Client status update

Ask for this when: a client should hear where their matter stands and you would rather read a draft than write one.

"Draft an update for the client on the Delgado matter." "What should I tell Ms. Alvarez about her case?" "Send my clients their monthly updates." "Yes, draft a check-in for that one." (when the morning brief or weekly digest points out a matter that has gone quiet)

What it does

It reads the matter in Clio - your own time-entry descriptions, the correspondence filed, the hearings and deadlines ahead, the open tasks - and writes a short, plain email to the client in your voice: what has been done, what happens next, and whether they need to do anything. It never quotes a time entry word for word, never includes minutes or amounts, and never adds a date, a figure, or a position the file does not support; where something is uncertain it leaves a bracketed blank for you.

You see the whole draft in the conversation first. Say what to change, and whether you want it in your Drafts folder or sent. Nothing is sent without your explicit yes, exactly as with any other email it drafts.

If you ask for your clients' monthly updates, it lists the open matters with recent activity, tells you which have no client email in Clio, and asks which to start with. It does one at a time - draft, your read, send or not - and only then moves to the next.

The check-in

When the brief or the digest flags a matter that has gone quiet, it offers to draft a short check-in to that client: it's been a while, here is where things stand, has anything changed on your side. Same rules - you read it first, nothing is sent without your yes - just shorter.

What it can't do

• It doesn't know what you last told the client. It says which period the draft covers so you can trim anything they already know.
• It can't judge what should stay out of a client email. A note about settlement authority or a weak point will be paraphrased like anything else; you are the gate, which is why you always see the draft first.
• It can't email a client Clio has no address for, and can't attach documents. Add those in Outlook.