Pilot report · End of week 3
Oakmere & Pryce LLP
Task tested: client update letter after a call · Prepared by CM Solutions
Test passed
5.5 hours a week saved.
The test was 5 hours a week. Your team beat it. At £27 an hour, that is £149 of staff time back every week, from one letter.
22 min
saved on every letter
30 min → 8 min
£149
staff time back each week
£6,800
a year, from one task
46 working weeks
5.1 wks
to earn back the £750 pilot
If it had saved less than 5 hours a week, you could have removed it and paid nothing. It did not. So you can see the saving in your own staff’s timings, not in our words.
1 · What we agreed
One task. Clear rules. Written down first.
We agree this in writing before any work starts. Nothing changes halfway through.
| The task | A client update letter after a call |
|---|---|
| How often | 15 letters a week, from the firm's own records |
| Who times it | Two fee earners, on our one-page timer sheet |
| How we time it | 5 letters the normal way in week 0. 5 letters with the assistant at the end of week 3 |
| The test | 5 hours a week saved, or you pay nothing |
| The price | £750, billed only if the test is passed |
2 · The hours
Your team now spends about a quarter of the time on these letters.
In week 0 the firm spent 7.5 hours a week on client update letters. By week 3 it spent 2.0.
Hours spent on the task each week
7.5
7.5
3.5
2.0
Week 0
Normal way
Week 1
Set-up
Week 2
In use
Week 3
In use
Hours the whole team spends on client update letters in one week.
Week 1 is set-up, so the hours stay the same. In week 2 the team starts using the assistant. By week 3 every letter starts with a draft.
Five timings each, side by side
Week 0: the normal way
Average 30 min
End of week 3: with the assistant
Average 8 min
Each dot is one timed letter. The line marks the average.
Your own staff timed these. Nobody at CM Solutions touches the stopwatch.
3 · Where the time came from
The slow parts went first.
We split the 30 minutes into steps. The biggest saving is the first draft. The assistant writes it from the call notes in seconds. A fee earner then edits it.
Minutes per letter, step by step
Pull up the call notes
6 min → 1 min
Write the first draft
15 min → seconds
Edit the draft
0 min → 4 min
Check names and dates
5 min → 2 min
Put it in house style
4 min → 1 min
Total: 30 min → 8 min per letter
Did the team really use it?
Week 2
11 of 15 letters drafted with the assistant
Week 3
15 of 15 letters drafted with the assistant
Each block is one letter. The firm writes 15 a week.
If the team hardly used the assistant, we would not call the test fair. We would add one extra week. Here, usage reached 15 of 15.
4 · Control and safety
Your people stayed in charge.
Time saved is worth nothing if the work cannot be trusted. This part of the report shows how the assistant behaved.
| Check | Week 2 | Week 3 | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letters checked by a fee earner before sending | 11 of 11 | 15 of 15 | A person approves every letter |
| Letters sent without a person checking | 0 | 0 | The assistant never sends by itself |
| Drafts that needed changes | 6 of 11 | 3 of 15 | We tuned the template in week 2, so edits fell |
| Client files stored on a public AI tool | 0 | 0 | Everything stayed on your private server |
5 · What it is worth
£6,800 a year of staff time, from one letter.
We turn the hours into pounds, so the decision is simple. You can change the hourly cost to match your own firm.
The sum
| Saved on each letter | 22 minutes |
| Letters a week | 15 |
| Hours saved a week | 5.5 hours |
| Cost of one staff hour (worked out below) | £27 |
| Value each week | £149 |
| Value each month | £569 |
| Hours back over 46 working weeks | 253 hours |
| Value each year | £6,831 |
253 hours is about 34 working days handed back to your fee earners every year. They spend that time on billable work, or go home on time.
When the pilot pays for itself
The value of the time saved, added up week by week.
£851
£1,594
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Week
The £750 invoice arrives at the end of week 3. By week 7 the saved time is already worth more than the whole pilot.
How we got £27 an hour
People at different pay levels write these letters, so we show all three. The sums above use the middle row. Your real report uses your own staff cost.
| Who writes the letters | Salary | Cost of one hour | Saved a year | After year-one cost (£2,550) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal secretary or paralegal | £28,000 | £19 | £4,800 | £2,300 |
| Fee earner (middle of the range)used above | £40,000 | £27 | £6,800 | £4,300 |
| Senior fee earner | £50,000 | £34 | £8,600 | £6,100 |
How we work out one hour at £40,000: salary £40,000 + employer National Insurance £5,250 (15% above £5,000) + employer pension £1,013 (3% minimum) = £46,263 a year. Divide by 1,725 working hours (46 weeks × 37.5 hours) = £26.82, rounded to £27.
Not counted: office, software and equipment, so the real cost of an hour is higher. Pay levels are examples from public figures checked in October 2026. Pay differs by firm, and the sources do not agree with each other. Indeed, paralegals in Newcastle; Payscale, associate solicitors in Newcastle; ONS ASHE 2025, solicitors and lawyers; Sacco Mann Legal Salary Survey 2025/26; GOV.UK employer National Insurance; GOV.UK workplace pensions.
6 · Year one, in pounds
Every £1 you spend returns about £2.7.
This counts the pilot and the lowest Care plan against the one task we measured. No other task is counted.
| Value of the time saved on one task | £6,831 |
| Pilot (one time, only if the test is passed) | − £750 |
| Care plan from £150 a month, 12 months (hosting, updates, Friday report) | − £1,800 |
| Total cost in year one | £2,550 |
| Left in your firm after year one | £4,281 |
Care plans run from £150 to £400 a month. The Managed plan starts at £1,000 a month and covers up to 3 tasks.
7 · What we found next
Three more tasks that are slow today.
During the pilot we look for the next tasks that cost your team the most time. These are estimates, not measurements. We only measure one task in the pilot.
| Task | Today | With the assistant | Times a week | Hours saved a week | Estimated value a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summarise a 40-page lease or bundle | 60 min | 10 min | 6 | 5.0 | £6,200 |
| Find a clause across past contracts and precedents | 20 min | 1 min | 10 | 3.2 | £3,900 |
| Answer “what did we agree with this client?” | 15 min | 1 min | 12 | 2.8 | £3,500 |
| Estimated total, on top of the letters | 11.0 | £13,600 | |||
Each new task gets its own fixed quote after the pilot. You decide which ones, if any.
8 · Every Friday
You never have to ask how it is going.
One page lands in your inbox every Friday. Here are two of them.
Friday, end of week 2
Work done
11 client update letters drafted by the assistant. Every one checked and sent by a fee earner.
Time saved
4.0 hours saved this week
What comes next
Add the firm’s standard closing paragraph to the template.
Friday, end of week 3
Work done
15 client update letters drafted by the assistant. Every one checked and sent by a fee earner.
Time saved
5.5 hours saved this week
What comes next
Final timing done. Pilot result and choices are on this report.
9 · Your choice
Three ways to go from here.
No pressure. You decide, and every option keeps your data yours.
01
Keep it on our private server
Add a Care plan (from £150 a month) or the Managed plan (from £1,000 a month). Hosting is included.
02
Move it to your own computer
We quote a small computer at cost plus a stated margin. You pay before we order it. You own it. No monthly fee.
03
Stop here
You have 30 days to choose after the pilot invoice. If you choose nothing, we send you all your data and remove the assistant.