Drafting in Response to Something (Reactive vs Proactive)

When creating a draft in Lexlegis, you need to specify whether your draft is responding to an existing document or situation, or whether it is being created from scratch.

This selection helps Lexlegis understand the context and intent behind the draft and determines how existing documents are used.

If you have not yet chosen a document structure, start with Choosing a Template to Start Drafting.

1. What This Step Does

This step determines:

• Whether the draft should react to existing material, or
• Whether it should be treated as a new, original document

Your selection directly affects how Lexlegis uses documents and information in later drafting steps.

2. Reactive Drafting (Yes)

Choose Yes (Reactive) if you are drafting in response to something specific.

2.1. What Reactive Drafting Means

• The draft is created with reference to one or more existing documents
• Lexlegis uses the selected documents to understand context, facts, and structure
• The output aligns with or responds to the referenced material

2.2. When to Use Reactive Drafting

Use this option when:

• Responding to a notice, agreement, or correspondence
• Revising, replying to, or supplementing an existing document
• Drafting based on a received communication or factual situation

To understand how referenced documents are later used for extraction, see Selecting Documents for Data Extraction.

3. Selecting Relevant Documents (Step 2a)

If you choose Reactive, Lexlegis will prompt you to select the relevant document or documents.

3.1. How Document Selection Works

• You can browse or search your Library
• Selected documents are used as contextual inputs for drafting
• Lexlegis refers to these documents while generating the draft

3.2. Best Practices for Selecting Documents

• Select only documents that are directly relevant to the draft
• Avoid adding unrelated files, as they may dilute context
• Ensure documents are complete, accurate, and up to date

3.3 Uploading Documents During Reactive Drafting

If the document you need to respond to is not already available in your Library, you can upload it directly from this step.

From this screen, you can:

• Upload one or more documents to use as reference
• Choose an existing File folder to store them
• Add tags for easier identification and reuse

Once uploaded, the document becomes immediately available for selection and is used as contextual input for drafting.

Important:

• You can upload files only into existing folders from this step
• Creating, renaming, or reorganising folders must be done from the Library

This ensures you can continue reactive drafting without leaving the workflow, while keeping document organisation centralised.

For guidance on how documents are stored and organised, see Understanding the Library in Lexlegis.

4. Proactive Drafting (No)

Choose No (Proactive) if you are creating a new document from scratch.

4.1. What Proactive Drafting Means

• The draft is not tied to any existing document
• Lexlegis relies on templates, clauses, guidelines, and instructions you provide
• Suitable for first-time creation of documents

4.2. When to Use Proactive Drafting

Use this option when:

• Creating a new agreement, policy, or legal instrument
• Drafting an original document without reference material
• No prior document or response context exists

For examples of first-instance document creation, see Using Draft to Create Legal Documents .

5. Switching Your Choice

You can switch between Reactive and Proactive before moving to the next step.

Once you proceed, the selected mode determines whether document selection is required.

6. What Happens Next

After this step:

• Reactive drafts move to selecting documents for data extraction
• Proactive drafts skip document selection and move directly to the next drafting inputs

To understand the next step in detail, see Selecting Documents for Data Extraction.