Many law firm automation projects stall for the same reason. They start with a tool and go looking for something to automate. The firms that get value start from the other end: something happens, and somebody at the firm has to do something about it.
Write that down as a sentence, "when X, do Y", and you have an automation. This post is a starting list for a plaintiff firm, grouped by where the case is.
How to pick what goes first
A good first automation has four traits:
- It happens often. Weekly or daily, not twice a year.
- The steps are the same every time. If it takes judgment, it is not first.
- The information sits in more than one place. That is where people lose time, tabbing between the case system, email and the drive.
- A missed step costs something. A blown deadline, an unpaid lien, a client who feels ignored.
And one rule above all: nothing leaves the firm without a person approving it. Automate the drafting, the checking and the filing. Keep a human on anything that goes to a client, a carrier or a court.
Intake
1. When a new lead comes in, brief the attorney before the call
Pull the intake notes into a short summary: what happened, when, the injuries described, and whether the caller is already a client or had an earlier matter. The attorney walks into the consult prepared instead of reading notes while the client talks.
2. When a signed engagement letter comes back, open the case
Create the client, contacts and matter in the case system from the signed letter. A person checks the new record. Nobody retypes it.
Treatment and records
3. Every week, list clients with no treatment update in 30 days
For each one, draft a message checking in, for the case manager to review and send. Clients who drift out of treatment hurt the case, and they are easy to miss in a large caseload.
4. When records or bills arrive by email, file them in the client's case
Save the attachments to the right folder and add a note saying what came in and from which provider. This is the task that quietly eats a paralegal's afternoon.
5. When a records request has gone unanswered for 21 days, draft the follow up
Draft the letter or email to the provider for a person to send. Pick the number of days your firm actually uses.
Deadlines
6. Each morning, list every statute of limitations date in the next 90 days
Include each case's status, so a deadline with no recent activity stands out. If you only automate one thing, make it this one: a missed limitations date is the hardest mistake to undo.
7. When an email mentions a hearing, deposition or IME date, check it is on the calendar and in the case
If it is missing from either, flag it to the case manager. Dates that arrive by email and never reach the calendar are a classic source of missed appearances.
Demand and settlement
8. When treatment ends, list what is still missing before a demand can go out
Check for final records, final bills, lien amounts and wage documents, and draft the requests for what is missing. The demand starts complete instead of stalling halfway.
9. When a settlement disbursement sheet arrives, enter the figures in the case system
Record the settlement amount, fee and costs from the sheet for a person to check. Disbursement is a bad place for a typo.
Firm level
10. Every Monday, send the partner a status report on open cases
What moved last week, what is stuck, and who or what each stuck case is waiting on. A partner who reads one page on Monday knows where to push.
What not to automate yet
- Anything that goes out without review. Client updates, demands and filings should always be drafted, then approved by a person.
- Valuation and strategy. A tool can gather the facts. The lawyer decides what they are worth.
- Advice to clients. That is the firm's judgment and the firm's responsibility.
How to write an instruction that works
A vague instruction gets vague results. Compare:
- Vague: "Keep an eye on records."
- Clear: "Every Monday, for each case in treatment, check the case folder and email for records received in the last week. Add a note to the case listing what came in. If a provider named at intake has sent nothing in 30 days, draft a follow up request for the case manager."
A clear instruction names four things: the trigger, where to look, what to produce, and who reviews it.
How to roll it out
- Start with one or two. The statute of limitations list and email filing are good first picks, because they are frequent and easy to check.
- Read every output for the first two weeks. You will find the edge cases quickly: the provider that sends records from two addresses, the case type that uses a different folder.
- Tighten the instruction, not the process around it. If the output is wrong, the instruction usually left something out.
- Add the next one only when the first runs clean.
The catch: the tool has to reach every system in the sentence
Look back at the list. Almost every item reads from one system and writes to another: email to the case system, intake to the case system, the case system to a report. An automation tool that lives inside one system can only do the half of the job that lives there.
That is the job CaseDelta built Delta for. It works inside the case system, intake, email and documents your firm already uses, whichever ones those are. Partners teach it "when X, do Y" in plain English, it runs that work on a schedule, and a person at the firm approves anything that leaves the firm.
To check that Delta reaches the systems in your sentences, see every system Delta works in.