Matter AI in practice: real prompts for everyday tasks across your firm

If you have read the first post in this series, you have already seen what Matter AI can do within specific practice areas. This post takes a different approach. These prompts are not specific to litigation, conveyancing, or any other area of law. They are for the situations that happen in every firm, every week: covering for a colleague, preparing for a client call, picking up a matter after a break.

As with all Matter AI prompts, they work best when the relevant documents and correspondence are already stored on the matter in LEAP.

Before and after leave

Going on leave or returning after time away are two of the most time-consuming transitions in any solicitor's week. Matter AI can take most of the administrative load off both.

Scenario: You are due to go on leave and need to brief a colleague who will be covering your matters in your absence.

I am about to go on leave, can you create a structured handover note that I can share with colleagues for this matter?"

Matter AI will produce a structured overview covering the current position, recent correspondence, outstanding actions, and key contacts. Send it directly to Word from within Matter AI, and you have a handover note ready to share in a fraction of the time it would take to write from scratch.

Scenario: You have just returned from annual leave and need to get back up to speed before your first client contact.

I have just returned from a week's annual leave, can you get me up to speed on what has changed on this matter since I have been away?"

Matter AI will scan the correspondence from your absence and summarise what happened, what was sent or received, and what needs your attention. Particularly useful first thing in the morning when you have several matters to work back through before the day gets started.

Covering for a colleague

Scenario: A colleague has gone on unexpected leave and you have been asked to cover one or more of their matters with little notice.

A colleague has just gone on unexpected leave and I have been asked to cover this matter. Give me an overview of where things stand and what needs to happen next."

Rather than reading back through months of correspondence on an unfamiliar matter, you get an immediate summary of the current position and what needs to happen next. Means you can respond to the client or pick up the work without delay, even on a matter you have never touched before.

Before a client call or meeting

Scenario: You have a call coming up shortly and want to refresh your memory on the current position before it starts.

I have a call with my client in 30 minutes. Summarise the current position on this matter and flag anything I should raise with them."

A quick prompt before a client call means you go in fully briefed rather than scanning through correspondence while the client is talking. Particularly useful on a busy day when you are moving between matters quickly.

Scenario: You are meeting a client the following day and want time to follow up on anything outstanding before you sit down with them.

I am meeting the client tomorrow. What are the outstanding actions and are there any issues in the correspondence I should be aware of before the meeting?"

This version gives you the evening before to act on anything Matter AI flags, rather than discovering it 30 minutes before the meeting.

Client update email

Scenario: You need to update a client on the progress of their matter and want a draft to work from.

Draft a brief update email to my client summarising progress on their matter since our last contact."

Matter AI will draft the email using the correspondence already on the file. Once you are happy with it, you can send the response directly to Microsoft Outlook from within Matter AI, so the draft lands in a new email ready to review and send rather than requiring a copy and paste step.

Identifying next steps

Scenario: You are picking up a matter and want to identify quickly what needs to happen before you can move it forward.

Based on the correspondence on this matter, what are the outstanding actions and what needs to happen next?"

Useful at the start of a working session or after a period away from a matter. Matter AI will identify what has been done and what is still open, so you can prioritise your time without working back through the full file.

Upcoming deadlines

Scenario: You want to check whether there are any deadlines or important dates approaching before moving on to other work.

Are there any upcoming deadlines or important dates in this matter I should be aware of?"

A check that takes seconds but can flag something critical you might otherwise have missed. Worth running at the start of a working day or before setting a matter aside for review.

Preparing to close

Scenario: A matter appears to be nearing completion and you want to confirm what, if anything, remains outstanding before closing the file.

What steps remain before this matter can be closed?"

Matter AI will check the correspondence and flag any outstanding items, whether that is a document awaiting signature, a payment not yet confirmed, or a final letter still to be sent. A useful sense-check before you formally close the file.

Briefing a colleague or trainee

Scenario: You need to bring a colleague or trainee up to speed on a matter so they can assist with it.

Summarise this matter so I can brief a colleague who will be assisting with it."

Rather than walking a colleague through the file verbally or writing a summary from scratch, Matter AI produces a clear overview they can read in their own time before picking up the work.

Adapting these prompts to your own matters

These examples are starting points. You can make any of them more specific by adding context: a date range, a name, or a particular issue you want to focus on. For example, "summarise what has happened on this matter since 1 May" will return a more targeted result than the broader return-from-leave version above. You can also follow up within the same conversation to dig into a specific point or ask for a different format.

A note on sending responses

Several of the prompts above produce content you will want to use straight away, such as the handover note, the client update email, or the colleague briefing. Matter AI lets you send any generated response directly to Microsoft Word or Microsoft Outlook from within the application, saving the copy and paste step entirely.

Want to read more?

This is the third post in our series on examples of real prompts to help you maximise LEAP's built-in legal AI tools. You can find the first two here:

Matter AI in practice: real prompts for litigation, conveyancing, family law and more

LawY in practice: real research prompts for litigation, conveyancing, family law and more

Try it now

If you are an existing LEAP user, open any matter with a reasonably complete file and try one of the prompts above. The leave and handover prompts are a good place to start if you have something coming up. If you want to save time today, the client call or next steps prompts are immediately useful on any active matter.