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Client area FR

Law firms

Automation forlaw firms

Less admin and formatting: more time for advice, advocacy and your clients.

Estimate my hours
  • Customer messages & requests
  • Documents & admin
  • Scheduling & operations
  • Custom business tools
Indicative estimate · example: 5 lawyers, 2 assistants

In short

Iselia Projects automates the repetitive work of law firms: triaging and qualifying new enquiries, matter opening (conflict checks, engagement letters), deadline tracking, exhibit lists and bundles, first drafts of routine documents and time capture. Every output is reviewed and approved by a lawyer, within your confidentiality obligations, to give the firm several hours back each week.

Who it’s for
Small and mid-sized law firms, solicitors' practices, boutique firms and in-house legal teams
  • 7tasks quantified
  • 10industry tools supported
  • 5steps in the end-to-end example

Day to day

Where your team loses time.

Useful but repetitive tasks that pile up around the real work. They are usually the first ones that can be automated.

  • An inbox that eats the day

    New enquiries, documents arriving piecemeal, status questions: lawyers and assistants sort, file and reply at the expense of substantive work.

  • Matter opening, every single time

    Conflict checks, ID collection, an engagement letter to draft and get signed: essential, but the same steps again and again.

  • Fear of a missed deadline

    Court notices, procedural timetables and limitation dates are often tracked in a manually maintained calendar and in people’s heads.

  • Hours of formatting

    Numbering exhibits, building indexes and bundles, adapting a letter or pleading template: time that has nothing to do with legal reasoning.

  • Work that never gets billed

    Calls, emails and reviews missing from time entries mean lost fees and invoices that are hard to justify.

Task by task

Where your hours are hiding.

Each row applies the same formula: weekly volume × manual time × automatable share. Volumes match the example “5 lawyers, 2 assistants”.

Indicative estimate for the example “5 lawyers, 2 assistants”, based on conservative assumptions you can edit in the calculator. Not a client result. Hours/week = Σ (volume × minutes × automatable share) ÷ 60 · hours/year = hours/week × 47 · Methodology
Task Volume / wk Time per unit Automatable Saved / wk
Customer messages & requests Triage and qualify new enquiries Reads emails and web forms, identifies practice area and urgency, creates an intake record and offers a consultation slot; the lawyer decides what happens next. 40 enquiries / week 6 min 50 % 2.0 h
Documents & admin Open matters (conflicts, KYC, engagement letter) Runs a conflict search across your matters, collects ID documents, generates the engagement letter from your templates and sends it for e-signature. 4 new matters / week 45 min 50 % 1.5 h
Documents & admin Prepare first drafts of routine documents Letters before action, standard correspondence and pleading templates pre-filled from the matter file and your precedents; always reviewed and approved by a lawyer. 15 documents / week 30 min 40 % 3.0 h
Scheduling & operations Track court deadlines and hearings Reads court and e-filing notices and procedural orders, adds dates to the firm calendar and sends staged reminders; checked by the responsible lawyer. 30 deadlines / week 5 min 60 % 1.5 h
Documents & admin Organise exhibits and build indexes Renames and numbers documents, generates the exhibit list or bundle index and flags documents referred to but missing. 6 bundles / week 40 min 50 % 2.0 h
Custom business tools Capture billable time and prepare invoices Suggests time entries from emails, meetings and documents produced; draft bills for approval and reminders for unpaid fees. 50 time entries / week 3 min 60 % 1.5 h
Documents & admin Summarise a file (chronology, key points) Builds a chronology and document index from the file, with a link back to each source so the lawyer can verify every point. 5 summaries / week 60 min 40 % 2.0 h
Estimated total · ≈ 635 h a year 13.5 h

By type of automation

The estimated hours are spread across these automations, each explained on its own page.

End-to-end example

Example: from first email to open matter

A typical scenario to show how it fits together: each step triggers on its own, your team approves what needs approving and can take over at any time.

Typical scenario

Human in the loop: approvals, escalations and a log of every action.

  1. Enquiry received

    A prospective client writes through your website or by email. The enquiry is read, tagged by practice area and an intake record is created.

  2. Conflict check

    The parties named are searched across existing matters; results go to the lawyer, who decides whether to proceed.

  3. Consultation and documents

    A slot is offered from the lawyer’s calendar, with a list of documents to bring and a secure upload link.

  4. Engagement letter

    The letter is generated from your template, reviewed by the lawyer and sent for e-signature.

  5. Matter opened

    The matter is created in your practice management system, documents filed and first deadlines added to the calendar. Every step is logged.

Calculator

What about your business?

The example’s tasks and volumes are pre-filled. Replace them with your own and the result updates instantly.

Compare with other industries
Your tasks

Untick what doesn’t apply and replace the volumes with your own. Example volumes: 5 lawyers, 2 assistants

  • 2 h / week

    Reads emails and web forms, identifies practice area and urgency, creates an intake record and offers a consultation slot; the lawyer decides what happens next.

  • 1.5 h / week

    Runs a conflict search across your matters, collects ID documents, generates the engagement letter from your templates and sends it for e-signature.

  • 3 h / week

    Letters before action, standard correspondence and pleading templates pre-filled from the matter file and your precedents; always reviewed and approved by a lawyer.

  • 1.5 h / week

    Reads court and e-filing notices and procedural orders, adds dates to the firm calendar and sends staged reminders; checked by the responsible lawyer.

  • 2 h / week

    Renames and numbers documents, generates the exhibit list or bundle index and flags documents referred to but missing.

