Read and reason over documents
Lapt: Employees read records, correspondence, and productions and pull out what matters, with citations.
Workflow automation: Reading documents usually means adding AI steps that you configure and maintain yourself.
Lapt vs. generic workflow automation: which fits your firm?
Workflow automation tools move data between apps when a trigger fires. Lapt gives your firm AI legal employees that read the matter, do the work, and bring it back for review, with permissions and citations built in.
Works with
Clio
MyCase
PracticePanther
Filevine
Microsoft Teams
Word
ExcelAnd the rest of your legal stack…
If-this-then-that works when every case looks the same. Legal work rarely does. Lapt's employees read the file, handle the details, and show you their sources.
What Lapt does that generic workflow automation can't
Start from legal workflows
Lapt: Intake, records requests, demand drafting, and billing review are ready to adapt to your firm.
Workflow automation: Workflows are built from general-purpose steps and templates.
Understand matters, not just fields
Lapt: Work is organized by matter, with parties, deadlines, and documents in context.
Workflow automation: Data passes between steps as fields, without a shared view of the matter.
Scope access to the matter
Lapt: Each employee sees only the matters its team is assigned to.
Workflow automation: Automations usually run with the access of whoever connected each app.
Pause for attorney approval
Lapt: Drafts and outbound messages wait in an approval queue with their sources attached.
Workflow automation: Approval steps are possible, but you build and wire them up yourself.
Delegate in plain language
Lapt: Tell an employee what you need and update its instructions when your process changes.
Workflow automation: Someone maintains each flow as apps, fields, and processes change.
Lapt vs. generic workflow automation
Where each approach fits, row by row.
| Capability | Lapt | Workflow automation |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | ||
| Built for | Legal operations | Moving data between apps |
| Ready-made legal workflows | Yes | Partly: General templates |
| Size of app catalog | Focused on the legal stack | Very broad |
| Legal work | ||
| Reads and summarizes documents | Yes | Partly: Via AI steps you configure |
| Citations to source documents | Yes | Not typical |
| Matter context across steps | Yes | Not typical |
| Drafts from firm templates | Yes | Partly: With extra steps |
| Controls and review | ||
| Matter-level permissions | Yes | Not typical |
| Human approval step | Built in | Partly: Build it yourself |
| Audit trail | Per matter | Per workflow run |
| Setup and upkeep | ||
| How work is defined | Plain-language instructions | Triggers, steps, and field mapping |
| Simple app-to-app data syncs | Not the focus | Yes |
Platform
- Built for
- LaptLegal operationsWorkflow automationMoving data between apps
- Ready-made legal workflows
- LaptYesWorkflow automationPartly: General templates
- Size of app catalog
- LaptFocused on the legal stackWorkflow automationVery broad
Legal work
- Reads and summarizes documents
- LaptYesWorkflow automationPartly: Via AI steps you configure
- Citations to source documents
- LaptYesWorkflow automationNot typical
- Matter context across steps
- LaptYesWorkflow automationNot typical
- Drafts from firm templates
- LaptYesWorkflow automationPartly: With extra steps
Controls and review
- Matter-level permissions
- LaptYesWorkflow automationNot typical
- Human approval step
- LaptBuilt inWorkflow automationPartly: Build it yourself
- Audit trail
- LaptPer matterWorkflow automationPer workflow run
Setup and upkeep
- How work is defined
- LaptPlain-language instructionsWorkflow automationTriggers, steps, and field mapping
- Simple app-to-app data syncs
- LaptNot the focusWorkflow automationYes
- Included
- Partial or varies by tool
- Not typical
Based on how tools in this category typically work. Individual products differ, so check the details with any vendor you evaluate.
Judgment built in
Employees that read, not just route
Most legal work starts with reading: a medical record, a production, a client email. Lapt employees read the file, pull out what matters, and cite where each fact came from, so the output is work product rather than a moved file.
Legal from day one
Matters, permissions, and citations are the foundation
Generic tools can be bent toward legal work with enough steps. Lapt starts there: every task belongs to a matter, access follows the matter, and every step is logged for review.
Less to maintain
Change the instructions, not the flowchart
When your process changes, you update an employee's instructions in plain language. There are no branches to rewire and no field mappings to fix when an app changes.
Questions firms ask
Not in the trigger-and-action sense. Lapt is a workspace where AI legal employees take on tasks, work across your connected systems, and return the results for review. It is built for legal work that involves reading and judgment rather than simple data transfer.
Yes. Simple syncs, like form-to-spreadsheet or calendar notifications, can stay where they are while Lapt handles work that needs reading, drafting, or a person's approval.
No flowcharts to build. You connect your systems, describe the work in plain language, and set permissions for each employee.
Work product comes back with citations and waits for approval, so a person checks it before anything leaves the firm. You can correct the instructions so the same issue doesn't repeat.
When the task is simple, predictable, and doesn't involve reading documents or applying judgment: copying a form submission into a spreadsheet, posting a notification, or syncing two calendars. For those, a general automation tool is quick to set up and connects to a very broad catalog of apps.