Unbelievably grateful to Rob Ayre and Zapier for a special feature about how I run my legal practice, FTE Legal, which was news to me in more ways than one.
When Rob came asking to chat about my Zapier usage, my first thought was that I had broken something. Evidently, 12,000+ MCP tasks coming from a lawyer’s account is particularly unusual.
Perhaps, but honestly, I was just irritated with doing the same stuff over and over, every single day. Manually entering client requests received by email as tasks in Clio. Downloading PDF redlines from Slack and Notion to my downloads folder, converting to docx, revising in Word, saving to Clio, then emailing back to the client.
You know the routine.
I just kept picking off whichever part of the day was annoying me the most that week. Apparently, that adds up to a special feature (which, frankly, is pretty cool).
The bigger thing I didn’t see coming is what it did to my billing. I’m hourly (and I’m staying hourly for the foreseeable future). For the last several decades, that model has quietly rewarded lawyers who took the longest. Now that the work moves faster, the shorter invoice goes to the client instead of into a partner’s second vacation home.
And I’d rather be on the client side of it.
So thank you to Rob Ayre and the team at Zapier for the write-up, and for noticing something unique about my badgering Claude to do the stuff that I didn’t want to do, and to do it right.
The time it frees up goes into other, separate projects I’ve wanted to pursue but had little time for. Ergane, a legal efficiency consultancy. Ariadni, an AI-powered lawyer oversight tool for non-lawyers. And of course, pursuing my sommelier training and donning my apron to serve the community at Book Society.
I also get the time to teach other solo lawyers and clients what I know (even those lawyers with whom I technically compete) through a free 8-week AI and automation seminar (link in the article).
Anyways, life is good.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Not legal advice.
