AI Readiness Assessment · Small and mid-size law firms, any practice area
Find where your firm's hours go before they reach a bill.
In one call we follow the work around your attorneys, from first inquiry to signed engagement letter to paid invoice, then hand you a report that ranks the tools worth paying for, each with cost and setup time, and a 4-day plan your team can follow to turn on the first fixes.
$999 flat · full refund if fewer than 3 tools pass
Not ready? Start with a free 15-minute callWe check every recommendation against the systems you already run.
- Microsoft 365
Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners. Real Simple Solutions is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or a partner of any of these companies.
Sample report, pages 2 & 8: executive summary and financial impact. Fictional practice.
Built for law firms whose admin work has outgrown the staff.
This is for managing partners, firm administrators, and office managers at small and mid-size firms who keep hearing about AI but haven't seen it save an hour in their own firm. You don't need to be technical. You get an AI consultant's answer to one question: what's worth your money?
- Calls, web forms and emails from prospective clients that wait until someone has time
- Conflict checks and new-matter setup typed into more than one system
- Engagement letters printed, signed, scanned and filed by hand
- Routine letters, forms and first drafts started from a blank page or an old file
- Billable time rebuilt at the end of the week, or never recorded
- Invoices, payment reminders and status updates sent one at a time
It's not a fit if:
- You want custom software built. That's a separate engagement (see Fractional CAIO follow-on).
- You're a solo practice with one main bottleneck. The free 15-minute call will probably get you further.
- You need a compliance or security audit. This assessment looks at your operations. It doesn't certify anything.
Where small firms get stuck on AI, and what we do about each.
In the ABA's 2024 survey, 24% of lawyers at firms with 2–9 attorneys said their office uses AI-based tools, against 48% at firms with 500 or more (ABA 2024 AI TechReport). Most owners we talk to are in one of these three places.
Every demo promises hours back, and nobody checks the claim against how your firm works.
“I am sure that the sales guys overpromise.”
PI firm owner, on Reddit, 2024 Every tool in the report comes with its monthly cost, contract terms, setup time and estimated hours back, checked against the practice management software you already run. If a feature you already pay for does the job, we say so first, and the tools that didn't pass are listed with the reason.
The firm runs on the one person who knows how everything works.
“And when that person leaves, and they inevitably leave, your system grinds to a halt.”
PI firm owner, on Reddit, 2025 We find the intake, paperwork and billing steps that live in one legal assistant's head and price the tools that put them in your systems instead. The goal is lighter work for the team you have, not a smaller team.
Time gets worked but never billed, and invoices get chased by hand.
We look at how time is recorded, how invoices go out and how payments come in, and show what your practice management software already does before suggesting anything new. We make no claim about how much more you'll bill.
Quotes are from public posts, testimony and interviews by practice owners and staff. They are not our clients.
We start with your bottlenecks, not with the tool.
Here's what lands in your inbox.
This is a sample built for a fictional practice, so you can see the format before you buy.
ROI from the numbers you gave us
Pages 2 & 8 of 9
AI Readiness Assessment
- Prepared for:
- Sample Practice
- Assessment date:
- March 2026
- Business type:
- 6-attorney general practice firm, 4 staff
- Primary focus:
- New inquiries, engagement letters, time entry, and billing
Executive summary
- The pain
- Staff return inquiries between other work and chase signatures and payments by hand, while attorneys rebuild their time at the end of the week.
- The outcome
- Inquiries get a booking link, letters get signed online, time is captured as it's worked, and payment reminders go out on their own.
Financial impact
- Total monthly tool cost
- $250
- Weekly time returned
- 14 hrs
- Monthly net ROI
- ~$2,300
Illustrative, fictional firm. Net ROI values saved hours at $42/hour, a typical loaded paralegal cost (wage plus benefits), minus tool cost. It doesn't count billable time recovered.
