Legal Services

Regional Law Firm

Capturing 30 years of legal expertise before a senior partner retired

$180K
Annual research savings
$28K
Total investment
90%
Faster case prep

The Problem

Their founding partner was retiring. Thirty years of employment law expertise—case strategies, precedent interpretations, negotiation playbooks—lived entirely in his head.

Associates spent hours researching questions he could answer in minutes. When he left, that institutional knowledge would walk out the door with him.

The Knowledge Insurance Crisis:

  • 30 years of case law interpretations, undocumented
  • Associates averaging 8+ hours/week on research the partner could shortcut
  • No succession plan for institutional knowledge
  • Client relationships built on his expertise, at risk

The business risk: Losing their competitive advantage in employment law the day he walked out.

The Fix

We conducted 40 hours of structured interviews with the retiring partner, capturing his decision frameworks, case strategies, and precedent interpretations. Combined with their existing case files and legal research, we built a system that thinks like their best attorney.

Knowledge Captured:

  • 2,000+ case files and outcomes
  • Partner interview transcripts and decision trees
  • Precedent database with interpretive notes
  • Negotiation strategies and settlement patterns
  • Opposing counsel profiles and tendencies

What We Built:

  • 1

    Case Strategy Assistant

    Query precedents, get strategic recommendations with citations

  • 2

    Research Accelerator

    Find relevant cases and partner insights in seconds, not hours

  • 3

    Audit Trail

    Every answer traced to source documents for compliance

The Stack

Vector DB:Weaviate (self-hosted)
LLM:GPT-4 Turbo (Azure)
Framework:Custom RAG pipeline
Deployment:Private Azure tenant
Frontend:Secure web portal
Compliance:Full audit logging, SOC 2 ready

Legal-Grade Security:

Attorney-client privilege maintained. All data encrypted at rest and in transit. No training on client data. Complete audit trail for every query and response.

The Results

8hrs → 45min
Average research time
30 Years
Expertise preserved
100%
Answers cite sources

Concrete Impact:

  • Partner retired with confidence—his legacy continues through the system
  • Associates now bill 6+ additional hours/week (previously spent on research)
  • New associates productive in weeks, not months
  • Every recommendation traceable for malpractice defense
  • Firm retained key clients who valued the partner's expertise

The Investment

Total Cost
$28,000

Including interviews

Timeline
6 weeks

Interviews to launch

Payback
8 weeks

From billable hour gains

"We didn't just preserve knowledge—we made it accessible in ways even [the partner] couldn't. He calls it 'a better version of my brain.'"

— Managing Partner

What They Own Now

Full Ownership:

Complete source code
Private Azure deployment
Interview transcripts & decision trees
Audit-ready logging
No ongoing license fees
Knowledge capture methodology

Next Phase: Capturing More Partners

They're now systematically interviewing other senior attorneys:

  • Corporate law practice expertise
  • Real estate transaction patterns
  • Client relationship insights

What happens when your expert walks out the door?

Capture their knowledge before it's too late.

Book a Discovery Call