The firm Representative example · 14 lawyers, 9 staff, 23 paid seats · mixed hourly and flat fee · what one 30-minute session prepares from a firm's own billing statements
Six platforms at list prices, the stack a 23-seat firm actually runs. The last column is where the recoverable money sits in each one.
| Platform | Seats | Cost / month | Recoverable | Where the saving sits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clio Manage Practice management, Complete plan | 23 | $3,197 | $417 | 3 seats belong to people who left the firm. Verified in the admin panel during the session. |
| Westlaw Precision Legal research | 14 | $2,940 | $630 | Usage logs show 3 attorneys signed in less than twice a month. Right-size to 11 licenses at renewal. |
| Smith.ai receptionists Call answering, plan + average overage | – | $1,450 | $600 | Overage is driven by after-hours calls. Route those to an AI receptionist and keep the daytime plan. |
| NetDocuments Document management | 23 | $1,104 | $560 | Clio already manages current-matter documents. Keep NetDocuments for archive only, on fewer seats. |
| Lawmatics Intake and CRM | – | $499 | $499 | Duplicates Clio Grow, which the firm's Clio plan already includes and nobody has turned on. |
| DocuSign E-signature, Business Pro | 6 | $240 | $240 | Clio Complete includes unlimited e-signature. The firm is paying twice for the same click. |
| Total | $9,430 | $2,946 | 31% of the stack, recovered with no lost capability. |
Each step names who does it, how long it takes, and what it returns. The first three land this week and need nobody's permission but yours.
Admin, Manage Users, deactivate the 3 names we flagged. Their matters and documents stay untouched.
Settings, Documents, enable e-sign. Send one test document, then cancel DocuSign at the end of the billing month.
Keep Smith.ai for business hours. Point the after-hours forwarding number at the AI line, and the overage charges stop.
Rebuild the 2 intake forms and the follow-up sequence in Clio Grow, run both in parallel for 2 weeks, then cancel Lawmatics.
The contract renews in January. Bring the usage report we pulled to the renewal call and drop to 11 licenses. Do not accept the first counter.
Current matters move to Clio's document tab as they open. NetDocuments drops to an archive tier for closed-matter storage.
Microsoft 365, the firm's website, and payroll software are out of scope, they are priced fairly and doing their job. A savings number that comes from cutting things you need is not a saving. Everything above removes duplication and unused seats only, no capability is lost.
The full 3-week audit follows the money through billing, intake, tech spend and collections, and ranks every leak by what sealing it is worth. Or take this plan and run it yourself, it is yours either way.