Every matter, every deadline, every hour, on one system
Court notices arrive by email at midnight. Time gets rebuilt on Friday. New clients wait two days for a conflicts check. Bring it into one place on your own server, and put AI teammates on the work around the law.
A careful firm, held together by people double-checking
Most firms your size run on a practice-management system, a docket two clerks keep by hand, and a stack of subscriptions around it. It holds because good people check everything twice.
- Every notice is docketed by handCourt notices land in forty inboxes. Two clerks read each one, count the days and type in the dates, and every date rests on that one careful reading.
- Time gets rebuilt on FridayLawyers reconstruct the week from their mail and memory. The short calls and quick reviews never make it onto a bill.
- Conflicts take two daysA new client calls on Monday. The conflicts check waits for the one person who knows the database, and the client calls another firm on Wednesday.
- Pre-bills sit on a partner’s deskSeptember’s pre-bills come back in late October, marked down by whoever had time to read them. Realization pays for the delay.
- RingCentral Core
- Zoom Workplace Pro
- HubSpot Sales Hub Professional
- Asana Starter
- Calendly Teams
- Otter Business
- Mailchimp Standard
- QuickBooks Online Advanced
- Power BI Pro
$81,918$0 a year, at list price, for Thorsen Kowal’s 9 subscriptions
Thorsen Kowal LLPMilwaukee, WisconsinThorsen Kowal advises Wisconsin’s family-owned companies on deals, disputes, employment and property, from the first lease to the sale.
Arne Thorsen and Ted Kowal opened the firm above a print shop in the Third Ward in 1979, for the family manufacturers around them. Ted’s daughter Teresa has been managing partner since 2018: 60 lawyers, five practice groups and 1,400 open matters, on a practice-management system, a docket kept by two clerks, and nine subscriptions that don’t talk to each other.
- 110
- people
- 60
- lawyers
- 1,400
- open matters
- 5
- practice groups
Teresa Kowal Managing partnerDesigns Thorsen Kowal’s system with OpenLazarus in the film below.
Thorsen Kowal LLP is an invented example, not a client: a company like the ones we build for, made up to show how one would run on OpenLazarus. Its people, numbers and photographs are illustrative.
What Thorsen Kowal runs on it
The modules carry the firm’s names, not ours. The AI teammates work on the same matters and dates its people do, and a lawyer reviews anything that leaves the firm.
- DocketEvery court date and filing deadline, with a responsible lawyer and a backup
- IntakeEach new call, from the conflicts check to the signed engagement letter
- Matters1,400 open matters by stage, read from the practice-management system
- ClientsClients, adverse parties and opposing counsel, for every conflicts check
- PhoneEight lines for the front desk and intake
- NotesEvery client call written up, on the firm’s own server
- BillingPre-bills from confirmed time, on partners’ desks two days after month-end
- ReportsRealization, WIP and hours by practice group
Grace LindqvistAIDocketing and conflictsDocketed 23 overnight court notices for lawyers to confirm, and ran conflicts on 6 new matters
Sofia RossiAITime and notesDrafted 412 time entries from yesterday’s mail, calls and drafts for 58 lawyers to confirm
Omar HaddadAIFront desk and intakeAnswered 71 calls, took 5 new-matter intakes and booked 3 consultations
Inés DuarteAIBilling and collectionsBuilt 140 September pre-bills and sent 22 reminders on bills past 60 days
Companies like Thorsen Kowal usually start with Grace, Sofia and Inés.
What it could change in a year
An illustrative estimate for Thorsen Kowal, worked from its example numbers: the subscriptions it would stop paying for, the hours its people would get back, and the time that finally reaches a bill.
- $17,800
- a year it would keep after paying for Lazarus, its server, eight phone lines and an engineer’s time
- 6,800
- hours a year it would give back to lawyers, docketing, intake and billing
- 91%
- realization on worked time, up from 84% when time was rebuilt on Fridays
Example figures for an invented company. The savings and hours are worked out from its example tools and plan at list prices; the third figure is an illustrative goal, not a measured result.
Run your firm on a system you own
Tell OpenLazarus how your firm opens matters, keeps its docket and bills. You’ll see your system take shape in the conversation, with your names, your teammates and what it saves.
We already have a practice-management system. Do we replace it?
No. It stays the record for matters, time and trust accounting. Lazarus reads from it and writes confirmed time and docketed dates back, so your people work in one place and the books stay where your auditors expect them.
What about privilege and client confidentiality?
Everything runs on the firm’s own server: mail, calls, notes and the AI’s work. Who sees which matters follows the access you set, and nothing the firm holds is used to train anyone’s model.
Does the AI give legal advice?
No. The teammates docket, draft time, take intake details and build pre-bills. Every computed date is confirmed by the responsible lawyer, and a lawyer reviews anything that leaves the firm.
Do our lawyers have to stop using Word?
No. Drafting stays in Word and your document system. Lazarus takes the phones, meetings, intake, the docket and billing around them, and drafts time from the work it sees.
How long does it take to set up?
The design takes one conversation with OpenLazarus, like the one in the film. Our engineers then connect your practice-management system, court e-filing mail and phone lines, usually within a few weeks for a firm Thorsen Kowal’s size.