Below: a fictional Montreal plumbing company, the answers they gave the form, and the full report our team produced for them. Same process you'll go through. Same kind of report you'll get back.
Family-law boutique in Montréal. Mostly divorces and custody cases for Quebec residents. Six years in, founded by Maud Tremblay in 2020 after 12 years at a large firm. We try amicable settlement first, litigate when needed.
Three attorneys — Maud (senior partner), Léo (senior associate), Émilie (junior). Plus one paralegal and one office manager. Mostly office-based; associates work from home Fridays.
Lead calls our line or fills the website intake form → paralegal runs the conflict check → 30-min discovery consult (free) → if good fit, retainer signed via DocuSign → matter opened in Clio → ongoing work logged to matter file → court filings via SOQUIJ (manual), hearings, settlement negotiations → invoicing every 2 weeks through Clio → matter closed when judgment final or settlement signed.
Clio Manage for practice mgmt, billing, time capture, and document mgmt. Microsoft 365 for email and Word. DocuSign for retainers and settlement docs. SOQUIJ for court e-filing (still manual). LexisAdvance for research. No AI in production yet.
70% referrals from past clients and other lawyers — we're well-known in family law. 20% Google (we rank well for 'avocat famille Montréal' and 'divorce Montréal'). 10% directory listings (Lawyers.com, Juristes du Québec).
Drafting standard motions — applications for interim measures, separation orders, joint-custody applications. Each one is 80% template + 20% specific facts. Each attorney bleeds 4-6 hours/week on this. Time capture is the other big one — partners forget to log 15-min calls and quick email reviews. Realization rate sits at 85% when it should be 92%.
Tried ChatGPT for first-draft emails to opposing counsel — worked but felt risky on privilege. Looked at Spellbook but never deployed; Léo would use it, the others wouldn't. Cautious about cloud AI on client data — the Quebec Bar has rules.
Paralegal: 8. Léo (associate): 8. Émilie (junior): 7. Maud (partner): 6. Office manager: 7. Firm avg: about 7.
Add 1 senior associate without scaling support staff. Move realization rate from 85% to 92%. Stop working Sundays — partners average 55h/week, want to be at 45h.
Client status updates after every filing or hearing. Right now Sarah (office manager) drafts them and the lead attorney reviews. Eats 30 min/day across the partners. Clients constantly ask 'what's happening with my case' because we're not proactive.
Tremblay Legal is well-positioned for AI: solid process discipline (Clio + DocuSign), partner-led culture open to experimentation but appropriately cautious about privilege — the right starting profile.
Drafting standard motions is the single biggest leak — 4-6 hours per attorney per week on 80%-template work. Spellbook + a firm-specific motion library reclaims 12-16 hours/week firm-wide.
Time capture is the hidden leak. Auto-Time tools (Clio's built-in or a vendor) lift realization from 85% to ~92% with no extra effort. That's ~$10K/month in billable hours that already exist.
Spellbook integrates with Word. The associate or paralegal opens a motion template, feeds Spellbook the matter facts from Clio, and gets a draft in 2 minutes vs 90. Maud reviews. Reclaims 12-16 hours/week firm-wide on standard motions.
Clio's Auto-Time captures time from calendar events, emails, and document edits — no manual entry. Partners stop forgetting 15-min calls. Realization rate climbs from 85% to ~92%. Already built into your existing Clio subscription tier.
Claude API screens website form submissions before they reach the paralegal. Filters cold-callers, flags potential conflicts against the Clio matter database, suggests fit/no-fit. Paralegal only sees pre-qualified leads. Saves ~3 hours/week.
Bulk-process opposing party's document productions. Auto-tag privileged docs, summarize key emails by topic, flag inconsistencies vs the client's testimony. A week of associate time becomes an afternoon. Particularly valuable on contested custody cases.
Reconciles trust ledgers against operating accounts, flags suspicious entries, prepares Bar-compliant reports automatically. Catches errors before audit season. Quebec Bar has strict trust rules; an AI guardrail reduces compliance risk.
Agent writes ~4 pages/month: 'avocat divorce Laval', 'garde partagée Brossard', 'séparation Westmount'. Pairs with existing Google ranking. Long-tail organic traffic should 2× in 6 months.
(Weekly hours × 4.33 × hourly rate) − monthly tool cost. We use a blended $100/hr unless you tell us otherwise.
Each day is one specific action — no more, no less. By Friday you've shipped your first quick win.
Sign up for Spellbook 14-day trial. Léo runs 3 standard motions (separation order, joint custody application, interim measures) through it. Compare side-by-side with current drafts.
Enable Clio Auto-Time for Maud + Léo (Settings → Time tracking → Auto-Time). Let it run all day. Compare captured time to what they would have logged manually.
Draft AI intake screening prompts in Claude. Wire to the website form via Zapier — Claude reads the submission and flags fit/conflicts before the paralegal sees it.
Pilot the status-update generator on 2 active matters. Sarah reviews each draft before sending. Aim: draft generation under 30 seconds.
The stack above is what fits Acme today. As the AI landscape moves fast, here's where to keep an eye on what's launching: