NextDoer
Sample playbook

For law firms & legal practices

The call you didn’t return,
the deadline that slipped, the trust clock.

The client’s biggest complaint is that you went quiet, and it’s also the top thing that gets Ontario lawyers sued. A limitation date sits in a tickler nobody actioned. The 25-day trust reconciliation is due. NextDoer runs the intake, chasing, deadline-tracking, billing and trust-watch around each one, drafted, and gated by you. Every legal decision, and every dollar of trust money, stays entirely with the lawyer.

6Agents we'd propose
AllChannels + trust watch, one queue
YouApprove every send

Your week today

The admin that carries the malpractice risk.

Not the lawyering, the follow-through around it. If this is your Tuesday, it is exactly the work NextDoer is built to carry.

01

The call you didn’t return

Clients aren’t angry about the outcome, they’re angry you went quiet. Communication is the most common complaint law societies hear, and the single biggest cause of malpractice claims, much of it just “who owed the next step.”

02

The deadline that slips

A limitation date you knew, but it never made the calendar, or it did and the tickler fired and nobody actioned it. Missed deadlines are a top-three malpractice cause, and every one of them is an admin failure, not a legal one.

03

The chase that stalls the file

The same signed retainer and clean ID asked for three times while the matter sits idle, and the client loses momentum or hires the firm down the street. Then the real work happens at 9pm because the day was eaten by admin.

04

The trust clock and the money that’s late

A monthly three-way trust reconciliation on a hard deadline where lateness alone is a disciplinary offence, bills going out 90 days after the work, and the receivables you hate chasing because you’re a lawyer, not a debt collector.

One window

Every channel, every deadline, every trust flag, in one place.

Phone and voicemail, web intake, email, SMS, e-signature and retainers, trust and billing. Each lands in a single queue with a drafted, on-brand message, approve it, reject it, or rewrite it. Legal decisions are never automated, and trust money is never touched, only flagged for your call.

Phone & voicemail
Web intake form
Email
SMS
E-signature & retainers
Trust & billing
NextDoerDeadline · limitation alert
Limitation date on the Nguyen file is in 10 days and the tickler hasn’t been actioned. Escalating to you, and I’ll keep escalating until someone acknowledges it.
Drafted the client note and the filing checklist for your review. I track the date you set, I never calculate the limitation, that call is yours.
ApproveRejectReply

The agent team we'd propose

Six agents, one for each grind.

Each is a named routine that runs a real law-firm job end-to-end, reading the channel, drafting, chasing, tracking. Each starts on Approve, nothing sends without a tap, and graduates to Auto only for the reply types you decide to trust. Every legal decision stays with the lawyer, and trust money is never touched.

Intake & Lead Concierge

TriggerA prospective client calls, fills the web form, or emails, at any hour, including after the desk is closed.
Agent doesAnswers instantly so the first firm to respond is yours, captures the standardized intake once, runs the conflict-check name search and surfaces hits, and chases the client for ID / KYC (By-Law 7.1) and the signed retainer until the file can open.
You approveYou decide whether to take the matter; routine acknowledgements can graduate to Auto.
OutcomeThe lead that used to hit voicemail and call the next firm is captured and booked.
ApproveAuto

It captures, searches and chases, never advises. The lawyer decides the conflict and whether KYC is satisfied.

Client Update & Response Guard

TriggerA client messages, or a matter reaches a stage where they should hear from you.
Agent doesAcknowledges every message instantly so no one feels ignored, runs a proactive status cadence (“here’s where your file stands / here’s what we’re waiting on from you”), tracks who owns the next step, and nudges you to reply within your service window, building an automatic paper trail.
You approveHear the tone in shadow, then let routine status replies run.
OutcomeThe #1 complaint and the #1 malpractice cause, closed without you going quiet.
ApproveAuto

It sends factual status and logistics. Every substantive answer, advice and consent stays with the lawyer.

