About AI Case Management: ten minutes on running a law firm with AI
AI Legal Case Management is a weekly podcast for solicitors, law firm owners, partners and practice managers in England and Wales. Every Thursday Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sits as a fee-paid county court judge, takes one problem that costs firms money or puts them at risk, from unbilled time and missed limitation dates to open undertakings, client complaints and fixed fees that run past their scope. Each episode sets out what the SRA Code of Conduct and the courts expect, what a well run firm does about it without buying anything, and where AI and legal case management software fit in a law firm's practice. Ten minutes, from Bracton, the legal case management system for firms in England and Wales.
The fee earner who leaves with what the file never held: fee earner resignation and file handover
A senior associate in private client resigns on a Monday with three months' notice, and the first file on her list shows a meeting with the executors in her own diary and a promise made by telephone that never reached an attendance note. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for how many of a leaver's files carry something only she knows, the kinds of knowledge that leave with a fee earner, what restrictive covenants and garden leave do and do not achieve, what the SRA Code of Conduct expects of the firm, and why a court gives little weight to the explanation that the solicitor dealing has left. Then six things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run this week on five matters belonging to the fee earner whose resignation would hurt you most, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that raises open undertakings and approaching dates, answers from the papers for the successor and drafts the letter to each client for a fee earner to approve, and the honest limit that it reads only what reached the file.
29 Oct 2026
The fixed fee that ran past its scope
A purchase quoted at a fixed fee for a freehold house turns up an extension built in breach of a covenant, and fourteen hours go on a fee priced for six without a word to the buyer. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for what fixed fee work past its scope costs a firm in a year, the three places where scope fails, what the SRA Code of Conduct and the Transparency Rules expect a firm to say about price, and the two documents a judge reads first when a fee dispute reaches court. Then five things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run on a single fee earner's last ten fixed fee matters this week, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that raises a fixed fee gone past its scope, finds the chargeable work that never reached a time entry and drafts the update to the client for a fee earner to price and sign off.
22 Oct 2026
The client who went quiet and then complained
The third email in seven weeks arrives from the executor of an estate that has waited fourteen weeks on a pension provider. The file is in order, every chase is noted, and the executor has seen none of it. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for how many files in a firm have gone quiet at any one time, why clients complain about the silence rather than the delay, how unhappy clients change the way they write before they say so, and what a judge reads first when the correspondence reaches court. Then five things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run on a single fee earner's oldest matters this week, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that finds the files where nothing has gone out to the client, reads the inbound correspondence for the markers and drafts the holding update for a fee earner to sign off.
15 Oct 2026
The undertaking still open on a closed file
A letter arrives eighteen months after completion. The seller's mortgage is still on the register, the undertaking to redeem it sits in an email on a closed file, and the conveyancer who gave it has left. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for how many undertakings sit live on a firm's files, why closing a file does nothing to them, and what the court reads first when asked to enforce one. Then five things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run on a single conveyancer's completions this week, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that picks out language that binds and flags an undertaking still open for a fee earner to deal with and sign off.
8 Oct 2026
The file nobody has opened for a month
An unless order arrives on a Monday morning, and the file behind it has not moved in seven weeks. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for how many files in a firm drift at any one time, why entries on a file pass for progress, and what the court looks at when a party asks for relief after a missed step. Then five things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run on a single desk this week, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that flags a matter with no substantive activity for a month and drafts the chaser for a fee earner to sign off.
1 Oct 2026
The date that lived in one person's head
A client rings to ask whether her claim has been issued, the solicitor running it is on leave, and the limitation date sits in pencil in a notebook in a desk drawer. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for how often a desk stands empty, why good fee earners keep their dates in their own systems, and what the court looks at when the explanation for a missed deadline is that someone was away. Then five things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run on a single desk this week, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that finds dates in the file which never reached the diary and puts each one to a fee earner to confirm or reject.
24 Sept 2026
The time your firm never billed
Every fee earner in your firm did something chargeable this morning that nobody will ever bill. A four minute call, an email answered on the train, a quick look at a file for a colleague. Saqib Khan, who owned a law firm for fourteen years and sat as a fee-paid county court judge for four, works through an illustrative figure for what twenty unrecorded minutes a day costs a firm of ten, the three reasons it happens, and what the court made of a file whose time was never written down when the work was done. Then five things a well run firm does about it without buying anything, one exercise to run on a single fee earner's files this week, and a plain account of where Bracton fits, with the overnight read that drafts the missing time entry for a person to accept or reject.
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