For managing attorneys and firm administrators · 5–50 staff
New inquiries wait for a call back. Intake gets typed twice. Engagement letters wait for a signature.
Testata builds the path from first inquiry to signed client inside the systems you already use, such as Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics, Smokeball, PracticePanther and Microsoft 365. Then we measure the staff hours it gives back each week, in dollars, before and after.
Get the free audit How it works
10-minute form · no client data · written audit within 24 hours · no call required
Sound familiar?
- A web form comes in after hours. The first reply goes out the next day.
- The front desk takes the intake by phone, then someone types it into the practice-management system again.
- A consult gets booked, the person doesn't show, and someone spends part of the afternoon trying to rebook.
- The engagement letter is ready, but getting it signed takes several follow-up emails.
None of this needs a lawyer's judgment, but it takes staff hours every week, and an inquiry that waits may book with another firm. The fix is mostly plumbing: the right message at the right time, and every answer typed once.
The outcome: staff hours back per week, stated in dollars
Before we build anything, we take a two-week baseline: a two-minute daily time log for the people who handle intake, plus timestamps from your systems (inquiry received, first reply, consult booked, engagement signed). Thirty days after delivery we measure the same way again.
The staff hours recovered per week, multiplied by the loaded hourly cost of the people whose time it frees, is the number we're held to.
What we measure
- Staff minutes per new matter on intake and data entry
- Time from inquiry to first reply
- Follow-up attempts made by hand
- Consult no-shows, and the time spent rebooking them
- Time from consult to signed engagement letter
Illustrative estimate, not a result
30 new matters a month × 60 staff minutes saved per matter = 30 hours a month, about 7 staff hours a week, roughly $1,170 a month at $39/hour.
Assumes 60 minutes saved per new matter across re-typing, letter chasing and reminder calls, and $39/hour: the median legal secretary or administrative assistant in a US law firm ($26.40/hour, BLS, May 2025) plus about 46% for taxes and benefits (BLS ECEC). Your audit replaces every number here with yours and shows its assumptions.
Step 1: the free audit
A written audit of where your staff lose hours between first inquiry and signed client, and what it would take to get them back. Free. No client data and no access to your systems. No call required.
Fill in the 10-minute form
Team size, monthly inquiries and consults, the tools you use, and where you think the hours go. No client names or case details.
We pick the workflow with the most hours back
Usually the intake path: follow-up, data entry, engagement letter and reminders. If your biggest time sink is elsewhere, such as document assembly or filing email to matters, the audit says so.
Get the written audit within 24 hours
The staff hours and dollars recoverable per week (an estimate, with every assumption shown), the top 3 fixes, and a fixed quote. Reviewed by Frank before it's sent.
Step 2: the sprint
A fixed-price build of the path from first inquiry to signed client, inside your firm's own accounts. Your attorneys approve every client-facing message and every template before anything goes live.
What gets built
An instant first reply
Every web form and chat inquiry gets a reply within a minute, by email, and by text when the person agreed to texts. Missed calls get a text back with your booking link.
Follow-up until they book or say no
A short sequence over about two weeks that stops the moment someone books, replies or opts out. Your staff see every reply in one place.
Intake typed once
Intake answers go straight into your practice-management system: the contact, the matter, the names for the conflict check, and the details your attorney needs before the consult.
Engagement letter to signature
The letter is filled from the intake answers using your own template, reviewed by an attorney, sent for e-signature, and followed up until it's signed.
Consult reminders and no-show recovery
Confirmations and reminders with a reschedule link, and a short follow-up when someone misses a consult.
Before-and-after report
The staff hours and dollars recovered per week, measured the same way before and after, on one page.
Founding price
$3,000
Fixed. No hourly billing. The price rises 20% after every 5 sales; the next price is $3,600.
5–10 hours of senior-engineer time from Frank (principal software engineer, 17 years), plus AI build work that he reviews. The build is done with made-up test data, never your clients' information.
The guarantee
if the agreed weekly hours target isn't reached within 30 days of delivery, we keep building at no charge for up to 60 more days. If it still isn't reached, you get a full refund
The weekly hours target is agreed in writing before the sprint starts, based on your two-week baseline.
What we don't build
Testata builds the admin plumbing around your practice. The legal work stays with your attorneys.
No legal research or drafting AI
We don't build tools that research the law or write pleadings, briefs, letters of advice or any other legal work product.
