Victoria Pan

Tell us a little about yourself.

I have a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a dual-minor in French and Legal Studies from BelmontUniversity. After graduating there, I went on to receive my J.D./L.L.M. from Cornell Law School. During law school, I worked for legal aids and nonprofits, was lucky enough to partner with federal public defenders in Texas and Tennessee, and also clerked in an Arizona family law court. These experiences only encouraged my passion for access to justice-based projects, which brought me to my work at A2J Tech. I am licensed to practice law in the state of New York.

What is your document automation experience?

I have experience with Gavel and other document automation projects honed by my work with A2J Tech over the past two years. Over that time, not only have I automated the documents during these projects, but also set goals and milestones for hosting and maintaining these documents so that they continue to be effective after the project’s official “end” as courts update their forms or as law changes. I’ve also had the opportunity to mentor interns and externs at A2J Tech in teaching them how to automate legal documents, and you can find me speaking as part of A2J Tech’s guide on Udemy to Gavel here.‍

What areas of law or documents do you have experience in?

Most of my document automation legal experience is related to family law matters in the states of California, Utah, Texas, Virginia, Minnesota, and more. I have also automated documents relating to landlord/tenant matters, Social Security and disability matters, employee’s rights matters, H1B visa applications, and estate planning. Over the course of my legal career, I have additional experience with immigration matters – namely DACA,T-Visa, and U-Visa applications, as well as green card renewal applications. I have also drafted and reviewed briefings under domestic and international law during different stages of federal death penalty cases.

What do you think are the most important qualities for a document automation developer to have when working with a client to automate their template and forms?

In addition to patience and a sense of humor (debugging document automation workflows can be interesting, to say the least!), I think approaching document automation also requires an eye for detail. When automating documents, I don’t just want to replicate exactly what the staff at a law firm or legal aid organization does to draft their documents – I want to also find where technology can step in and make the process even more efficient and easy to use, so that those staff members can focus on more complex, substantive tasks, rather than wrestling with formatting documents or document versioning. It’s also important to be an effective communicator in order to work with the client not only to meet their needs in the now, but also in the future to build a long-lasting, time-saving product.

What is your proudest moment?

Passing the bar in New York is definitely up there!

What do you do for fun?

I’m mostly an indoor cat. In my free time, I like to read, play video games, and tackle complicated baking projects (ask me about the gingerbread house competition my friends and I are planning for this year’s holiday season!) Since I’m based in Nashville, I also like to take advantage of its many concerts and outdoor theatre opportunities – and yes, I do sing and play several instruments!

Anything else we should know about you?

One of my favorite parts about being a document automation developer is the sense of adventure and creativity it allows me to have in my work. By participating in document automation projects, whether you’re a legal aid, a law firm, or a nonprofit, you’re trailblazing new and improved ways to better serve our clients, and I’m here to help you on that journey!