The attendance note is the task everyone in the firm knows is necessary and nobody does at the right moment. Between two consultations there are never the twenty minutes it takes, so you scribble four words on a pad and tell yourself you will write it up tonight. Tonight there is a pleading to finish. A week later, all that is left of the meeting is what memory kept, plus four illegible words, and the note will never be written.
This is not a comfort problem. The attendance note is what protects the firm: it records what the client set out, what you advised, what they chose not to follow, and on what date. It also feeds the time you bill and lets a colleague pick the matter up without you. An AIOS turns a three-minute voice memo dictated in the car, or the notes you typed during the meeting, into a structured note, filed on the right matter, with the follow-up actions and the time spent.
The problem
- The slot to write it up does not exist: meetings run back to back and the note comes after every procedural deadline
- Written a week later, it loses what mattered: the client's exact words, the caveats you gave, the documents they promised
- Decisions taken in the meeting never become tasks, so the promised document is never chased and the deadline announced never reaches the diary
- Because time is not recorded the same day, it is understated or simply forgotten when the invoice goes out
How the AIOS handles it
You dictate three minutes, it writes the note
You speak the way people speak walking to the car: out of order, with hesitations and second thoughts. The AIOS turns that into a clean note following your firm's template: attendees, date and duration, subject, the facts as set out, documents handed over, advice given, decisions taken, next steps. If you would rather record the meeting itself, with the client's express consent, it works from the recording; if you type notes during the meeting, it starts from those.
It files the note on the right matter, named the right way
The matter is identified from the party name you mention, the document is saved in the right place, named to the firm's convention and added to the index. For a first meeting with no matter open, it creates the prospect file and puts the note there, ready to convert if the firm takes the case. You file nothing, and you find the note where you would have looked for it.
It pulls out the follow-up
Every meeting produces actions, and those are what get lost. The AIOS extracts them: documents to request from the client, with the email already drafted, tasks for the associate, deadlines placed in the diary, points to verify before the next step. It also prepares the confirmation message to the client, restating in plain terms what was decided and what they need to provide. A meeting confirmed in writing to the client the same day is worth a great deal on the day the accounts of it diverge.
It prepares the time recording
Length of the meeting, preparation time, nature of the work, matter, applicable fee agreement: the time entry is ready and you approve it or correct it. This is the most profitable part of the whole thing, because time recorded the same day is time recorded accurately, and firms almost always under-bill for exactly this reason.
A concrete example
I have just sent you the voice memo from the two o'clock meeting, Chastain matter.
Note written, two pages, filed on the Chastain matter under "Meeting of 14 August". In substance: the client is challenging her dismissal for poor performance, she handed over the disciplinary meeting record, the dismissal letter and two favourable annual reviews; you set out the time limit for bringing a claim and the case for attempting a negotiated exit first, and she wants to try the negotiation. Three follow-ups: request the last twelve months of payslips and the final settlement statement, the email is drafted; prepare a draft letter to the employer for next week, assigned to Camille; and the limitation date, which I have put in the diary with a reminder three weeks out. On time: one hour ten of meeting plus twenty-five minutes reading the documents, recorded as a consultation on the matter, awaiting your approval. Two caveats: you say the time runs from the notification without giving the exact date, so I left it blank in the note; and the HR manager's name is inaudible on the recording, it is marked to be completed.
Other use cases: Triaging the firm's email · Legal watch for the firm · Chasing unpaid fees · Answering first enquiries
Main page: Lawyers