Edilex: technology to speed up the drafting of legal documents

Founded in 1992, Edilex was then a publishing house for legal documentation for jurists and lawyers. The company made a digital shift in the early 2000s by creating an online store to access documentation. This is the second twist in document automation that has brought the company to where it is today. The company now provides technological tools to speed up the drafting of complex legal documents.

“The need arose from the desire to speed up the drafting and design of contracts,” explains Jean-François L’Écuyer, Director of Strategy and Growth. “To write a contract, people start with old versions. When it comes to 50-60 page contracts, it becomes difficult to find your bearings. Requirements definition, writing, editing and layout can take between one to three weeks. So it was hard to be productive!”

In 2010, the company then rolled out its first software for procurement departments in companies and public bodies. “This is our flagship product which represents 90% of our revenues,” said L’Écuyer. “With this RFP writing software, the design takes between 30 minutes and an hour. It is therefore a gain in productivity and added value, in addition to reducing the risk of error and compliance. ”

Adapt… for the better

From 11 to 31 employees in three years, the Laval company has evolved a lot.

“The pandemic has highlighted for everyone the need for a tool that allows remote access to documents and makes it easier to write and review documents,” said L’Écuyer. COVID has made it possible to review our practices. We now have many virtual meetings and we have established a permanent teleworking policy. Right now our office space can accommodate up to 40 people, but with telecommuting, we can exceed the capacity threshold if we are on rotation. Changing paradigms has forced mentalities to change. The legal world is traditionally conservative, but it has been forced to adapt. ”

Future plans

Several projects saw the light of day in December, including their new website. The company has also recently developed a new generation of software. The idea behind this is to incorporate new content into this new version, intended for legal and litigation firms.

“As future projects, we are planning the commercial deployment of the new software and thus expand our markets outside of Quebec,” says L’Écuyer. As we are part of the CQTNC, we hope to go to France in 2021. It goes without saying that we also have marketing projects for the rest of Quebec. ” As In-Sec-M is very involved in the Grand-Est region, the Canadian Cybersecurity Cluster will be able to support them in this marketing.