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Can AI write up our attendance notes after a client meeting?
It can turn a transcript or rough notes into a structured draft note, which is often the slow part. The fee earner still decides what the meeting meant, what was advised and what goes on the file.
Alesis · · 5 min read
Yes, in the sense that matters most: if you have a transcript or your own rough notes, an AI tool can turn them into an ordered draft attendance note in a fraction of the time it takes to type one up. What it cannot do is decide what the meeting actually meant, what advice was given, or what belongs on the file. The draft is raw material for a fee earner, not a finished record.
What an attendance note is for
It helps to be clear about the job before deciding what to hand over. An attendance note usually does four things at once:
- It records what the client said, including instructions and any change to them.
- It records what you advised, including anything the client was warned about or declined.
- It records what was agreed as next steps, by whom and by when.
- It supports your time entry and, if it ever comes to it, your account of the retainer.
The first and third of these are largely a question of capture and arrangement. A tool can help there. The second is judgement about your own professional conduct, and nobody should outsource that to a draft they did not write.
Where the raw material comes from
An AI tool can only work with what you give it. In practice there are three sources, and they are not equal.
Your own notes. The safest option. You jot down the usual shorthand during the meeting, then ask for it to be expanded into a structured note under headings. You keep control of what was captured, because you captured it.
A transcript. Longer, fuller and much more useful for detail, but it carries everything, including the small talk, the client's asides and anything said in the room that nobody intended to record. A note built from a transcript needs more editing, not less.
Memory, hours later. The worst source, with or without software. If you ask a tool to write up a meeting from a thin prompt, it will produce something that reads like an attendance note and records nothing. That is how firms end up with files full of confident, empty paragraphs.
Recording the meeting is a separate decision
Do not slide into recording client meetings simply because a tool makes transcripts easy. Treat it as its own decision, taken before the meeting, not during it.
Things to settle first:
- Tell the client you intend to record and get their agreement. Note the agreement itself.
- Decide whether the recording is kept or deleted once the note is written, and apply the same rule every time rather than case by case.
- Check where the recording and the transcript are stored, and whether the tool doing the transcription holds them outside your usual arrangements for client confidential material.
- Think about other people in the room. A witness, a family member or an opponent at a without prejudice meeting may feel very differently about being recorded from the way your client does.
- Remember that the recording is a document on the matter, and may be disclosable or caught by a subject access request later.
UK GDPR obligations and your duty of confidentiality do not change because the recording is convenient. If in doubt, work from your own notes instead.
What to check before the note goes on the file
A drafted note is a first pass. Read it against your own recollection, not just for sense, and correct these in particular:
- Advice. Did the draft put words in your mouth? Tools summarising a transcript can turn a tentative remark into a firm recommendation, or merge a question from the client with your answer. Rewrite every line that records advice in your own words.
- Attribution. Check who said what, especially where several people were present or where the conversation overlapped.
- Figures, dates and names. Transcription of numbers and surnames is unreliable. Correct them against the file.
- Omissions. A summary drops things. The thing you remember as important but cannot find in the draft is usually the thing to add.
- Tone. An attendance note is a factual record. Delete any characterisation of the client, the opponent or the prospects that you would not want read out.
Then sign it, date it and file it in the normal way. A note that nobody has approved is not a record, it is a transcript with headings.
When it is not worth it
For a five minute call, typing the note yourself is quicker than any process involving a tool. The gain is in long meetings: an initial instructions meeting, a conference with counsel, a settlement discussion that ran for hours. Those are the notes that get put off and written badly three days later, and those are the ones where a structured draft, produced the same afternoon, genuinely improves the file.
Set the expectation with your team accordingly. The point is a better and more prompt record, not fewer minutes recorded.
Where Alesis fits
Alesis is an AI assistant for UK law firms, made by L25 Limited, used through the web browser, with one conversation for a matter. It answers questions about a matter from the matter's own papers and names the page each answer came from, and if the papers do not say, it says so. It prepares drafts for a qualified person to review and sign off, and it does not file, serve or email anything. It assists qualified professionals and does not replace them, and it does not provide legal advice.
