sample_diagnosis · sample · workflow_automation
Law Firm Document Classifier
tier_02 · prototype · 7 days from input to prototype
SAMPLE DIAGNOSIS — This is an illustrative scenario, not a real client engagement. The methodology, reasoning, and build decisions are genuine. The business and metrics are fictional.
// the input
What they sent us.
verbatim · initial submission
We spend two days before every matter opening just sorting and labeling documents clients send in.
// the diagnosis
What we actually found.
- New-matter intake consuming ~16 hours per week across two paralegals
- Documents arrive as unsorted email attachments — no naming convention, no intake structure
- 80% of documents fit 6 repeatable categories: contracts, correspondence, court docs, IDs, financials, other
the real problem
Not a volume problem — a classification problem. Documents arrive in bulk by email with no structure. Paralegals were manually reading every attachment before legal work could start. 80% of documents fell into 6 standard categories.
// what we cut
Everything we deliberately didn't build.
| cut item | reason |
|---|---|
| Full document management system replacement | Existing system works fine — the intake is the bottleneck, not storage. |
| Client portal | Change management too heavy for a hypothesis test. Add in phase 2 if classification holds. |
| OCR for handwritten documents | Edge case in this practice. Marginal return doesn't justify the build cost in v1. |
// what we built
The actual thing.
An email-intake processor that reads incoming attachments, classifies each document into one of six categories using Claude, and delivers a structured summary with suggested matter labels to the paralegal's inbox — ready for review, not from scratch.
// the outcome