One intake. Clio, the Sheet, the welcome email and the engagement letter all done.
Leads from the website form, Lawmatics or the phone land here. The paralegal confirms the details once; nothing gets re-typed.
Intake — Robert & Linda Carver
Lawmatics lead #L-2619What happens when the paralegal clicks Confirm
Ready- Create matter in Clio ManageContacts for both spouses, matter "Carver — RLT package", practice area Estate Planning, flat fee $3,400, custom fields filled.Clio API
- Append row to the intake SheetSame fields, same column order the firm uses today, so nothing else breaks.Sheets API
- Generate the engagement letterFirm's own letter, filled: scope, flat fee, retainer, both clients' names. Saved to the Clio matter and Drive.Docs + Claude
- Draft the welcome emailGmail draft to both clients with the letter and a checklist of what to bring. The paralegal sends it; nothing goes out on its own.Gmail draft
- Schedule the design meetingCalendar hold with the attorney and a reminder to the client 48 hours before.Calendar
- Queue first draftsTrust, pour-over wills, POAs and health care surrogates drafted from these answers for paralegal review.Claude
- Start the follow-up clockRetainer due in 7 days; signing appointment within 21. The board watches both.Follow-ups
Human approval on anything that sends, signs or bills. Client data stays in the firm's Google Workspace and Clio; Claude is called with no data retention.
First drafts from the intake answers. The paralegal edits; she doesn't type.
Every highlighted term came from a specific intake field. Click a source tag to see which one. Firm templates stay the firm's; the drafter fills them, it doesn't invent clauses.
Carver package
6 documents · 3 draftedHighlighted text was filled from intake. Plain text is the firm's template language.
Document
Nothing waits for someone to remember it.
Every matter has a next step and a date. When a client goes quiet, the board drafts the nudge; the paralegal sends it in one click.
The attorney's inbox, sorted before she opens it.
Each message gets a one-line summary, a matter match from Clio, and a route. Paralegal-handleable mail goes to the paralegal with a drafted reply; only what needs the attorney stays.
This morning
6 messages · 7:00–9:40 AMMessage
How it's wired
Built on the tools the firm already pays for. The paralegal runs it; the attorney isn't in the loop unless something needs her.
Clio Manage Built in the engagement
Matters, contacts, custom fields, documents, tasks and calendar via the Clio API. Nothing is retyped.
OAuth · firm's own app · scoped to matters
Lawmatics Built in the engagement
Website form and phone intakes arrive as leads; the workbench picks them up and pre-fills the intake.
Google Workspace Built in the engagement
Gmail drafts (never auto-send), Docs for letters and drafts, Sheets for the intake log, Calendar for holds and reminders.
Apps Script + Workspace APIs
Claude Retention per Anthropic terms
Drafting, summarizing and triage. Called through the API on the firm's own account. Retention follows Anthropic's commercial data policy, and zero data retention is available by arrangement with Anthropic. Firm templates are the source of clause language.
Automation layer Your choice
n8n (self-hosted) or Zapier/Make. Every workflow has retries, an error inbox and a human-approval step before anything leaves the firm.
Documentation Included
A written system map, a one-page runbook per workflow, and a recorded walkthrough so the paralegal can run and tweak it without the builder.
| When | What you get | Owner after handoff |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping call (1 hr, paid) | Walk through intake, drafting, follow-ups and email as they happen today; agree on the first build and a fixed estimate. | — |
| Weeks 1–2 | Intake → Clio + Sheet + engagement letter + welcome draft. Live on real leads. | the paralegal |
| Weeks 3–4 | Document first drafts from intake (trust, pour-over wills, POA, HCS) into the firm's own templates. | the paralegal + attorney review |
| Weeks 5–6 | Follow-up board and inbox triage. Runbooks, system map, team walkthrough. | the paralegal |
| Ongoing | Monthly check-in; add workflows as the firm finds them (probate inventories, trust funding letters, annual review reminders). | Builder, on retainer |
Runbook: New client intake
Written for the paralegal, not the builder. One page per workflow. This is what "document it and show my team" looks like in practice.
Every day
~2 min per lead- Open New client intake. New leads from the website form, Lawmatics and the phone-message form appear at the top, newest first, with a blue "From …" tag.
- Check the pre-filled fields. Fix spelling of names, confirm the county, pick the matter type. Anything in yellow was guessed from the lead and needs a look.
- Click Confirm intake and run. Wait for the seven green checks (about 4 seconds). Do not click twice; if a step fails it turns red and tells you what to do.
- Send the welcome email. It's in your Gmail Drafts with the engagement letter attached. Read it once, click Send.
- Done. The matter is in Clio, the Sheet has its row, the design meeting is on the calendar, and the follow-up board is watching the retainer.
When something goes wrong
you can fix all of these- A step turned red: "Clio: contact already exists"
- The client is a returning client. Click "Use existing contact" on the red step and the run continues. No duplicate is created.
- A step turned red: "Sheet column mismatch"
- Someone renamed or moved a column in the intake Sheet. Put it back, or open How it's wired → Google Sheet and remap the column. Re-run the step only; the rest stays done.
- The welcome email isn't in Drafts
- Check the Gmail account shown under "How it's wired." Drafts land in that inbox, not the attorney's. If it's still missing, click "Re-draft email" on the completed run.
- The lead has the wrong matter type
- Change it in Clio as usual. The drafts queue reads the matter type from Clio, so the right documents are generated.
- Nothing works
- Open Activity log. If the last line says "Clio token expired," click Reconnect Clio and sign in as the firm. If it's anything else, email the builder with the last three log lines; response within one business day during the retainer.
What this workflow is allowed to do
- Create matters, contacts and documents in Clio. It never deletes anything.
- Append rows to the intake Sheet. It never edits or removes rows.
- Create Gmail drafts. It never sends.
- Create calendar holds. It never moves or cancels existing events.
- Call Claude with the intake fields only, with no data retention.
- Write one line to the Activity log for every action above.
Activity log
Who did what, which matter, and what the model produced. Client data never leaves the firm's accounts.