I used to work in a big law firm working on startup-related corporate work. A substantial portion of my job looked like this:

* Find a form or template for a document. Sometimes the "template" wasn't really a template but "we worked on a deal that was pretty similar to this one three months ago -- use that". Sometimes the template was "use this form except for this one section you should use from that form".

* Tag form / template as "version 1" in our document management system.

* Fill in all the blanks, remove brackets, etc.

* Tag this as "version 2" in our document management system.

* Create a diff / redline with all my changes.

* Send diff to partner for review.

* Incorporate changes from partner into document.

* Replace (rather than append) "version 2" in our document management system with the new doc.

* Email document to opposing counsel for review.

* If we're sharing docs with opposing counsel via Dropbox, Box, etc., upload there too. But also email them, because they might not remember to check Dropbox.

* Bug opposing counsel every 24-48 hours until they respond with an edited copy of our document.

* Let partners and clients know that you are bugging opposing counsel so they know it's totally not your fault if this deal doesn't get done by Friday.

* Save opposing counsel's edited document as "version 3" in our document management system.

* Create a diff of the document they send and ask partner to review.

* Bug partner every 24 hours until they respond with more changes.

* Save this as "version 4" in our document management system.

* Send this, along with a diff, back to opposing counsel.

* Somewhere in this process we also pass along to our actual client for review.

* Repeat until no one has any more changes. Do this for many more documents that are part of the same deal.

* Send out the first set of documents for signature. Some people don't want to actually review the things they're signing (crazy!), so we create "signature packets" where it's just like four signature pages in a row. Also, everyone has a different set of documents to sign so different people get different sets of pages + documents -- and sometimes we need to make sure that person X doesn't see some document that only person Y can see because secrets.

* Or we use an e-signature service, in which case I spend some time creating little boxes over all the document so the service knows that this is a place where a signature-like image has to go.

* Discover some error in document. Fix. Redo all of my little boxes.

* Respond to people confused about how e-signatures work. Sometimes if there are four documents, the signatory gets four e-mails and then they're confused as to whether they should just sign the last one or all four or whatever (you should sign all four). Also, sometimes people refuse to use e-signatures, so we have to explain to people that because Docusign says the deal is done doesn't mean it's actually done.

* Sometimes this is where we file stuff with the state government.

* Send out a second set of documents of signature. We don't send these out with the first set (even if the same person is signing stuff in both the first and second set) because it's very important that the second set not be signed until after the first set is signed by all the parties (or after we get some sort of confirmation back from the government if there's a filing involved). Sometimes we have very important people that hate being interrupted to sign documents, so we let them sign everything in one go but hold some of those signatures "in escrow" so we can "release the signatures" in the right order.

* Track all of the outstanding signatures and filings via a spreadsheet and try to update this in as "real time" as possible.

* Respond to partner or client asking you about deal status by pointing to spreadsheet.

* Respond to partner or client unable to open spreadsheet for whatever reason by summarizing signature status in text form.

* Bug people periodically until everything is signed.

* If any of the parties to a deal refuses to e-sign stuff, this is where I have to create a "final" signed PDF copy of the documents, wherein I replace blank signature pages in a document with some faxed or scanned signature page.

* If signatures were being held "in escrow", bug the people who are holding the signatures in escrow for confirmation that the signatures are released.

* Sometimes these people need to bug other people for confirmation. These people then ask lots of questions like "has other person X signed yet?". Point to spreadsheet.

* Sometimes money gets wired here. Wait until we confirm the money came in.

* Signatures are released! The money came in! Tell everyone the deal is done!

* Curl into fetal position.