Tracy Rhodes is a Georgia attorney who describes herself as someone that runs a primarily high-conflict divorce practice, and as someone who believes in thinking differently and being creative. She always asks “Why not?” and never says, “That’s impossible.”

Tracy also does a lot of post-divorce work, including “all of the myriad problems” that come up, such as modification issues, non-compliance issues, and the “I really made a bad choice a few years ago and want to make a new choice” issues.  As she tells it, “wherever there are fighting families, that’s where I am.”

Tracy’s description of her practice from her website makes it clear how big the stakes are for her clients:

Here’s what I do. I work with people – not companies or interest groups or pieces of paper – but people that have an ALLCAPS PROBLEM. A problem that is frightening, heart-breaking, infuriating, and all-consuming in their lives. . . . 

. . . I meet my clients in the middle of their personal inferno. I don’t give them some pat solution or tell them it’s going to be easy. I find a way to make it work, a way through their personal hell to emerge on the other side maybe a little bruised, a little wiser, but otherwise whole.

Technology is her secret weapon

Working with clients in the middle of their personal inferno sounds incredibly stressful. Indeed, Tracy admits that “it’s certainly an acquired taste” and that “it can be a pretty taxing area of practice.” 

But Tracy has a secret weapon that makes it easier: technology. Technology makes her work efficient, accurate, and it alleviates the time-consuming tedium of certain tasks, like creating repeated documents. It gives her the freedom to focus on what she loves: trial work and strategy.

Finding the right technology: it must fit the way you work

Tracy describes herself as “extremely particular” with how her documents look. While she embraces technology and the efficiencies that come with it, she also insists on using technology that fits the way that she works.

That’s why when Tracy tried out the document automation tool offered as a module by her practice support system, she eventually abandoned it as “difficult to update and change” and too “click intensive.” 

She tried out some other systems and either they didn’t work well with Word, or they were too complicated for her needs. She wanted something simple, that worked in Word, that was intuitive and easy to use, and delivered consistent results.

Those frustrations, and some Google searches for a better, Word-based, document automation solution, brought her to Woodpecker.

The huge rewards of implementing document automation

For years, before she utilized document automation, Tracy needed help with the preparation of client documents to keep up with her workload. She’d outsource this repetitive work or have associates and assistants handle it. But then, she’d often get documents back with mistakes that are “fairly typical” with manual drafting.

Once Tracy invested in Woodpecker, she found it much more efficient to draft legal documents on her own. Not only can she now prepare documents in a matter of minutes, but she also saves immense amounts of time by not having to review or proofread someone else’s work or waste more time on back and forth communication.

In fact, for the size and volume of her practice, using our simple Word add-in completely eliminated the need for her to outsource her document drafting or to task it to someone else. Automation gave her full autonomy - no more relying on other people to get her work done.

Now, for all cases, Tracy starts “with one form and populates the skeletal outline of all other forms – including substantive documents, orders, and any motions or briefs” using Woodpecker’s multi-populate feature.

She can then have any motion or brief ready-to-go very quickly, freeing up her time to concentrate on legal writing - the kind of work that brings value to her clients and helps bring some relief to their personal inferno.

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