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Meet Sarah Chen

Solo family law attorney · Boca Raton, FL · 4 years in practice

12 active cases 1 paralegal Court 2-3× per week Billable hour model

Sarah's Tuesday morning, right now

Before SproutDock — and what changes after.

Before With SproutDock
47 unread emails, 9 of them urgent client questions
Opens her dashboard — today's priorities and case signals at a glance
Billable hours tracked in a Google Sheet she forgets to update
Every email from a client is threaded under their case automatically
Discovery documents scattered across email, Dropbox, and a banker's box
Every case has its own document library with controlled visibility
Three clients called yesterday asking "what's the status of my case?"
Retainer agreements sent, e-signed, and PDF-archived in minutes
Missed a response deadline last month — almost cost her a sanctions order
Deadlines on the calendar, color-coded by type, nothing falls through
Invoices sent via PDF attachment, no read receipts, no payment tracking
Invoices with open-tracking — she knows when a client reads one
Considerations: Most lawyers running a solo or small practice are operating out of email, spreadsheets, and a filing cabinet. SproutDock isn't replacing one tool — it's giving the practice a spine. The value compounds as more of the workflow runs through one place.

SproutDock speaks Sarah's language

She doesn't have "Jobs" — she has Cases. Industry-specific terminology is applied based on the business type selected during registration.

Default term →
Sarah's term
Jobs
Cases
Sub-jobs
Matters (custody, support, property division)
Tasks
Case Tasks (motions, responses, court dates)
Contracts
Retainer Agreements
Invoices
Billing
Process Flows
Case Workflows
Products
Services (or hidden — most lawyers don't sell products)
Equipment
Hidden (not relevant for legal practice)
Considerations: The nav menu, page titles, and labels all reflect how the practice actually talks about its work. A paralegal doesn't have to mentally translate "job" into "case" every time she uses the system.

A new case, start to finish

Walk through how Sarah's whole workflow runs through SproutDock. Click any stage.

A prospective client calls. Sarah creates their Client record in SproutDock — name, contact info, conflict-check notes. No login required yet. The client exists as a record before they ever touch the system.

If she takes the case, she clicks "Send Retainer Agreement." The client gets an email with a link to a SproutDock-branded page (Sarah's logo, her firm name). They read, type their name to e-sign, and the executed retainer is locked, timestamped, IP-logged, and PDF-archived under that client.

Concrete example: Dave calls about a custody dispute on Monday at 9 AM. By 9:45, Sarah has him in the system, retainer sent. By 11 AM, Dave's signed it from his phone. The whole intake took less than 15 minutes of Sarah's time.
Considerations: The first hour of every new case usually goes to paperwork. This collapses it into minutes — and Dave's signed retainer is sitting in his file before he finishes his coffee.
Client + case creation: LIVE E-signature retainer agreements: LIVE

Sarah opens a Case for Dave. Inside the case she creates Matters for the major branches of work: Custody, Child Support, Property Division. Each Matter has its own tasks, documents, and communications — but they all roll up to the parent case for the big picture.

She picks a Layout Preset she's saved called "Active Litigation" — it arranges the case page sections in her preferred order: Tasks first, then Communications, then Documents, then Billing. Different visual layout than her preset for "Closed Cases."

Concrete example: Dave's case has three Matters. Sarah can pull up "Custody" alone and see only the custody-related filings, tasks, and emails — without the property division noise. Or pull up the parent case for the full picture.
Considerations: Lawyers don't think "one case, one bucket." A divorce is three or four parallel workstreams. Matters let her organize them without splintering the case file.
Cases + Matters: LIVE

Every filing deadline, every court date, every response window becomes a Task on the case. They appear on the firm-wide Calendar — color-coded by type: blue for cases, teal for tasks, red for invoice due dates, purple for contracts.

The calendar shows everything dated across all cases in one view — court dates, task deadlines, invoice due dates, contract milestones. Sarah can drag an event to reschedule it. Her paralegal can be assigned tasks and see her own workload filtered down.

Concrete example: Sarah's response to Dave's spouse's motion is due Friday. It's on the calendar, visible on Dave's case page, and assigned to Sarah. Her paralegal sees it in the task list. Two sets of eyes, one source of truth.
Considerations: Missed deadlines in law aren't "whoops, we'll redo it." They're sanctions, malpractice exposure, sometimes losing a case outright. A calendar that aggregates every deadline from every case is the safety net.
Case deadlines and tasks: LIVE Unified calendar: LIVE

When Sarah emails Dave from inside SproutDock, the email is sent from her firm's configured sending address. When Dave replies, the reply automatically threads back to the conversation — no Gmail integration needed, no copying-and-pasting, no "where did that email go?"

Sarah can also view all communications at the account level — a central inbox that shows every email thread across all cases, filterable by client or case. Unread indicators show her which conversations need attention.

Concrete example: Dave emails Sarah a question about the custody schedule. It threads into his case automatically. Sarah replies from the case page. The full conversation lives right alongside Dave's documents and tasks — no inbox archaeology.
Considerations: Most lawyers' case files are 60% email. Having the email live inside the case file — instead of scattered across an inbox — means the record of the relationship is always complete.
Email send + receive threading: LIVE

Every case has a document library scoped to that case. Sarah can mark documents admin-only (her work product, drafts, strategy notes), client-visible (documents she wants Dave to see), or public. Visibility is controlled per file.

