Paralegals should check deadlines first after every recertification. Each 90 days the legal agent is recertified on the firm's own matters, and its rights to diarise dates, draft from precedents and send routine correspondence can change. A short change note, practice on two or three real-looking matters and a fortnight of diary checks keep paralegals in control.
What changes for paralegals at each cycle?
A legal support agent typically indexes and summarises documents at depth 1. It drafts standard documents from the firm's precedent bank at depth 2: letters, witness statement shells, disclosure lists. It diarises deadlines and sends routine chasers to clients at depth 3 within the firm's own rules. Anything sent to a court or to the other side is drafted and held for a solicitor. Advice, strategy and anything involving privilege decisions stay with lawyers.
Recertification re-runs the agent's cases on recent matters. Deadline calculation gets the closest scrutiny, because a missed date is the error a firm cannot undo. Common changes: the agent stops diarising a type of deadline it calculated wrongly during the replay; a precedent is retired and the agent drafts from its replacement; a new refusal blocks sending documents tagged as privileged outside the firm.
Take, for example, a litigation team where the replay showed the agent counting a response period from the date a document was sent rather than the date it was deemed served. From the effective date, the agent stops diarising that deadline type and holds it as a draft entry for a paralegal to calculate and confirm. Paralegals who used to glance at the diary now do the calculation themselves for every new claim, and need to know that from day one.
Sources matter. The precedent bank is sealed: issued by the firm's own system and tamper-evident. Documents a client sends are declared or external until checked. A chronology the agent builds from client emails is only as strong as those emails. The general idea is in what recertification is.
Who owns readiness?
The supervising solicitor or practice support manager owns paralegal readiness. The knowledge lawyer owns the precedent bank. The builder owns recertification. The risk partner should see any change to deadline handling.
Steps for each cycle
- Agent, depth 1: report the cycle. Documents indexed, drafts produced and edited, deadlines diarised, chasers sent, holds and refusals, with the deciding bound for each.
- Person (senior paralegal): check a sample of diarised deadlines against the source documents and rules.
- Person (knowledge lawyer): list precedent changes due in the next cycle.
- Person (builder): recertify on recent matters and the updated precedents.
- Person (practice support manager and builder): write the change note: deadline types diarised, precedents changed, new refusals.
- Person (risk partner): approve any change to deadline handling.
- Agent, depth 2: draft practice matters, checked by the senior paralegal.
- Person (practice support manager): brief paralegals; then the senior paralegal checks every agent-diarised deadline for the first fortnight.
| Step | The agent does | Depth | Stays with a person |
|---|---|---|---|
| Document review | Indexes and summarises | 1 | Relevance and privilege calls |
| Standard drafts | Drafts from precedents | 2 | Checking and finalising |
| Deadlines | Diarises within the firm's rules | 3 | Checking new deadline types |
| Client chasers | Sends routine reminders | 3 | Anything sensitive |
| Court or other side | Drafts and holds | held | Solicitor approval |
| Privileged material | Refuses to send outside the firm | refused | Privilege decisions |
What should paralegals retrain on?
Deadlines. If the agent stopped diarising a deadline type, paralegals now calculate it. If it started, paralegals check its first entries. Either way, practise two examples.
Precedent changes. A retired precedent may still be in someone's personal folder. Paralegals should know which is current and stop using the old one.
Summaries built from client material. An agent's chronology can read as fact when it rests on one client email. Paralegals should check the sources behind key dates before a solicitor relies on them.
Refusals on privileged material. If the agent refused to send a document, the paralegal raises it with the solicitor. Sending it by hand to get round the refusal defeats the control.
Controls and the evidence they leave
- Deadline sample each cycle. Evidence: the checked sample and any corrections.
- Precedent change list. Evidence: the knowledge lawyer's list and version history.
- Change note with risk partner approval. Evidence: dated, signed note.
- Fortnight deadline check. Evidence: the senior paralegal's log.
- Practicum for new paralegals. Evidence: the practicum log template for paralegals.
What to measure
Deadline corrections found in samples, which should trend to none. The edit rate on drafts by document type. Held items waiting for solicitor approval and their age. And matters where a retired precedent was used. Track these per cycle so a change shows up against the one before.
Where does readiness slip?
The agent's diary entry is trusted because it is usually right. One wrong limitation date is enough to cause a claim. The fortnight check exists for this.
Precedents change and the agent does not, or the agent changes and people do not. Align precedent releases with the cycle.
Paralegals assume the solicitor reviewed what the agent drafted, and the solicitor assumes the paralegal did. Each must know their part, as are paralegals accountable for an AI agent's mistakes explains. Caseworkers face a similar handover problem; compare keeping caseworkers ready for recertification.
Where the Academy fits
Pryme Intelligence Academy's Operator track covers human review, teaching the agent and keeping knowledge current, which line up with deadline checks, precedent changes and corrections. Lessons can be read or heard as audio, with highlights and notes. Certified Pryme Operator is checkable at source by number or QR code, which helps a firm show supervision is real. More in the guide to AI literacy and certification for people who work with agents.
Questions people ask
Should the agent ever file documents at court?
No. Filing is held for a solicitor. Keep it outside the agent's bounds.
What if the agent misses a deadline type entirely?
Report it at once. The builder can narrow the capability through the firm's own limits while it is fixed, and the next replay should include that case.
Do trainee solicitors need the same briefing?
Yes. Anyone who relies on the agent's drafts or diary needs to know what changed.