder automatically for you. We’re really looking for feedback on the flow and so any feedback is much appreciated.<p>The best way to jump right in is to go through signup and do a Letter of Intent (LOI) - you can just sign one with yourself to try it (use the same email, but use a slightly different name so you can tell the parties apart).<p>Thanks for taking a look!
At last, the startup web site which gives <i>no</i> information.<p><i>"The best way to jump right in is to go through signup".</i> Wrong answer.<p>Do you have a legal opinion that you are not engaged in the unauthorized practice of law? LegalZoom had a lot of trouble with that.[1] Even after some wins in court, they operate only in 41 US states, and have lawyers and paralegals on staff.<p>Badly drafted contracts can cause big trouble later. You need to go to a lot of effort to convince customers you know what you're doing.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/latest_legal_victory_has_legalzoom_poised_for_growth" rel="nofollow">http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/latest_legal_vict...</a>
> Pre-loaded with industry standard templates.<p>What industry? The legal industry? Transportation? Software? I agree with the feedback others are giving. The product interests me but there isn't nearly enough information for me to sign up, let alone trust you with any part of a legal document.
My initial thought was seems like a useful product, my second thought was legal documents seem like the kind of thing that almost always require a manual overview to make sure everything is in order.<p>So my question would be something along the line of how do you address this seemingly unavoidable necessity?
I like the 'keeping your legal documents organized'. What is up with the pre-loaded "industry standard" templates? Are you guys a law firm? Do you carry malpractice insurance in case these "industry standard" templates are awful and screw up someone's startup?
This appears to be the unauthorized practice of law, unless there's something missing from your description.<p>Collecting information and using it to fill out templates forms a significant portion of the practice of transactional law (i.e., contracts). Most specifically, as to the legal judgement of what form(s), statements, or clauses are appropriate, what the terms should be, etc.<p>I'll give you guys a week to rethink your service and get a lawyer on board, but next Wednesday if your service hasn't changed I'm contacting the CA State Bar.
Seeing this comment thread, I couldn't resist the urge to shamelessly plug our own product Beagle (beagle.ai), which is a contract analysis tool. Like Ironclad, we're tackling the legal space, but where it looks like Ironclad helps you manage your contracts, Beagle helps you understand them.<p>Beagle uses NLP to provide you with a broad understanding of which party in the agreement is liable or responsible for what. In addition, it provides real-time negotiation tools. Reach out to us if you'd like a demo, we're currently bringing on new customers in private beta.
Hey everyone, thanks a ton for your comments and interest. Now that we’ve had a chance to get some feedback, we’ll be closing up the site while we make improvements and get some of the things that you suggested in to the product. Please feel free to email admin@ironclad.ai if you’d like to get in touch. We really appreciate your feedback!