Documents can be linked across cases and matters — a financial disclosure relevant to both Custody and Property Division only needs to be uploaded once. Files are served through secure, signed URLs — never exposed raw on the internet.

Concrete example: Sarah uploads the 30 discovery documents from opposing counsel into Dave's case. She sets them to "admin-only" while she reviews, then flips individual documents to "client-visible" as Dave needs to see them. Everything stays organized under one case.
Considerations: Discovery is where small firms drown in disorganization. Having every document in one place with visibility controls turns it into a managed workflow instead of an inbox archaeology project.
File uploads: LIVE Visibility controls: LIVE

Sarah creates invoices directly on a case — with line items for services rendered. SproutDock supports deposit invoices (retainer collection upfront), standard invoices (monthly billing), and final invoices (case close-out). Each invoice is linked to the case and the client.

When she sends an invoice, she gets open tracking — she can see when Dave opened the email, how many times he viewed it, and when he last looked at it. Payments are recorded against the invoice with method, reference number, and optional proof of payment.

Concrete example: Sarah sends Dave a deposit invoice for the retainer. She sees he opened it twice on Tuesday. By Thursday he hasn't paid, so she sends a follow-up. Old way: she had no idea if he even saw it.
Considerations: Cash flow is a constant pressure for small firms. Knowing whether a client has even opened an invoice — versus just not seeing it — changes the follow-up conversation entirely. Online payment processing is on the roadmap to close the loop further.
Invoicing: LIVE Open / read invoice tracking: LIVE Card payment processing: LIVE

Sarah's practice runs four types of cases, and each one follows a pattern. SproutDock's Case Workflow templates let her define that pattern once — then apply it to every new case of that type.

The attorney demo comes with four legal-specific workflow templates built in:

  • New Client Matter — Engagement letter → Retainer → Intake tasks → File collection → Initial review → First invoice
  • Litigation Case — Engagement letter → Retainer → Pleadings → Discovery → Motions → Trial prep → Resolution → Final invoice
  • Contract Drafting & Review — Engagement → Drafting tasks → File management → Execution → Invoice
  • Estate/Probate Matter — Engagement → Document collection → Filing → Administration → Distribution → Close-out

Each step in a workflow can auto-create contracts, invoices, task groups, or sub-matters. As steps are completed, the workflow tracks progress visually — Sarah always knows where a case stands.

Concrete example: Sarah opens a new litigation case and applies the "Litigation Case" workflow. The retainer agreement step, intake task group, and deposit invoice are scaffolded automatically. She's not reinventing the process — she's running the playbook.
Considerations: The value here is consistency. Every case follows the same steps, nothing gets skipped, and a paralegal can see exactly where each case stands without asking Sarah. It's institutional knowledge encoded into the system.
Case workflow templates: LIVE

SproutDock launches with the core workflow covered — cases, communications, documents, billing, calendaring, and workflow automation. But the platform is actively growing. Here's what's on the near-term roadmap:

Client Portal — Dave gets his own login. He sees his case, his documents (the ones Sarah marks visible), his invoices, and his payment history. Fewer "what's the status?" calls.
Online Payments — Clients pay invoices directly from the portal or from a link in the invoice email. Payment processor integration for cards and ACH.
Plan-Based Feature Gating — Basic, Pro, and Enterprise tiers with different capabilities. Practices start lean and unlock features as they grow.
Role Refinement — Granular permissions for paralegals, associates, and of-counsel attorneys. Staff see only what's relevant to their role.

The goal is a platform that grows with the practice — not one that Sarah outgrows in six months.

Considerations: Launching with the core workflow locked down is intentional. Getting the foundation right — cases, documents, billing, communications — is what matters first. The features on the roadmap build on top of that foundation.
Client portal: LIVE AI briefing: COMING SOON

Sarah's Tuesday morning — after

Same day. Same caseload. Different reality.

8:30 AM — opens SproutDock

8:32 AM
Checks her dashboard — sees two overdue tasks and one invoice that's been opened but not paid.
8:40 AM
Reviews 3 client emails — all threaded under the right cases, no inbox digging.
9:00 AM
Opens the Smith case — the workflow shows "Response to Motion" is the next step. Starts drafting.
10:15 AM
Paralegal flags a task for review — Sarah checks the case page and approves the filing.
11:00 AM
New client intake — retainer sent, signed, and archived by 11:30. Workflow template applied to the case.
12:00 PM
Lunch. The admin work that used to eat the whole morning was handled by 10.
The pattern that compounds

Sarah spends less time on admin because the system handles the structure. Her cases are organized because the workflows enforce consistency. Her communications are tracked because the email lives in the case. Every week, the gap between "running a practice" and "practicing law" gets smaller.

SproutDock isn't just for law firms.

Same architecture, different vocabulary, different workflow emphasis. Industry-specific terminology, layout presets, and module visibility let every vertical feel native.

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