IP Sentinel, system 03
Legal operations system
Monitors USPTO activity and drafts office-action responses for review.
- Replaces
- Docketing and first-draft preparation
AI for professional services firms
The administrative work around each client and matter handled by agents, so your professionals spend their hours on work clients pay for, and sign off everything that leaves the firm.
Professional services · workflows
Illustrative- Running
Client and matter intake
Workflow automation
- Running
Document collection
Document intelligence
- Waiting for approval
Engagement letters
Workflow automation
- Running
Matter and deadline tracking
AI agents
- Running
Time capture and billing preparation
Finance operations
- Review queue · 2
Knowledge search
Knowledge assistants
How do professional services firms use AI?
Law, accounting and consulting firms use AI for the administrative work around each client and matter: intake and conflict-check prep, document collection, engagement letters from approved templates, deadline tracking, time capture and pre-bills, and search across past work. A qualified professional reviews everything that leaves the firm, and client data stays separated by matter.
Where the hours go today
The work we hear about most from professional services teams.
Chasing clients for documents
Tax documents, bank statements, signed forms and evidence arrive late, incomplete or in the wrong format. Staff send reminder after reminder and sort attachments by hand.
Intake is slow and repetitive
Every new client or matter needs the same details gathered, a conflict check run, an engagement letter drafted and signed, and records created in several systems before work can start.
Deadlines live in too many places
Filing dates, response deadlines and renewal dates sit across the practice management system, calendars, spreadsheets and email. Keeping them current depends on people remembering to update them.
Time and knowledge leak away
Time is reconstructed at the end of the week and some of it does not get billed. Past work that would answer today’s question is hard to find, so people redo it or ask a colleague.
Workflows we automate
Each one built around your current tools and rules, with your team approving the steps you choose.
Client and matter intake
Intake forms and emails are turned into structured records, the names needed for a conflict check are prepared and run against your system, and the results go to the responsible person to clear. Approved clients are set up in your practice management and billing tools.
Document collection
Each client gets a checklist for their engagement. Uploads and email attachments are classified, checked for completeness and the right period, filed to the client, and reminders are sent for what is still missing.
Engagement letters
Engagement letters are drafted from your approved templates using the scope, fees and terms agreed at intake, sent for review by the responsible professional, then out for e-signature and filed once signed.
Matter and deadline tracking
Deadlines are read from correspondence, agency notices and court or filing systems, added to the docket with the source attached, and reminders go to the responsible person ahead of each date. For trademark and patent work, IP Sentinel monitors USPTO activity.
Time capture and billing preparation
Draft time entries are suggested from calendars, emails and documents worked on, for each professional to review and submit. Pre-bills are assembled and checked against engagement terms before a partner approves them.
Knowledge search
Staff ask questions in plain language and get answers from your past work, templates, memos and internal guidance, with links to the source documents and only from files they are already allowed to open.
Safeguards for professional services
- Conflict checks: the system prepares and runs the search, and a named person reviews and clears every potential conflict before a client or matter is opened.
- Privilege and confidentiality: access follows client and matter permissions, ethical walls are applied at retrieval time, and documents from one client do not appear in answers for another.
- Professional sign-off: engagement letters, client advice, filings and responses are drafts until a qualified professional reviews and approves them.
- Client data is not used to train models for other clients, and systems can be deployed in your own cloud account or on-premises when your policies require it.
Connects to the tools you use
Including tools like these, and anything else with an API.
- Clio
- Karbon
- QuickBooks
- Xero
- NetSuite
- HubSpot
- iManage
- Microsoft 365
Built on a system we already run
Your project starts from architecture that is in production today.
Your workflow
A system designed for the function you want to automate next, built on the same architecture as the ones above.
Discuss your workflow
Questions from professional services teams
How is pricing structured for a firm our size?
It depends on the workflows, the number of clients or matters, and the systems involved. Most firms start with a fixed-fee audit of one workflow, such as document collection before tax season, which ends with a build plan and a fixed price. Running the system afterwards is a monthly fee.
Does it work with Clio, Karbon or our accounting system?
We integrate with practice management, document management and accounting tools such as Clio, Karbon, iManage, QuickBooks, Xero and NetSuite through their APIs, and use controlled browser automation where there is no API. We confirm what your setup allows during the audit.
How do you keep drafts and answers accurate?
Drafts are built from your own templates and the facts recorded at intake, and the knowledge assistant answers only from your documents, with citations. We test both on your own examples before launch, and a professional reviews anything that goes to a client or an authority.
Can clients get help outside office hours?
Clients can submit intake details, upload documents and get answers about what is still outstanding at any hour. Questions that need professional judgment are logged and passed to the right person for the next business day.
How do you protect privileged and confidential information?
Access rules follow your client and matter permissions, every action is logged, and agents get only the access their task needs. Your data is not used to train models for other clients, and we can deploy inside your own environment if your policies or clients require it.
What does AI for law firms look like in practice?
For intake and conflict-check preparation, deadline docketing from correspondence and court or agency notices, first drafts from approved templates, and search across past memos and filings with citations. Our IP Sentinel system does this for trademark and patent work. Legal judgment and anything sent to a client or court stays with attorneys.
What does AI for accounting firms look like in practice?
Mostly document collection before busy season: a checklist per client, uploads classified and filed, reminders for what is missing. Also engagement letters, draft time entries, pre-bill checks and answering staff questions from firm guidance. Preparers and partners review every return, workpaper and client deliverable.
Do you replace our practice management or accounting workflow software?
No. Tools such as Clio or Karbon keep the matter, client and deadline records. We build the automation around them: collecting documents, preparing drafts, chasing missing items and writing the results back. If a firm is choosing workflow software first, we will say when a configured tool covers the need without any custom build.
Other industries
Property management
Maintenance calls, leasing inquiries, lease abstraction and owner reporting, automated.
- Maintenance calls and work orders
- Leasing inquiries and showings
- Application file checks
Logistics
Rate confirmations, BOLs, PODs, carrier invoices and status updates, handled in your TMS.
- Rate confirmation intake
- BOL and POD capture
- Carrier invoice audit
Tell us which professional services workflow costs you the most time.
A 30-minute call with an engineer. You will leave knowing what a system could do for that workflow and what it would take to build.
What happens next
- 1
Strategy call
We learn how the workflow runs today and what a good outcome would be.
- 2
Workflow audit
We map the process and measure where a system would save the most time.
- 3
Proposal
A written scope, timeline and fixed price for your first system. No obligation to build.