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Compliance and legal

A seven-partner legal firm

Fee earners were writing up intake calls and file notes after hours. Structured summaries with a mandatory review step moved that work into the working day and made file notes consistent across matters.

Evenings→Same day

When file notes get written

Download the workflow template (PDF)
Sector
Legal / compliance
Scope
7 partners, 11 fee earners
Tools
Existing document system and matter files
Time to result
8 weeks

What the day looked like before

  • Intake calls were summarised from memory hours later, so detail and next steps were inconsistent.
  • Every fee earner structured file notes differently, which made matter handovers slow.
  • Nobody wanted an AI tool that could paraphrase advice or invent a fact into a file.

The four steps, applied

  1. 01

    Strict-source prompting

    The scaffold allows only what is in the source material, requires [CHECK] on anything uncertain, and forbids paraphrasing advice or adding legal conclusions.

  2. 02

    Inside the matter file

    The prompt sits in the firm's existing file-note template, with headings that must be preserved and [NEEDS INPUT] where the source is thin.

  3. 03

    Draft, then human review

    Notes and action tables are generated as drafts attached to the matter. A fee earner reviews and signs off before anything is treated as the record.

  4. 04

    One format, firm-wide

    A single note format across matters made handovers faster; the monthly review tracks how heavily each template is edited and rewrites the ones that fight the user.

See the example prompts for each step →

Same day

File notes instead of evening catch-up

One format

Across matters and fee earners

100%

Drafts reviewed by a fee earner before filing

“It only writes down what was said. That constraint is the reason we were willing to use it at all.”

Managing partner

What we'd repeat

  • • Strict-source constraints were the adoption unlock in a risk-sensitive firm.
  • • Nothing was ever auto-filed; the review step is the product.
  • • Consistency of format paid off more than raw time saved.

Client name withheld by agreement. Figures are drawn from representative engagements and rounded.

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