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Practice operations agent

New matter intake

Every new matter request turned into a complete intake: client and parties captured, the conflicts search run, the engagement letter drafted and the matter set up. Clearing a conflict always stays with a lawyer.

  • $12,500 fixed
  • Live in 3 to 6 weeks
  • Yours to keep
Let’s build your agent How it works
The review screen for New matter intake: four items, three done, and one (Conflict hit) waiting for the conflicts counsel, who is asked: Opposing party was a client in 2023. Clear it to go ahead?
How it works

A former client on the other side, caught at intake.

Here’s a typical run, step by step: what automation handles, what the agent does, and the calls that stay with your team.

The workflow for New matter intake, in 5 steps. It starts with “A partner refers a matter” and ends with “Matter open, letter out”. Each step lists what automation, the agent and your team do there.
New matter intakeA typical run
Starts withA partner refers a matterA partner emails intake about an employment claim for Marrow & Finch, with four parties named in the thread.
The agent: Reads the referral and the thread behind it for the client entity, the billing contact, the matter type and every person or company named.
~16h/mo

Step 1 of 5Capture the request

  • The agent

    Reads the referral and the thread behind it for the client entity, the billing contact, the matter type and every person or company named.

    Parties turn up mid-sentence: “the ex-manager, and possibly his new employer”. A form field would miss both.

Reads
  • Intake inbox
Writes
  • Intake form

~16 hours a month back

The agent: Lists known former names, parents and subsidiaries for the client and the three other parties, so the search looks past the exact spelling.
Automation: Runs each name and alias through your conflicts database and pulls every hit with its matter, its dates and its role.
~20h/mo

Step 2 of 5Run the conflicts search

  • The agent

    Lists known former names, parents and subsidiaries for the client and the three other parties, so the search looks past the exact spelling.

    A party can sit in your records under a maiden name or a company’s old name. An exact-name search finds neither.

  • Automation

    Runs each name and alias through your conflicts database and pulls every hit with its matter, its dates and its role.

    With the names and aliases listed, the search runs in your conflicts database as it does today.

Reads
  • Conflicts database
Writes
  • Conflicts report

~20 hours a month back

Where teams differHow wide to search is firm policy: named parties and former names, or parents and subsidiaries too.

The agent: Writes up each hit with its history: the opposing party was a client in 2023, on what matter, who led it and whether it closed.
~12h/mo

Step 3 of 5Lay out the hits

  • The agent

    Writes up each hit with its history: the opposing party was a client in 2023, on what matter, who led it and whether it closed.

    A hit is a name on a list. Whether it matters is in the old file: what the matter was, and who led it.

Reads
  • Conflicts database
  • Practice management
Writes
  • Conflicts report

~12 hours a month back

IfYour team: Reviews the 2023 matter and decides whether Marrow & Finch can go ahead, needs a waiver first, or should be turned down.
~4h/mo

Step 4 of 5Review the conflict

  • Your teamIf the search finds a hit

    Reviews the 2023 matter and decides whether Marrow & Finch can go ahead, needs a waiver first, or should be turned down.

    Whether a former client is a conflict is a professional call. Only a lawyer can make it.

Reads
  • Conflicts report
Writes
  • Practice management

~4 hours a month back

The agent: Fills in your standard hourly letter for an employment claim, with the client, the scope and the billing contact from intake.
Automation: Once a lawyer has cleared the search and approved the letter, sets up the matter and sends the letter for signature.
~14h/mo

Step 5 of 5Open the matter

  • The agent

    Fills in your standard hourly letter for an employment claim, with the client, the scope and the billing contact from intake.

    The right letter depends on the matter type and the fee arrangement, and a referral email often leaves both out.

  • Automation

    Once a lawyer has cleared the search and approved the letter, sets up the matter and sends the letter for signature.

    Setting up a matter follows your firm’s own fields and folders, the same way every time.

Reads
  • Letter templates
Writes
  • Practice management
  • E-sign tool

~14 hours a month back

Where teams differMany firms want a signed letter before any work starts. A few let urgent matters begin once it’s sent.

Ends withMatter open, letter outThe matter is set up with its conflicts report attached, and the engagement letter is out for signature.
Total~66h/mo

What changes

Referral emails become open matters without anyone retyping a name. Conflicts counsel gets the hits, each with its old file explained.

  • 2steps automated
  • 4steps for the agent
  • 1call kept with your team

Pick any step to see what happens there and why it sits in that lane.

