Compical (415) 489-0762

For small and regional law firms

Opening a new matter burns hours nobody bills.

Conflicts clear, you take the matter, and then the same names, billing details, and permissions get typed into three systems by someone whose time you cannot bill. Somebody will sell you a platform that promises to end that. Call me before you buy it and I will tell you what it really does and what your practice-management software already does.

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Where I would start

The job I would look at first.

This is a guess based on businesses like yours, not a diagnosis of yours. On the call we find out whether it is actually your problem.

The job

Getting a new matter opened without burning a day of admin

Where it usually goes wrong

Once you have taken the matter, the same names, dates and billing details get typed into three or four different systems by somebody whose time you cannot bill. Then they chase whatever is missing and sort out who is allowed to see what. If you have more than one practice group, odds are each one does it differently.

What I would ask on the phone

On the phone I ask where the handoffs are, what your intake, practice-management, document, and billing systems already do, and which odd cases someone has to handle by hand. I do not assume the answer is a new system or something built for you, and I am not paid by anyone who sells either.

What stays with your people

None of this starts until you have cleared conflicts and settled who you are acting for and on what terms. Whether to take it, what to advise, how to run it and when anything is due all stay with your lawyers. A test does not open a matter, change who can see what, work out a deadline, or send anything to anybody unless the firm says so.

When a call is worth it

You get the most out of thirty minutes when a few things are true.

  • You open matters often enough that the setup work adds up, and more than one person touches it, so even a small fix is worth real money to you.
  • You can tell me roughly what the mess costs: admin done twice, matters sitting unopened, billing going out late, staff overtime. Rough is fine, I am not auditing you.
  • You can get whoever actually opens the matters on the phone at some point, because they know things you do not.
  • You are open to the answer being that you already own the fix and somebody needs to turn it on. That is the answer more often than not.

What to call about

Four things worth picking up the phone for.

A question you need answered

Should I be using AI for this. My competitor says he automated his intake, is that real. My office manager wants a new system, do we actually need one. Or nobody is selling you anything at all and you read something about AI and want to know what it comes to for a business like yours. You ask, I answer. Some of these take five minutes.

A contract you are about to sign

Send me the proposal, the contract, the statement of work. I read it and tell you on the phone what it actually commits you to, what is missing from it, and which parts you are already paying for somewhere else.

Getting your people using the AI tools

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whichever one. I sit with the people who do the work and show them what it is genuinely good at for their job and what it will get wrong. Often that is the cheaper answer than buying anything, because you are probably already paying for one of these and nobody is using it.

A vendor call you want me on

I join the demo with you and ask the things you do not know to ask. Booked in advance rather than on the spot, because I need to read up first.

Who should be on the call

Have whoever runs intake on the call if you can.

Managing partner, or whoever runs the firm day to day

Own the decision, agree where the job starts and stops, and decide whether what I find is worth acting on.

The lawyers who own the matters, and whoever actually opens them

They say where the admin work starts and stops, what happens to the odd ones, and they keep conflicts, acceptance, scope, deadlines and lawyer review exactly where they are.

Whoever handles billing, records, and the software

At a firm this size that is usually your office administrator. Check my cost numbers, what you are already paying for, who can get at client files, what your vendors will allow, how long things have to be kept, and what a fix would depend on.

Limits

Professional judgment and client information remain controlled.

I tell you what the software will and will not do. Every professional, legal and safety call stays with you and your own advisers.

No conflict, acceptance, or legal decisions

It does not clear conflicts, take on a client or a matter, decide what the engagement covers, change its terms, work out a deadline, give advice, or make any call that belongs to a lawyer.

Client information stays under firm control

Anything I try gets tried on made-up records, not your clients. Before your real ones go anywhere near it, you sign off on why, where, who can see them, how long they are kept, and what is allowed in.

Verification before system action

One named person checks the names, the matter details, the billing fields, who is allowed to see what, and the documents, before anything is created or changed in a live system.

The firm's governing rules still apply

You check anything you build against the rules you actually practice under: the professional conduct rules, the ethics opinions, what the courts require, what you agreed with the client, and your own security obligations.

Not a fit

When a phone call is not what you need.

  • You want a written report, a tool comparison, or a list of vendors to go and evaluate. Ask me anything you like on the phone, including what this AI business actually amounts to for a company like yours. What comes back is an answer and a few lines in writing, not a document.
  • You want the machine doing the legal research, giving the advice, clearing conflicts, taking the matter, working out a deadline, filing, or writing to a client about the substance. That is not something I will help you build.
  • You want the firm moved onto new practice-management software, all your data cleaned up, a custom platform built, or your security and compliance work taken over.
  • Nobody can make the call, nobody owns the job day to day, no responsible lawyer is involved, or I cannot get at your numbers.
  • You want somebody to run the project and deal with the vendor for you. I will do a specific job you point me at, quoted in hours with a number it will not go past before I start. I will not run the project or manage your vendor.

Reference material

Where the limits above come from

These are the industry and government rules the limits above follow. I will walk you through any of it on the phone. What you actually have to do depends on your work, your state, your customers, your contracts, and your own advisers.

What I put at risk

Three things I will put in writing.

Compical is new and I am taking my first clients now. I would rather say that than have you work it out. I cannot point you at one company like yours that I have already done this for, never mind ten. What I can do instead is put something of mine at risk on every single call, which is what the three commitments below are.

Nobody pays me except you

No referral fees, no reseller margin, no commission from a vendor. Nobody pays me to point you at their product. If the answer is that you already own the fix and somebody needs to turn it on, that is the answer you get, and the call ends there.

If it was not worth it, I will not bill you

You hang up, you decide the call was not worth what I charge, you tell me. I do not send the invoice, and you do not have to argue about it. That is on every call, not once at the start. It is about calls. Work you have asked me to build is quoted and paid for before I start it, and that is a different arrangement.

If I read your contract wrong, I fix it on my time

If I tell you a contract is clean and you find out later that it commits you to something I missed, call me. I get on the phone with you and with the vendor as many times as it takes to sort it out, and none of that time is billed. That is not a refund of the call. That is me working the problem I caused.

Start here

Who do you call about this stuff?

The first call is free and takes thirty minutes. I use it to learn what you run and who does what, so the paid calls are short. I am not selling you anything on it, because there is nothing to sell you yet.

Already bought one and it is not doing what he said it would? That is a call too.

Book the free first call