Asked on a Sunday night, signed before the office opened
Ellery & Stroud is a firm we invented. A homeowner’s dispute with her builder arrives at 9:47 on a Sunday night.
Before: two days in the inbox
A Sunday inquiry waited until Tuesday, and by then some callers had hired the firm down the street.
Now: answered overnight
The firm opens Monday with the matter checked and drafted, and one decision left for a partner.
Calm as good counsel
A nervous first-time client often meets Ellery & Stroud late on a Sunday night. Each of its five parts does a job for the firm.
Two ways in from every page
A first-time client can call the firm or start the intake, at any hour.
The hero asks for the story
She types what happened in her own words, with no legal terms to get wrong.
Practice areas sort the matter
The area she picks sets the questions the intake asks and whose desk the matter reaches.
Reviews from nearby towns
Law runs on referrals, so these stand in for one when a visitor arrives without it.
The footer settles the last doubts
The towns it serves, the Illinois license and one more way to start.
- Practice areas
- Fees
- The firm
Steady counsel, and nothing slips
Tell us what happened in your own words, at any hour. By morning you will have a straight answer in writing: what we can do, what it costs, and every date that matters.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (630) 555-0151
Four doors
- Estate planning and probateWills, trusts, and the paperwork your family will thank you for
- Business and real estateContracts, closings, and disputes for people who build things
- Family lawClear-eyed counsel through the hardest year of your life
- Civil litigationWhen it goes to the courthouse in Wheaton, we are already prepared
Emailed Sunday night. Monday I had a letter and a list of dates
Preston C., Downers GroveThey said no, said why, and gave me two names who could
Maria G., Glen EllynEvery deadline was on a letter before I thought to ask
Karen S., Elmhurst
Clients often decide on a Sunday night, when nobody is in the office to answer.
What happens underneath
It reads a client’s story for names and dates, runs the conflict check and drafts the letter. Every judgment call goes to an attorney.
It reads the story like a lawyer would
She writes what happened in her own words and attaches the contract. The reader also finds a name she never mentioned: the one the builder trades under.
No paralegal spent an hour building the party list.
New inquiry
In her own words
We hired a builder for an addition and paid the second draw. The work stopped in March.
The contract is attached. We signed it last spring.
We just want to know where we stand.
What the reader found
New inquiry
- Matter
- Construction dispute
- Parties
- The client, the builder’s company
- Also named
- The builder’s trade name, from the contract
- Dates
- Signed last spring, work stopped in March
- Conflict check queuedEvery name the check needs, gathered in seconds
Eleven years of matters, checked in a minute
Every name runs against every matter the firm has opened, scanned paper files included. Exact matches stop the intake, and near ones go to a partner.
The judgment call reaches a partner before anyone hears privileged facts.
Conflict check, 4,100 past matters
- The client, no matchClear
- The builder’s company, no matchClear
- The trade name, near matchTo the partner
Two clear, one near matchSame surname as a closed 2019 probate file. A partner decides, not the software
One tap turns an inquiry into a matter
The partner reads the near match over coffee, clears it and approves the letter drafted overnight. Its fees come from the current rate table, not last year’s copy.
Her first impression of the firm is that nothing slips.
Engagement letter, construction dispute
Out for signature
- Parties
- All three, including the trade name
- Scope
- From her own words, in plain language
- Fees
- Current rate table
- Dates
- Limitation date and milestones on the docket
- Backstop
- A second attorney on every date
The weekend, sorted before the doors open
Every inquiry from the weekend shows where it stands. Nothing waits in an inbox, and no date lives in one attorney’s head.
She signed it from her phone at 8:30.
- Near match cleared, signed 8:30
- Probate inquiryNo conflicts, letter out 7:06
- Referral outNot our field, two names given
- Limitation dateFrom the court rules, two reminders
- MilestonesThree, each with a backstop attorney
- Every form and call
- Filed under the matter number
- The conflict check
- Logged, with its sources
- The letter
- From the current template
- The inbox
- Empty, on purpose
Engagement letter, construction dispute
Signed
- Parties
- All three, including the trade name
- Fees
- Current rate table
- Drafted
- 2:11 am, approved 7:05
- Signed
- 8:30 am, by the client
Ellery & Stroud LLP, Wheaton, Illinois
Built around the way your firm opens a matter
A person reads every request and replies within one business day.
Start a project
Conflicts, letters and dockets follow your rules. Every judgment call still goes to an attorney.