Client Communication in the Age of AI: Faster Without Losing the Human

Most client relationships rise or fall on communication. AI will not change that basic truth. What it can change is how quickly and clearly you communicate, and how much of that work you can reclaim as billable time instead of late-night admin.

This article looks at practical ways to use AI to speed up client communication without losing the human element, focusing on:

turning long inputs (email chains, attendance notes, WhatsApps) into clear updates;
keeping tone, risk warnings and next steps under your control; and
building repeatable patterns into your matter workflows.

Why communication is such a good candidate for AI assistance

Many of the most time-consuming tasks in contentious and private client work are:

summarising what has just happened (a hearing, a conference, a negotiation);
drafting letters or emails that say broadly similar things to different clients; and
chasing for information or instructions politely but firmly.

Much of this is patterned: similar structure, similar explanations, different facts and names. That makes it ideal for AI support, provided:

you stay in charge of the content and tone; and
anything sensitive is handled through approved, secure tools.

Pattern 1: Turning noise into a clear update

Suppose you have:

a long email exchange with the other side;
counsel’s advice running to several pages; and
a short note of a client call.

AI can help you:

produce a single, client-friendly summary that explains:
- what has happened;
- where things stand now; and
- what decisions or information you need from the client;
suggest bullet-point timelines you can paste into a letter or report; and
flag obvious questions to put to the client.

The key is to treat AI as your assistant, not the author. Give it explicit instructions, for example:

“Summarise the following for a lay client in the UK in no more than 400 words. Use plain English. Highlight: (1) key developments; (2) options; (3) what we need from the client.”

Then check:

that no nuance has been flattened (for example, conditional advice becoming absolute statements); and
that any deadlines, dates or sums of money are correct.

Pattern 2: Drafting routine updates and chasers

Most firms send similar types of letters and emails repeatedly:

updates after hearings;
reminders to provide documents;
explanations of procedural steps.

AI can help you:

turn a template into a flexible pattern – you describe the situation and the model produces a draft in your house style;
adapt language for different levels of sophistication – for example, corporate clients vs individual lay clients; and
maintain a polite but firm tone when chasing overdue information.

To maintain control:

build your own prompt templates that include tone and risk guidance; and
save good outputs as precedents so the model does less heavy lifting next time.

Pattern 3: Helping clients understand documents

Clients often struggle with:

court orders full of references to rules and directions;
lengthy contracts and settlement agreements; and
complex advice notes.

AI can, under your supervision, help you produce:

“client copy” versions of orders with plain-language explanations;
simple summaries of what a contract or order actually requires the client to do; and
Q&A style explanations (“What happens if we miss this deadline?”, “Can we still appeal?”).

You remain responsible for accuracy, but the drafting work of translation into everyday language can be significantly reduced.

Keeping the human element

The risk with AI-generated communication is that everything starts to sound the same: polished, generic and slightly impersonal.

To avoid that:

personalise openings and closings yourself;
add short human touches that AI will never know, such as:
- “I know this has been a stressful few months”; or
- “We discussed this briefly on the phone yesterday, but to recap…”;
make sure your own judgment appears clearly in the advice:
- “On balance, we recommend…”
- “Our view is that the risk of X is low / medium / high because…”

AI should help you free time for more direct, high-value interactions – calls, conferences and meetings – rather than replacing them.

File discipline and record-keeping

Communication is also where many firms lose time on:

reconstructing what was said when;
finding the email that explains a key decision; and
preparing chronologies long after the fact.

If your AI tools sit inside your case management system:

each draft and final version can be saved directly to the matter;
time can be captured automatically from the work you do; and
later reviews (by colleagues or regulators) can see a clear audit trail of what was said to the client and why.

Where OrdoLux fits

OrdoLux is being designed so that:

emails, notes, AI-generated drafts and final communications sit together in the matter file;
you can use AI to propose summaries and updates without leaving the case management environment; and
your time entries and internal notes capture which work was AI-assisted.

The goal is to make fast, clear communication easier to deliver and easier to evidence, without losing the relationship that sits at the heart of good practice.

This article is general information for practitioners — not legal advice.

Looking for legal case management software?

OrdoLux is legal case management software for UK solicitors, designed to make matter management, documents, time recording and AI assistance feel like one joined-up system. Learn more about OrdoLux’s legal case management software.