Let's make sure you're ready... not just busy.
Because filings are ticking up.
Foreclosures are creeping back into conversation.
Clients are calling earlier this year.
You can feel it.
The tremor before the wave.
But here’s the part you may have been avoiding.
Firms don’t usually break when business is slow...
They break when it spikes.
When intake doubles and you have to chase down an absurd amount of documents.
Staff gets overwhelmed.
And all the shortcuts you tolerated before... blow up in your face.
Busy feels good.
Until it exposes what wasn't built right.
And right now...
A lot of bankruptcy firms are layering something new on top of that foundation.
AI.
But there's no strategy or structure to it...
Letting staff “try some tools.”
Cleaning up writing in ChatGPT.
Summarizing intake notes and generating drafts.
Testing prompts they found on LinkedIn.
But have you thought about these yet:
Written guardrails...
Privilege containment policy...
Internal workflow mapping...
Risk classification?
If not, then your usage of AI is just based on vibes right now.
What happens when filings rise…
And your workflows are loose…
And AI is layered on top without structure…
You don’t become more efficient.
You've just increased your liability.
And now you have more exposure to malpractice risk...
Privilege mistakes...
Workflow bottlenecks...
Staff confusion...
Inconsistent outputs...
Court scrutiny...
And this list is still evolving.
You can either experiment with AI, or you can build infrastructure with it.
You can play with tools like they're fun toys... or build systems.
What do we mean by systems?
A lot of attorneys think we're talking about writing better prompts.
That's the fun part of playing with AI...
But here is what we actually mean when we say "infrastructure" and "building systems."
Clear usage policies.
Structured intake pipelines.
Defined points where AI assists, and where it doesn’t.
Templates trained on firm-specific standards.
Workflow bottlenecks identified and removed.
Risk mapped before scale.
Bankruptcy lawyers are not hobbyists.
You operate in federal court.
You handle people’s financial lives.
This is not the place for trial-and-error tech adoption.
We're past the point of tinkering with AI.
It's time to learn how to build properly.
For now, The Bankruptcy Brief will focus on helping you with one thing:
Before you scale AI… assess and get rid of your risk.
We'll discuss this in upcoming issues.
We're also building a private space for attorneys who want to talk about this together.
No gurus or sales pitches, so put your wallet away.
If that sounds like it could be helpful...
And you want more details...
You'll want to read the next issues that hit your inbox.
If you’d like to be considered for a feature in an upcoming issue of The Bankruptcy Brief…
Hit reply with the word “feature” and we’ll send over a few quick questions.
Prefer to jump the line?
Fill out the feature waitlist here:
(No cost or strings attached. Just spotlighting great firms and sending good vibes.)
Until next time,
-The Bankruptcy Brief