Daniel AndrewsAI & Automation

“I'm with clients all day. The file notes, the chasing and the compliance records wait for me every night.”

AI for professional services firms, so the practice stops running on your evenings.

You built a practice to use your expertise, not to do its admin. I'll help you turn it into a business that doesn't need you for every step.

I'm Daniel Andrews, Managing Partner of a two-office law firm, and I built the systems it runs on. Now I help accountants, brokers, advisers, agents and consultants across East Sussex put their practices on systems too.

Book a free 30-minute callFind your profession
Daniel Andrews talking through a simple dashboard with the owner of a small advice firm, in an office overlooking a market town street
Sound familiar?

Clients all day. Admin all evening.

If you run a small practice, you'll probably recognise at least one of these.

“I spend more time chasing clients for documents than advising them.”
“The children are asleep by the time I close the laptop.”
“Every client wants me, so nothing moves while I'm on holiday.”
“The compliance records are always a week behind the work.”

A normal day in a small practice

  1. 8:30
    An inbox full of half-answered questionsClients, lenders, insurers and the other side, all waiting on you
  2. 9:00
    Meetings and calls until fiveThe part you trained for, and the part clients pay for
  3. 5:30
    Chasing documentsThe same polite email, sent for the third time
  4. 7:30
    File notes and reportsWritten from memory, hours after the meeting
  5. 9:30
    Compliance records and invoicesBecause they can't wait another week
  6. 11:00
    BedWith tomorrow's inbox already filling up
Much of the evening's work could be drafted, filed and chased by a system, with you checking it.
The honest bit

You set up on your own for a reason

Most people who run a small practice left a bigger firm to take control. To choose their clients, set their own hours and be home for the people who matter. For a while, it works.

Then the client list grows, and so does everything around it. Onboarding, ID checks, chasing, file notes, reviews, renewals and records. The expertise happens in the day. The admin takes the evenings and the weekends.

If every client, every file and every decision has to go through you, the practice can't grow without you working longer. You've built a job, not a business, and a very demanding one at that.

What does it mean to be the bottleneck in your own practice?

It means work waits for you. Documents sit unchased until you have a minute, notes wait until the evening, and renewals depend on your memory. Clients wait, and so does your family. A practice that runs as a business has systems doing the routine steps, with you checking the parts that need a professional.

Does your practice run on you, or on systems?
 When it runs on youWhen it runs on systems
New clientsForms, ID checks and letters of engagement done by handA welcome pack, secure upload, and client due diligence checks that start themselves
Chasing documentsYou remember, eventually, and send another emailPolite reminders on a schedule, stopping when the document arrives
File notes and reportsWritten from memory in the eveningA first draft ready after the meeting, checked and signed off by you
Reviews and renewalsKept in your head or a spreadsheetBooked automatically, with the client and the file prepared in advance
Compliance recordsCaught up at the end of the weekCreated as the work happens, in the place your regulator expects
When you're awayEverything waitsThe routine steps carry on, and a colleague can pick up any file

You don't have to change every row at once. One or two, done properly, can give you back real time each week. The page for tradespeople tells the same story from the van. This one tells it from the desk.

The promise

Let's turn the practice into a business

I don't sell software and I take no commission from anyone who does. I help you take the routine work off your plate, in this order.

  1. Find where the hours go

    We walk through a normal week, from first enquiry to final invoice, and spot the steps a system could take.

  2. Put the routine on rails

    Onboarding, chasing, reminders and reviews set up in the tools you already use, or your network's systems if you have to.

  3. Keep the paper trail tidy

    Notes and records created as the work happens, drafted by AI where it helps and always checked by you.

  4. Step back

    How each job is done, written down. That's what lets you take on a trainee, share the files or take a proper holiday.

Tell me where your evenings go. I'll tell you honestly what I'd take off you first.

Book a free 30-minute call

How can AI help a professional services firm?

Mostly with the writing and the chasing around your advice, not the advice itself. It can draft meeting notes, first versions of letters and reports, and summaries of long documents. Automation handles reminders, document requests and review dates. You check anything that matters, and your professional judgement stays yours.

The table shows where it usually helps, and where it shouldn't be trusted on its own.

Where AI and automation help a small practice, and where they don't
JobWhat can helpWhat stays with you
Meeting notesA draft note and action list after each meetingChecking it's accurate before it goes on the file
Client letters and reportsA first draft from your notes and templatesThe advice, the figures and the final wording
Document requestsChecklists, secure upload links and remindersDeciding what's needed and whether it's good enough
Reviews and renewalsDates tracked, clients invited, files preparedThe review itself
EnquiriesLogged, answered and booked in, day or nightWhether to take the client on
ReportingA weekly view of work in progress and money owedWhat to do about it

Is it safe to use AI with client information?

