Process Automation & A.I.

Programme profile

Integrated AI and learning logic into legal workflows to decide, and initiate key business activities

Intro

Why this work,
and why us.

Svoon's view on AI is unfashionably practical. We start with the business problem, the data behind it, and the operating model around it. Automation and AI are tools — powerful ones — but they only deliver when the underlying processes and data are ready. We get organisations to that point, then deploy where the value is real.

Key Issues

The situation
we walked into.

01
Matter opening processes required fee-earners to manually complete 11 separate forms, between the firm's DMS and a standalone conflict-check tool
02
Business acceptance and AML checks routed via email, with no SLA tracking — 23% of new matters delayed before a fee-earner could begin billable work
03
Court filing deadlines tracked in individual fee-earner Outlook calendars, each then requiring partner escalation and client notification
04
Billing narratives written manually by fee-earners at matter close took much time and repetitive actions
05
No centralised process ownership — many different versions of the processes and policies in active use simultaneously across the practice group
06
Partner billing sign-off bottleneck: many invoices sat in approval queues for more than 10 days, directly impacting cash collection and lock-up days

Svoon Actions

How we took control,
step by step.

01
Mapped 47 processes across 3 practice groups over 8 weeks — reduced to 9 standardised, approved workflows before any automation tool was selected or configured
02
Built a single matter-opening automation that populates Elite 3E, triggers iManage folder creation, and submits a pre-filled conflict check
03
Replaced email-based AML routing with a structured intake workflow — auto-assigning to the compliance team, triggering automated conflict-check API calls, with SLA and escalation alerts
04
Deployed a centralised court deadline register with automated notifications to all fee-earners and PAs, plus reminders with matter-specific filing checklists attached
05
Automated billing approval routing — invoices above a certain value routed to partner with a tracked SLA; below a certain threshold semi-auto-approved and issued, reducing the sign-off queue
06
Ran a 6-week in-parallel adoption change programme with Practice Group Leaders — every automation signed off by the responsible partner before go-live, with a 90-day review cycle built into governance

Key Impacts

What changed,
measurably.

Matter opening time reduced
AML turnaround reduced, removing the single largest cause of delayed matter start
Zero missed court filing deadlines following go-live
Invoice approval cycle reduced, directly reducing lock-up
WIP unlocked within the first 90 days through faster billing approval and matter-close automation
Many days of administration removed across the practice groups each month
Annualised revenue uplift from hours recaptured and billing acceleration