  • 1.5 h / week

    Suggests time entries from emails, meetings and documents produced; draft bills for approval and reminders for unpaid fees.

  • 2 h / week

    Builds a chronology and document index from the file, with a link back to each source so the lawyer can verify every point.

Average fully loaded cost of one hour of work for the team involved (€35/h by default).

Your estimate

Law firms

Hours back per week

13.5 h / week

Hours back per year
635 h / year
Equivalent staff cost per year
€22,208 / year
tasks included
7 / 7

Split by type of automation

  • Customer messages & requests 2.0 h
  • Documents & admin 8.5 h
  • Scheduling & operations 1.5 h
  • Custom business tools 1.5 h

Indicative estimate, based on the assumptions above. No guaranteed results.

Typical scenario Illustrative example, not a real client

Example: a firm of 5 lawyers and 2 assistants

Illustrative scenario, not a client case: a firm of 5 lawyers and 2 assistants handling litigation and advisory work. Using the conservative assumptions above — 40 enquiries, 4 new matters, 15 first drafts, 30 deadlines, 6 bundles, 50 time entries and 5 file summaries a week, with deliberately low automation shares because a lawyer reviews everything — the indicative estimate is about 13.5 hours back per week, or roughly 635 hours a year (47 working weeks). Actual figures depend on your organisation and tools.

Example size
5 lawyers, 2 assistants
per week
13.5 h
per year (47 weeks)
635 h
of staff time at €35/h
€22,208

Integrations

Plugged into your tools.

We connect automations to the software you already use, through APIs, webhooks or exports. No forced migration.

Common tools in this industry that we can connect to: these are not client references. Don’t see yours? We check compatibility during the assessment.

  • Clio
  • LEAP
  • Actionstep
  • PracticePanther
  • iManage
  • NetDocuments
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft Word
  • DocuSign
  • Google Workspace

Why automate a law firm, and how far to go

In many firms, a large share of the week goes on work that has nothing to do with legal reasoning: sorting email, chasing a client for a document, renumbering a bundle, copying a deadline into the calendar, reconstructing time at month-end. These are exactly the tasks that can be automated without touching the core of the profession. The goal is not to replace lawyers but to give them time back for advice, strategy and advocacy.

Confidentiality comes first

Lawyers owe their clients strict duties of confidentiality, and privileged material must stay protected. Whatever the jurisdiction (ABA Model Rule 1.6 in the US, the SRA Code of Conduct in England and Wales, or equivalent rules elsewhere), automation has to be designed around them:

  • data control: European hosting available, AI providers selected so that your data is not used for training, or open-source models hosted in a dedicated environment;
  • least access: each workflow only reaches the matters and mailboxes it needs;
  • traceability: a log of every read, draft and send;
  • data protection: retention periods, records of processing and client information built into the design.

A lawyer approves everything that matters

Our rule is simple: anything that commits the firm goes through a lawyer. A first draft, a client reply, a proposed deadline or a file summary is presented as a suggestion, with links to its sources, and only leaves after approval. AI tools can be wrong, especially about citations; checking remains a professional reflex, not an option.

What automates well

  • Intake: qualifying enquiries, booking consultations, conflict searches, collecting ID and, where your work is in scope, anti-money-laundering information.
  • Engagement letters: generated from your templates, reviewed, then signed electronically.
  • Deadline tracking: reading court and e-filing notices and procedural orders, with staged reminders to the team.
  • Repetitive document work: exhibit lists, bundle indexes, standard letters, document templates.
  • Billing: suggested time entries from email and calendar, draft bills, fee reminders.

What stays with the firm

Legal analysis, strategy, the decision to take on a matter, the relationship with the client and the court, and signing. Automation flags, prepares and reminds; it does not decide.

Where to start

With a high-volume, low-risk task such as enquiry triage or exhibit lists: the gain is quick and easy to measure. Adjust the calculator assumptions to your firm for your own indicative estimate, then book a free 30-minute assessment so we can check it together.

Keep exploring

Automations and related industries.

Automations involved

Related industries

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From the blog

What happens after go-live? Support plans

FAQ

Your questions, answered.

What professionals in this industry ask us most often before getting started.

Is automation compatible with privilege and client confidentiality?
It is the starting point. Data stays in controlled environments (European hosting available, AI providers that do not train on your data, or self-hosted open-source models), access is limited to what each workflow needs and every action is logged. Nothing is shared with a third party unless you decide so.
Who approves the documents that are produced?
Always a lawyer. The automation prepares a first draft from your precedents and the file, with links to the sources; nothing goes to a client, the other side or a court without human review and approval. Professional responsibility stays with you, in line with guidance such as the ABA’s Formal Opinion 512 (2024) on generative AI.
Does it work with our practice management system?
We connect to your existing tools (Clio, LEAP, Actionstep or others, Outlook, Word, document management, e-signature) through APIs, exports or shared folders. You don’t have to change systems.
How much does it cost?
The 30-minute assessment is free. Each automation is then quoted as a fixed project and weighed against the hours it gives back. You own the code and the automations, with no lock-in to an opaque platform.
How soon will we save time?
Usually within a few weeks, starting with a low-risk, high-volume task such as enquiry triage or exhibit lists.
Can AI do our legal research?
It can help find and summarise material in your own files and resources, but it can be wrong: every authority must be checked at the source. We design tools that always show their sources and leave the legal analysis to the lawyer.

Free assessment · 30 minutes

Your 13.5 estimated hours, checked in 30 minutes.

We review your tasks, your real volumes and your tools, then quantify what you can actually get back. You leave with a clear roadmap, whether or not you work with us.

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