AI.Law Blog · Case Study
How a Solo Commercial Litigator Reclaimed Hours for Advocacy
As a solo commercial litigator in New York, Akiva Shapiro needed every hour to count. Research and deposition review for summary-judgment work were consuming the day he needed for advocacy.
The bottleneck: solo practices still carry full-team research loads
Every commercial matter demanded Akiva's personal attention. That was the point of the practice—and also its constraint. Preparing motions for summary judgment meant hours of case research and deposition review before drafting could even begin.
The work was necessary. The problem was that it left too little time for the advocacy and client conversations that actually move disputes toward resolution.
The change: Legal Chat and transcript summaries as daily workflow tools
Akiva made AI.Law's Legal Chat and transcript summarizer part of how he processed case information. Instead of rereading long deposition records from scratch for every motion, he could get oriented quickly, pull the material that mattered, and start drafting from a clearer understanding of the file.
"A tool like AI.Law makes practicing law so much easier." — Akiva Shapiro, Shapiro Law PLLC
The result: more room for the work only the lawyer can do
- Hours reclaimed daily. Research and deposition review automated.
- Faster MSJ prep. Summary judgment drafts in minutes.
- More client time. Focus shifted to advocacy.
- Lower client costs. Disputes resolved cost-effectively.
What other solo litigators can take from this
Solo and small-firm practices feel research bottlenecks first because there is no associate bench to absorb them. The highest-leverage AI uses are usually the recurring ones: understanding a transcript, organizing authorities, and getting to a first draft that the lawyer can revise with judgment.