What it could be worth

~66 hours a month back

$51,500 a year in time

For a firm opening about 40 new matters a month, at $65 an hour. We work out yours from your own volumes before you sign.

Let’s build your agent
What we customize with you

One proven agent, plugged into how you work.

Every team does this job a little differently, so we set these five with the people who do it today. We’ve done this in dozens of businesses, so we know where teams usually differ and ask about those first.

The agent

Same for every client
  • Follows the same proven steps
  • A person on every exception
  • Every decision logged
  • Tested on your past work first
  • Never clears a conflict

  1. Your systems

    Where the work comes in, and where the result goes.

    For this agentRequests from your intake form or inbox, matters into your practice management system.

  2. Your rules

    The limits and exceptions it works to.

    For this agentWho counts as a related party, and which matter types need a signed letter before work starts.

  3. Your team

    Who signs off, and who covers when they’re away.

    For this agentConflicts counsel for every hit, the responsible partner for every new client.

  4. Your channels

    Where your team hears from it.

    For this agentEmail to the requesting lawyer, Teams for the intake team.

  5. Your output

    What it hands back, in the format you already use.

    For this agentAn opened matter with the conflicts report and the engagement letter attached.

Docketing deadlines and reviewing prebills are their own agents in this catalog. Deciding whether to take the matter stays with your lawyers.

What you get

The agent, and everything that keeps it working.

  • The agentRunning on your systems, under your rules.
  • The review screenWhere the exceptions land for your intake team and conflicts counsel.
  • Your rulebookYour limits, exceptions and who signs off, in one place, often for the first time.
  • A test reportYour past new matters, run through it and checked against the number.
  • The runbookHow it works, what to check, and what to do if it stops.
  • 30 days of tuningAfter it goes live, through a full month of your real new matters.
The number we agree

Days from a new matter request to the matter being open. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.

How we get there

Live in 3 to 6 weeks. About seven hours of your time.

We do the building. Your side: access, three months of opened matters with their conflicts reports, and a short weekly check-in.

  1. Before kickoff

    We send the access checklist.

    You, 2 hours. Access, an owner, and three months of opened matters with their conflicts reports.

  2. Weeks 1 to 2

    We connect your systems and set it up.

    You, 1 hour. Walk us through your rules.

  3. Weeks 2 to 4

    We test it on your past new matters.

    You, 1 hour. Review what it flagged.

  4. Weeks 3 to 6

    It runs beside your team, then goes live.

    You, 1¼ hours. Work from the review screen.

Then 30 days of tuning, with a short check-in each week, about two hours of yours. At day 30 we show you the number and hand everything over.

After it’s live

It keeps running whether or not we stay.

  • It runs in your accounts

    Your cloud, your systems, and an AI account in your name, billed by the provider at their rates.

  • Changes in the first 30 days are included

    A new rule, a changed limit, someone new signing off. That’s what tuning is for.

  • After that, your call

    Your team edits the rulebook, the care plan covers it, or a bigger change is quoted first.

Questions

About this agent.

Does it decide whether we have a conflict?
No. It runs the search and lays out every hit with its history, and a lawyer decides. A clean search is still signed off by a person.
Does it work with our conflicts database?
It searches the system you already use, with the aliases, related entities and former names your rules call for.
Our process isn’t quite like this. Will it still work?
That’s the usual case. The job looks the same in most businesses, but the details never do. We map how your team does it today, then set the rules, systems and approvals to match. That’s what most of the 3 to 6 weeks are for.
How do we agree the number?
Together, before any work starts. For this agent it’s the days from a new matter request to the matter being open. We measure it before we start, and again at day 30.
What does it cost to run once it’s live?
Hosting and AI, paid straight to the providers, not through us. It usually runs 5x to 25x cheaper than doing the same work by hand, and we work out your figure from your real volumes before you sign.

Want conflicts run the day a matter comes in?

Tell us how your team handles new matters today. We’ll show you this agent on examples like yours, and whether it fits the fixed price.

Let’s build your agentBack to Legal
New to Switchboard Agents? How it works, what’s included, and what it costs.
  • 3 to 6 weeksto live, then 30 days of tuning
  • $12,500fixed, per agent
  • Yours to keepno license fees
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Switchboard Agents$12,500 fixed · live in 3 to 6 weeks How it works Let’s build your agent