//A Tuesday
A working day in the law firm.
Architecture diagrams do not explain what changes at the desk. So here is one day, hour by hour. Throughout, it is about the work nobody can bill: post, files, deadlines, costs, follow-ups.
Architecture diagrams do not explain what changes at the desk. So here is one day, hour by hour. Throughout, it is about the work nobody can bill: post, files, deadlines, costs, follow-ups.
Everything that arrived overnight has been read in and matched to the right file: court mail, letters from other firms, notices from public authorities. Deadlines are calculated as a proposal and lie ready for checking, with the calculation next to them. Anything that could not be matched with confidence sits on a separate pile and waits for a decision.
Incoming post · File matching · DeadlinesThe letter of claim turns into a file header: case caption, parties, every date mentioned, every amount, the other side’s reference number. Along with a list of what is missing. Every entry carries its source in the document, so that nobody takes over an invented figure. The check against the sanctions lists and the conflict check run in the same pass and are documented even when they find nothing.
File header · Sanctions lists · Conflict checkThe appeal deadline is noted, but the date of service fell on a public holiday that applies in only one federal state. The recalculation under §§ 186 to 193 BGB (the German Civil Code rules on how periods are counted) and § 222 ZPO comes back with every intermediate step: start of the period, end of the period, shift, result. This is a second check and does not replace the deadline control of the firm.
Deadline calculatorLawyer remuneration and court costs by amount in dispute, with the fee table in force on the relevant date and with the credit applied in the right place. No model estimates this figure. A script calculates it, and the calculation is printed underneath, so that an objection from the other side can be followed.
RVG and GKG calculatorsOne overview per file: what moved today, which deadline runs next, which client correspondence has been unanswered for how many days. For the files where nothing has happened for a long time, a draft status update lies ready. Nothing is sent without approval.
Status update · Follow-upWhether to follow up or to bill, whether a settlement makes sense, whether to take on a matter: everything that calls for judgement goes to the person who answers for it. The rest runs as preparation.
Nothing leaves the firm without confirmation. What gets produced are drafts, not sent messages. That is a setting we choose deliberately and that stays that way later on.
Every calculated deadline is a second check and does not replace the deadline control of the firm. Its value lies elsewhere: it objects when the noted deadline does not match the calculation.
The sequence above is an example, not a field report from a particular firm. The modules behind it exist: they are openly readable on GitHub, under legal-ops-germany, with tests and calculation paths. Some of it has been tried on real files, some is still in acceptance testing. Which status applies to which module is stated in the repository, and we tell you beforehand.
Which of these steps are worth anything in your firm is decided by your workflows and not by this list. In one firm the incoming post is the problem, in the next it is the fee note, in the third it is the question why three people run the same research twice. That is why we start with a stocktake and not with a toolbox.
That is the first question in the initial call. The answer decides which module makes sense first. You get the assessment in writing afterwards, on one page.
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