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Document templates for a law firm: how to write the fee agreement, the memorandum and the letter once
Published 7 September 202625 Rabiʻ I 1448 AH4 min read
In short
A firm writes the same documents every week: a fee agreement, a demand letter, a formal notice, a memorandum, a settlement agreement. The usual method is copying the last Word file and changing the names, which is how an old client's name ends up in a new contract. A template solves this: fixed text a partner reviewed once, fields filled automatically from the client and case file, then a preview and an export on the firm's letterhead. The power of attorney is not one of them, because it is issued through Najiz.
What should be a template
| Document | When it is written | What changes in it |
|---|---|---|
| Fee or legal-services agreement | When each client is accepted | The parties and their identifiers, the scope, the fees and payment terms, the date |
| Demand letter | Before filing a claim | The debtor, the amount, the instrument, the period granted |
| Formal notice | Before termination or eviction | The other party, the breached obligation, the period, the consequence of not responding |
| Memorandum | In every case | The frame is fixed: court, circuit, case number, parties; the body is written per case |
| Settlement agreement | On settlement | The parties, the subject of the dispute, the mutual obligations, the dates |
| Termination-of-engagement letter | On closing a file or declining | The client, the case, the termination date |
What is not a template: the power of attorney
A power of attorney is not drafted by the firm in Word. The client issues it themselves through Najiz, choosing its clauses from ready lists and setting its term from one month to five years. What the firm does is send the client the exact clauses to select and the appointed lawyer's details, then record the power of attorney's number and expiry date in the case file and set a reminder a month before it expires. A power of attorney that has expired on the day of a hearing is a problem made by forgetting, not by the law.
How to build a good template
- 01
Start from the last three versions
Gather the last three contracts the firm wrote and keep what repeats in all of them. What differed is the fields; what repeated is the fixed text.
- 02
Everything that changes is a field
The name, the ID or registration number, the case number, the court, amounts in figures and words, the date in Hijri and Gregorian. Whatever is typed by hand twice will be typed wrong once.
- 03
Required and optional
A required field blocks the export until it is filled. The client's name is required; an extra description of the service is optional.
- 04
One reviewer
One partner approves the fixed text, and nobody edits it afterwards except through a new version of the template with a name and a date.
- 05
Test it on a realistic case
Fill the template with a company client, an individual client and a group of heirs before approving it. Sentences that work for one break for another.
Mistakes that recur in Arabic templates
- Gender and number agreement: “the second party, represented by him” breaks when the party is a company represented by a woman, or a group of heirs. Give the field forms, or write the sentence neutrally.
- The amount in figures without words. Amounts in contracts are written in both, and both must fill from one field, not by hand.
- The date converted by hand, so the Hijri date in the contract contradicts the Gregorian one at the signature.
- The client's name in one language, then the document is requested in English for a foreign client and everything is redone.
- The firm's formatting lost on export: the letterhead, font and margins belong in the template, not in each lawyer's file.
Checklists when a case is opened
The second template a firm needs is not a document but a list: what must happen in the first week of every labour case? The conflict check, the fee agreement, the power of attorney request, gathering the employment contract and salary statements, filing the amicable settlement request. If the list is written once per case type, opening a case becomes creating its tasks automatically, not remembering them.
Common questions
- Can we use the Word files we already have?
- Yes, they are the starting point. Copy the fixed text from the last approved version and replace everything that changes with a field. What remains is your template.
- Is the Hijri date filled automatically?
- Yes. A date field is written in Hijri and Gregorian from the same date, so nobody converts by hand and the two never disagree.
- Who can edit a template?
- Editing the fixed text is a permission the firm sets, and it is best held by one partner. Filling and exporting a template is open to anyone with access to the case.
- Does the system check the contract legally?
- No. The system ensures the fields are filled from the right source and that the approved text has not changed. The correctness of the text is the responsibility of the lawyer who approved it.
How templates work in QanoonTech
A template in QanoonTech is fixed text and smart fields: text, a date written in both calendars, currency, percentage, and a reference to a client, case or user filled from the record. Choose the client and the case and the fields fill; preview the document as it will print, then export it to Word or PDF on the firm's letterhead and house styling, with a watermark if you want. And each case type can have a checklist that creates its tasks when a case is opened.
Legal services contractContractsActive
Edit template
عقد الخدمات القانونية
رقم العقد: 2026/0005
أطراف التعاقد
الطرف الأول (مقدم الخدمة): مكتب الأفق للمحاماة والاستشارات القانونية، سجل تجاري رقم 1010987654.
الطرف الثاني (العميل): شركة نماء للتقنية، سجل تجاري رقم 1010456789، ويمثلها م. خالد العمري.
نطاق الخدمات القانونية
تمثيل الطرف الثاني أمام المحكمة العمالية بالرياض في الدعوى رقم 20260005، وإعداد المذكرات ومتابعة الجلسات حتى صدور الحكم.
الأتعاب والمقابل المالي
أتعابٌ إجمالية قدرها 45,000 ر.س تُسدَّد على دفعتين.
الطرف الأول
التاريخ: 25 ربيع الأول 1448 هـ الموافق 7 سبتمبر 2026 م
الطرف الثاني
التاريخ: 25 ربيع الأول 1448 هـ
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