It can be, if it's set up properly. UK GDPR still applies, and so do your regulator's rules and your duty of confidentiality. That means business versions of AI tools, settings that stop your data training their models, clear rules on what staff can paste in, and a person checking the output.

I build with the ICO's guidance on AI and data protection in mind, and I use test data wherever it will do. For more detail, see my guide to whether ChatGPT is safe for business.

Regulated firm? If you're regulated, for example by the FCA, or supervised for anti-money laundering, your regulator's rules and your compliance adviser come first. If you're an appointed representative, your network may decide which systems you can use. I work within those rules. I don't give legal, regulatory or compliance advice.

Find your profession

What this looks like in your profession

Each profession has its own regulator, paperwork and pressure points. Pick yours to see where I'd start.

Bookkeeping

Accountants and bookkeepers

Records chased on a timetable, MTD quarters on one screen and new clients onboarded in one link, so deadline season stops taking your evenings.

For accountants and bookkeepersInsurance

Insurance brokers

Renewals prepared weeks ahead, commercial clients chased for their figures, and claims updates sent before anyone has to ring you.

For insurance brokersMortgages

Mortgage brokers

Fact-finds drafted, payslips and bank statements chased, and every case tracked from application to completion without the evening phone calls.

For mortgage brokersFinancial advice

Financial advisers

Meeting notes and suitability report drafts ready to check, annual reviews booked in good time, and cash flow data in before the meeting.

For financial advisersProperty

Estate and letting agents

Offers put in writing, chains chased, vendor updates drafted and lettings dates tracked, so the agency keeps moving after the last viewing.

For estate and letting agentsDesign and survey

Architects and surveyors

Fee proposals, revision registers, planning dates and site-photo reports handled by systems you check, so the practice isn't run from the kitchen table.

For architects and surveyorsSafety

Health and safety consultants

Site notes turned into draft reports, client actions chased and review dates booked, while every assessment still waits for your signature.

For health and safety consultants
Daniel Andrews chatting with local business owners at a networking breakfast
Why listen to me

I run a professional firm too

I'm Managing Partner of a multimillion-pound, two-office law firm in East Sussex with around 30 people. Confidentiality, file notes and regulators are part of my working day, so I build with them in mind from the start.

I know the long hours from the inside, too. People saw a successful firm. They didn't see me still working at 2 in the morning, or answering emails on holiday.

After years of 60 to 70-hour weeks, I stepped back and put the firm on systems. It's now four to five times the size it was when I started. And 20 years in BNI alongside other local professionals has shown me how many of them work the same way.

This consultancy is new, so there are no reviews yet. What I can show you is what I've built in my own firm. Read the whole story on my About page.

What I've built in my own firm

  • A live dashboard that pulls figures from our case management system, so nobody builds reports by hand.
  • Tasks passed between colleagues with approvals and one-click sign-off, instead of emails that get buried.
  • AI-assisted marketing with checks built in, and a person approving everything before it goes out.

What that means for you

Everything I recommend has had to work in a busy, regulated firm where getting it wrong matters. You get the lessons without the trial and error.

You're paying for my time and expertise, not a software product. See what that means in practice.

Questions people ask

Questions from professional firms

Will AI replace my professional judgement?

No, and it shouldn't. It drafts, summarises and reminds. You decide, advise and sign off. Anything that goes to a client or onto a file is checked by a person first.

We're an appointed representative. Can you still help?

Usually, yes. Your network may set which systems you use, so we work within them. There's often plenty to gain in the steps around them, such as chasing, reminders and notes.

Do you give compliance or legal advice?

No. I'm a practising solicitor, but this consultancy doesn't give legal, regulatory or compliance advice. I build sensibly, and I'll tell you when something needs your compliance adviser or professional body.

What about client confidentiality?

It comes first. I use business versions of AI tools with training switched off where the provider offers that, test data wherever possible, and a written data processing agreement if I need to see client data.

How much does it cost?

It depends on the work, not the size of your firm. After the free call you'll get a clear written price before you commit, and any software costs are set out first.

Do we have to buy new software?

Not usually. Most small practices already pay for more than they use, such as Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or their practice software. We start there.

Get your evenings back. Build the practice you set out to build.

Book a free 30-minute call. Tell me how your week really runs, and I'll tell you honestly what I'd take off you first.

Book a free 30-minute call Email me