No AI that judges a case
Nothing that assesses the merits of a matter, predicts outcomes, screens people out by likely result, or tells anyone what to do legally.
Nothing that replaces attorney judgment
Documents filled from intake answers use your own templates, and an attorney reviews each one before it goes out. Automatic messages are scheduling and status notices your firm writes and approves; they never give legal advice.
If the audit finds that your biggest time sink is on this list, it will say so and won't quote it.
Confidentiality and client data
Your duty of confidentiality covers prospective clients from the first call. The work is set up so client information never has to leave your firm's systems.
- The free audit needs no client data. No names, no case details, no access to your systems: only your answers about volumes, team, tools and time.
- Everything runs in accounts your firm owns. Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, your practice-management system, your e-signature and phone accounts. We work through a user account your firm creates, with the least access the work needs, and you can switch it off at any time.
- Client data stays in your systems. We don't copy it to Testata's computers or accounts. We build and test with made-up data.
- No training on client data. We never use your data to train an AI model. Any AI feature we switch on runs under your firm's own account and terms, which you review before it's turned on.
- Your attorneys stay in charge. They supervise the work, approve every client-facing message and template, and decide what goes live. We sign your confidentiality terms, or our law-firm addendum, before any access.
Bar guidance on technology and AI, including ABA Formal Opinion 512 (2024), asks lawyers to understand the tools they use, protect client information and supervise vendors. With every build we give you a plain list of what each tool does, what data it touches, where that data is stored and who can see it.
After the build: upkeep
Forms, tools and your intake process change. After the build we quote a monthly upkeep: keeping the messages, automations and integrations working, and adjusting them as your intake changes. The first 30 days after delivery are included in the sprint.
Questions
Do you need access to client files for the audit?
No. The audit uses only your answers to the form: volumes, team size, tools and minutes. Please don't include client names or case details.
For the sprint, we work through a user account your firm creates in your own systems, with the least access the work needs, and you can switch it off at any time. We sign your confidentiality terms, or our law-firm addendum, before any access.
Which systems do you build on?
The ones you already pay for, including Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics, Smokeball and PracticePanther, plus Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Forms, Bookings, Power Automate) and Google Workspace. We set up what you have rather than asking you to switch. Using something else? Say so in the form.
Will any of this give legal advice?
No. The automations send scheduling and status messages your firm writes and approves. They say who they're from, they never discuss the merits of anyone's matter, and anything beyond scheduling goes to a person at your firm.
Is it OK to text prospective clients?
Usually, with care: only people who contacted your firm and agreed to texts, with the firm's name in every message, a way to opt out that works, and wording that follows your state bar's rules on lawyer communications. We build in the consent checkbox, opt-out handling and quiet hours; your firm approves the final wording. This isn't legal advice: check your state's rules.
What about AI and our ethics duties?
Most of what we build is plain automation: forms, timed messages and data moving between your own systems. Where an AI feature helps, for example summarizing an intake form for the attorney, it runs inside a tool your firm licenses, you review its data terms first, and an attorney reviews what it produces.
We give you a plain description of each tool, what data it touches and where it's stored, so you can meet your duties of competence, confidentiality and supervision.
We already pay for an intake tool. Why would we need this?
Tools like Clio Grow, MyCase and Lawmatics can do much of this, but someone has to write the messages, connect the steps, set the stop rules and keep it working. The sprint does that in the tools you already have, and measures the hours it gives back.
Who actually does the work?
Frank J., a principal software engineer with 17 years of experience, runs the audit, designs the build and reviews every change. AI agents do the build work under his review, using made-up test data, never your clients' information. You deal with him directly.
How is the dollar figure calculated?
Staff hours recovered per week × the loaded hourly cost of the people whose time it frees. You give us the costs, or we use published wage data for US law firms (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) plus taxes and benefits, and say so. Every figure in the audit is labeled as an estimate with its assumptions until the after-report measures it.
What happens after the audit?
You read it and decide. If you want the sprint, reply to the email. If not, keep the audit and use it however you like.
Start with the free audit
Ten minutes of your time, no client data. A written audit within 24 hours with the hours, the dollars, the top 3 fixes and a fixed quote.
I'm Frank. I find where your staff's hours go between the first call and the signed engagement letter, design the fix, and review every change the AI agents build. No account managers, no hand-offs: you deal with me directly.
Frank J. — principal software engineer, 17 years