The new case file, and everything that comes after it
A client arrives, and before you can deal with the matter itself you have to open the file, name it by the rule of the firm, the one everybody knows and nobody has ever written down anywhere, then put in the details of the other side, then retype the same data into the document, then again into the business software, then into the deadline sheet
They are the same names, the same dates, the same tax code, copied by hand four times, and every time there is a chance of getting a letter wrong
Why this costs more than it looks
The point is a simple one, the office hours are billed to nobody, they sit on no invoice, they are a straight cost to the firm, so every hour you take out of there is not an hour moved somewhere else, it is an hour gained and that is all
An hour in court you bill, an hour spent renaming PDFs and copying out addresses you pay for yourself, and you pay for it twice if the person doing it is a lawyer rather than a clerk
The things the system can do in the firm
The system works on the programs you already have on the firm's computer, the kind of practice software that firms have always used, Cliens or Kleos to give you an idea, the deadline sheet, the certified email box, it opens them and uses them the way a person sitting in front of the screen would, even when there is no direct integration between them, which is the part where I turn out to be most useful
- It opens the case file from the data you give it once and once only, names it by the rule of the firm, creates the folders and puts inside them what belongs there
- It takes the details of the client and of the other side from a document and carries them into the other systems, with nothing retyped, checking that tax code and dates are at least formally consistent
- It reads the certified emails as they arrive, works out which file they belong to and stores attachments and receipts under the right name in the right folder
- It keeps the deadline diary up to date by reading the dates from the documents and the files, and it warns you in advance, not on the day itself
- It prepares the documents that change in three fields only, powers of attorney, letters, standard notices, filling in the fields from data that is already there
- It puts in front of you a list of what does not add up, a missing value, two different records for the same person, a date that does not fit
These are examples of what the system is able to do, not jobs already delivered to some firm, the business started recently and I would rather say it myself before you ask me
What it does not touch, and must not touch
The legal judgment stays yours, all of it, the system does not decide what to write in a document, it does not interpret a rule, it does not choose a strategy, it does not settle whether a deadline can be counted one way or another
It does the mechanical steps and stops when something does not add up, it does not guess, it leaves the case aside for you and carries on with the rest, because on a deadline a silent error is far worse than an error you are told about
You can also keep it on a short rein at the start, with your own confirmation on every step, and widen it only where you have seen it work, that is the method
Who is on the other side
I'm Antonio Fuccillo, I write the automation myself and I answer the messages myself, so you're talking straight to the person whose hands are in the work, P IVA 04650850243, based in Nove, in the province of Vicenza
You show me how you work now, a short screen recording is fine, I look at whether it can be done and I tell you the monthly fee before we start, that figure stays in writing and you approve every addition yourself, if you want an idea of how much manual work weighs there is the savings calculation
The names of the programs mentioned on this page are trademarks of their respective owners, we name them only so you understand what kind of programs we mean, we have no relationship with the companies that make them and we do not sell their licenses