AI workflows for criminal defense

Sastre builds tailored workflows for criminal defense firms that use AI inside the software you already run, so calls from clients and families, court dates and payment plans get handled while your attorneys keep the final say.

Works inside platforms like Clio, MyCase, Filevine and Smokeball

Some of what we set up for law firms

Intake and consults

Web and phone inquiries are checked against your intake questions and summarized, and a consult is offered once an attorney clears conflicts.

Court dates

Court dates are drafted onto the matter for your team to confirm, and clients get a reminder before each appearance.

Payment plans

Payment plan reminders go out in your tone and stop as soon as a payment lands.

Client updates

Client status updates are drafted from your matter notes, and an attorney approves each one before it goes out.

Discovery files

Discovery files are named and filed to the right matter as they arrive.

Answers for your staff

Your staff’s procedure questions are answered from your own playbooks.

Criminal defense work often starts with a phone call from someone other than the client. A parent or partner calls after an arrest, usually outside office hours, and wants to know what happens at the arraignment and what representation will cost. Sastre builds AI workflows inside practice management platforms like MyCase, Clio and PracticePanther that capture those calls, keep court dates in front of clients and keep payment plans current, while your attorneys hold every legal decision.

This is what we would build, depending on where your office loses time:

  • Calls from clients and families are summarized for the attorney on call with the defendant’s name, the charge as the caller described it, the court and the next date, and anyone else named in the call is listed as a possible conflict for an attorney to clear.

  • Court dates from notices and dockets are drafted onto the matter for your staff to confirm, and clients who agreed to receive texts get a reminder before each appearance.

  • Discovery files are named by type and date and filed to the right matter as they arrive.

  • Payment plan reminders go out in your firm’s tone and stop as soon as a payment lands.

  • Clients get case updates drafted from the matter notes, and none goes out until an attorney approves it.

Court reminders run only from dates your staff has confirmed, because a missed appearance costs a client far more than a late email ever could. The confirmation, the reminder and any reply from the client all land in the action log on the matter.

Defense files carry privileged conversations, and firms ask early whether any of it reaches an AI provider. Inside the workflows your firm approves, client information is processed under business terms that keep it out of model training, each workflow sees only the records its steps require, and every action is logged. Under ABA Formal Opinion 512, the firm decides when informed client consent is needed, so we document each tool and data flow to support that decision.

How we connect depends on your system. On MyCase that means the Open API on the Advanced tier, on Clio a private app built for your firm alone, and on PracticePanther API access requested from the vendor with your firm. Where none of those is available, we work from exports and from browser steps your firm approves one by one.

Payment plans need steady, courteous follow up, so reminders follow the plan each client agreed to and a person on your billing team approves any message that changes an amount or a due date.

For a B2B company, our call debriefs work turns the notes from each discovery call into a structured record in the buyer’s own words, saved to the deal in the CRM. For a defense firm, the same step turns a late night family call into an intake record the attorney can act on in the morning.

What changes with Sastre

Without Sastre

The web form sits in a shared inbox overnight.
Someone calls back and asks the same questions again.
The caller has already signed with another firm.

With Sastre

The inquiry is checked against your intake questions as soon as it arrives.
Possible conflicts are listed for an attorney to clear, and a consult time is offered once they do.
Your team approves the reply before it goes out.

Some of the software we connect for law firms

All platforms

Results you can check every month

We agree on how each result is measured before launch and report it to you in your monthly report.

Inquiries answered

We track share of new inquiries answered the same day.

Deadlines logged

We track court dates added to the matter within a day.

Billable time kept

We track time actually worked that now reaches a time entry.

Hours returned

We track staff time no longer spent on data entry.

Questions law firms ask us

Is anything a client tells us shared with an AI provider?

Client information is processed only inside the workflows your firm approves, under provider terms that keep it out of model training. Each workflow reaches only the records it needs, every action is logged, and we delete the client data we hold 30 days after an engagement ends.

Do clients need to consent before AI handles their information?

Your firm makes that call, based on the tool, your engagement terms and the rules in your state. ABA Formal Opinion 512 asks for informed consent before confidential information goes into a tool that can learn from it, so we describe every tool and data flow in writing and your firm decides.

Can clients get court date reminders by text?

Yes, for clients who have agreed to receive texts from your firm. Reminders run from dates your staff confirmed, and any reply from the client is logged on the matter for your team.

Can AI handle calls from families after hours?

AI can summarize voicemails and web messages for the attorney on call so nothing waits until morning unseen. Whether anyone hears an AI voice is your firm’s choice, and any legal question goes to a person.

What does it cost to start?

We start with a free working session of about an hour, looking at one workflow such as after hours intake or payment plans. Everything after that is quoted for your firm, beginning with a workflow map that ends in a fixed quote, and the map’s fee is credited to the build.

What happens if a draft is wrong?

Your team edits or rejects it from the approval email, and every action stays in the action log.

Will this replace anyone on our team?

The workflows take over the copying, chasing and retyping, and your team keeps every decision and every customer relationship.

Related industries

Bring us the intake your team keeps redoing.

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