Quick wins, top-left: start here
Impact–effort matrix
Pages 3 & 7 of 9
Impact
Quick Wins
Major Projects
Fill-Ins
Ignore These
Effort to set up
- 1New-inquiry response
- 2Engagement letter signatures
- 3Time entry at the end of the week
- 4Invoice and payment follow-up
- 5Document assembly templates
- 6Files spread across shared drives
- 7Matter-closing letters
- 8Social media posting
What comes after quick wins
- Document assembly templates. Building them for each practice area takes weeks.
- Files spread across shared drives, moved into one document system.
Every tool priced and timed
Recommended solutions
Pages 5 & 6 of 9
New-inquiry response
Shared intake inbox with online consult booking
- Cost/month
- $50
- Setup
- 1 day
- Saves (hrs/week)
- 4
- Contract:
- Month to month
- Client data:
- Confidentiality checked
Engagement letter signatures
E-signature in your practice management software
- Cost/month
- $0
- Setup
- 1 day
- Saves (hrs/week)
- 2
- Contract:
- Included
- Client data:
- Confidentiality checked
Time entry at the end of the week
Automatic time capture from email and calendar
- Cost/month
- $150
- Setup
- 2 days
- Saves (hrs/week)
- 5
- Contract:
- Month to month
- Client data:
- Confidentiality checked
Invoice and payment follow-up
Online payments with automatic invoice reminders
- Cost/month
- $50
- Setup
- 1 day
- Saves (hrs/week)
- 3
- Contract:
- Month to month
- Client data:
- Confidentiality checked
Didn't pass
AI legal research add-on. This firm's hours go to intake, paperwork and billing, not research. It would add a monthly cost without taking work off the staff.
Your 4-day quick-wins plan
- Day one: E-signature. Turn on the feature you already pay for and load the engagement letter.
- Day two: Intake inbox. Set up consult booking and the reply to new inquiries.
- Day three: Time capture. Connect email and calendar, and train attorneys and staff (30 min).
- Day four: Payments. Turn on invoice reminders, then check the first week's inquiries and time entries.
- Book & pay
- Discovery call (60 min)
- We do the research
- Review call (30 min)
We record the call (with your OK) so the recommendations come from what you said, not from our assumptions. Your written report arrives within 3 business days of the discovery call, and the whole thing takes about 90 minutes of your time.
We check every recommendation against the systems you already run: practice management like Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, or Smokeball, plus Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, your accounting software, and your phones. If your current software already has the feature, we show you where it is first.
What $999 buys, and what each part is worth to you.
- 60-minute discovery call
- Someone outside the practice maps where the hours actually go, so you stop guessing.
- Written report: 3–7 tools matched to your bottlenecks
- A short list to act on, instead of a dozen vendor demos.
- Impact–effort matrix
- You see what to do first, and what to ignore.
- Cost, setup time and estimated hours back for every tool
- You see what each tool costs, and whether your practice management software already does it, before you sit through a demo.
- The tools that didn't pass, and why
- You also learn what not to buy, including AI add-ons that don't fit how your firm works.
- 4-day plan
- Day by day: what your team signs up for, connects and owns, so they can start without a new hire.
- Financial impact from your own numbers
- The math is shown, so you can check it yourself.
- 30-minute review call
- Your questions answered before you spend another dollar.
What the problem already costs
- In an average eight-hour workday, lawyers record about 3.4 billable hours (Clio Legal Trends benchmarks, 2026).
- In a secret-shopper test of 500 U.S. law firms, 48% were essentially unreachable by phone, and only 33% responded to email (Clio Legal Trends Report, 2024).
Against that, $999 once.
Fewer than 3 tools pass? You get your $999 back.
Full refund.
A tool passes only if it
- brings in revenue,
- gives your team hours back,
- or improves the client experience,
and only after we've
- priced it,
- timed the setup
- and checked it against the systems you already run.
The report marks every tool pass or fail and shows why. Think a “pass” doesn't hold up? Say so on the review call: if we can't show it meets the test, it counts as a fail. If fewer than 3 pass, ask within 7 days of your review call and you get the full $999 back, no argument.