Deadline & Limitation Sentinel

TriggerA deadline the lawyer has set approaches, a limitation date, a filing, a service date, a renewal.
Agent doesHolds every date, sends cushion-day pre-alerts, and escalates the reminder until a human actually acknowledges it, so a tickler that fired never dies unactioned, while tracking who owns the next step.
You approveYou confirm the date and own the action; the agent keeps the clock and the escalation.
OutcomeThe top-three malpractice cause, an unactioned deadline, stops being possible by accident.
Approve

The lawyer decides which limitation applies and its trigger date. The agent never computes or interprets a limitation, it tracks and escalates the date you set.

Documents & Signature Chaser

TriggerA matter needs documents, a retainer, ID, records, an affidavit, a signature.
Agent doesRequests the specific items, checks each for completeness and legibility (both pages, right ID), sends the timed multi-touch reminders, routes the retainer / engagement letter for e-signature, and chases until signed, reporting what is still outstanding.
You approveReview what it drafts; routine reminders can graduate to Auto.
OutcomeFiles stop sitting idle waiting on paperwork nobody was actively chasing.
ApproveAuto

The lawyer decides what a matter requires and whether a document is sufficient. The agent collects, checks completeness and chases.

Billing & Collections Runner

TriggerPre-bills are waiting, an invoice is due to go out, an invoice goes unpaid, or a retainer nears its threshold.
Agent doesNudges you that pre-bills are waiting, assembles draft invoices from captured time and disbursements, pushes finalized invoices out on schedule so nothing sits 90 days, runs the escalating-but-polite AR chase, and sends the retainer-replenishment request when a balance runs low.
You approveYou review narratives, set write-downs, and approve every bill and term.
OutcomeBills go out on time and the awkward money chase stops being yours to make.
Approve

It drafts and chases, never decides fees or negotiates settlements. The lawyer approves every bill.

Trust & Compliance Watch

TriggerMonth-end approaches, a client ledger nears zero, a bill-before-transfer sequence appears, a balance goes dormant, or a spot audit looms.
Agent doesTracks the 25-day three-way reconciliation calendar and chases the bank statement and missing receipts, flags the classic tripwires and routes them to the bookkeeper, and keeps records audit-ready for a law-society spot audit.
You approveThe bookkeeper and lawyer decide and post everything; the agent surfaces and chases.
OutcomeYour compliance early-warning system, so the reconciliation clock and the audit stop being a fire drill.
Approve

It flags and chases, it never touches trust money. No posting, no reconciliation, no moving a dollar, the human does all of that.

How trust is earned

Every agent climbs the same ladder.

Nothing skips a rung, and you hold the dial the whole way, any reply type can be pulled back to Approve at any time.

Rung 1

Build

We teach the agent to read and reply on that channel. Nothing is live.

Rung 2

Shadow

The agent writes real replies and sends none. You just read the drafts.

Rung 3

Approve

Every reply waits for your tap. Rewrite any of it in your own words.

Decision

You pick

Which reply types you trust to go on their own, and which stay on Approve.

Rung 5

Auto

Trusted types send themselves. Everything else still waits for you.

Unsure? It hands off.If an agent is uncertain about anything, a deadline, a conflict, a trust entry, it hands the matter to the lawyer instead of guessing.
You reply directly? It steps back.If someone answers a client directly in the firm’s own practice-management system or inbox, the agent notices and pauses that thread for a human.
Every issue is tracked.Anything you flag becomes a ticket with status: received → in progress → live.

A starting playbook we'd propose

The playbook, at a glance.

A first draft of what your agent team would run, and where each task would sit on the trust ladder. We tune it with you during the process review.

Agent / taskTriggerTypical mode
Intake response & conflict searchNew inquiry, any channelApprove
ID / KYC & retainer chaseMatter openingAuto
Client status updateMatter progressesAuto
Deadline & limitation escalationDate the lawyer set nearsApprove
Document & e-signature chaseMatter needs docsApprove
Invoice send & AR follow-upPre-bill ready / invoice unpaidApprove
Trust reconciliation flagMonth-end / tripwireApprove
File-retention trackingLSO / PIPEDA clockApprove

Your business next

Your practice, your matters.

The process review maps your intake channels, your deadline and limitation list, your document and e-sign flow, your billing and trust cadence, and every point where the lawyer must stay in the loop, then shows you the first agent we would put to work. Client data stays governed by PIPEDA and its provincial equivalents, law-society file-retention is respected, and trust is flagged and chased, never touched.