- The report is yours.
- Use it with anyone, including another consultant or vendor.
- No commissions.
- We don't take referral fees from any tool we recommend.
- No records, no logins.
- We never need client files, or a login to your practice management system. You tell us how the firm runs.
- Data rule
- Every tool that would handle client information is checked against the confidentiality questions in ABA Formal Opinion 512, and the report shows whether each tool would touch client information and whether it cleared that check. Whether to use it stays your firm's call.
- One mention, no pitch.
- If you want help with bigger projects later, we offer an ongoing Fractional CAIO engagement, and your $999 is credited if you start within 30 days. We bring it up once on the review call, and that's all.See how Fractional CAIO works
Who you're working with
Real Simple Solutions works with law firms across the United States. We augment and automate the operations side of a firm, like intake, engagement letters, time capture, and billing. Legal work stays with your attorneys.
Every tool we recommend comes priced, timed, and checked against the systems your firm already runs, or it doesn't make the report.
Real Simple Solutions · +1-631-223-7322 · support@realsimplesolutions.ai · Replies the same business day
Not sure yet? Start with 15 free minutes.
Tell us the one thing that eats the most time in your practice, and we'll suggest one tool that could help. There's no report, no cost, and no follow-up sequence.
Questions owners ask before booking
Do you set anything up?
No. We deliver the report and the 4-day plan. Your own team follows the plan to turn on the first fixes, and you sign up with each vendor directly.
Why pay before the discovery call?
The call is the work. What we learn from your answers is what the report is built on. Paying up front also means you get our full attention, not a sales pitch.
What if AI isn't the answer for us?
Then the report says so. Plenty of the best fixes aren't AI at all: a feature your current software already has, better reminders, or a template. Those count as tools too.
Can't I just ask ChatGPT?
For some questions it's a fine start. It can't ask follow-up questions about how your office actually runs, check a tool against your systems, or price the setup. The report is built from your answers, not from a prompt.
Do the recommended tools cost extra?
Yes. You pay each vendor directly, and the report shows every monthly cost and contract term before you sign up for anything.
Will the tools work with the systems we already run?
Checking that is part of the research. If a tool doesn't work with your setup, it doesn't make the report.
What happens to what we tell you?
The assessment is a conversation, not a data transfer. Please keep client details off the call. The recording and transcript are used only to write your report.
How long until I get the report?
Within 3 business days of your discovery call. We schedule the review call when the report is ready.
Who's on the call?
On your side: you, plus anyone who knows where the work piles up, often an office manager, firm administrator or lead paralegal. On ours: the person who writes your report. The same person runs both calls.
Are you giving legal advice?
No. This is advice on running the firm: intake, engagement letters, time capture, billing and client communication. Every legal decision, and every document that goes out, stays with your attorneys.
Does it matter what kind of law we practice?
No. The assessment looks at how the firm runs, not the area of law. Personal injury and family law firms have their own pages: personal injury and family law.
Is this marketing consulting?
No. The assessment covers the operations side of the firm. Ad spend, SEO and lead buying are outside it, and we don't take referral fees from any tool we recommend.
How do you handle confidentiality?
We don't need client files, and we ask that no client names or case details come up on the call. For each tool, the report shows whether it would touch client information and whether it cleared the confidentiality questions in ABA Formal Opinion 512. Whether to use it stays your firm's call.
We're a small firm. Is $999 worth it?
The report has to earn it: if fewer than 3 tools pass on cost, setup time and hours back, you get the $999 back. If you're a solo practice with one main bottleneck, the free 15-minute call will probably get you further.
Full refund if fewer than 3 tools pass.
Find out where your firm's hours are going.
Book one call. Leave with your firm's bottlenecks ranked, the tools worth paying for, and a 4-day plan your team can follow to turn on the first fixes.
Or start with a free 15-minute call- $999 flat, paid at booking
- Full refund if fewer than 3 tools pass.
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