Your case manager isn't slow. They're over capacity.
How to know a case manager is drowning before a client tells you — the arithmetic that turns a feeling into a hiring decision.
On Your Call We'll Cover
Your actual capacity in files, not a guess
Available hours divided by average hours per file. We'll run it live with your numbers.
The gap in hours and in seats
The exact number you can take to a hiring decision, instead of a feeling that someone seems overwhelmed.
Three ways to close the gap
Cut hours per file, split the role, or add a seat — and which one fits your firm right now.
Here's how most firms find out a case manager is drowning.
A client calls the owner directly because nobody returned three messages. Records are 60 days late on a file nobody looked at. A deadline reminder fires on a matter that was never calendared. The owner steps in, fixes the file, and quietly wonders whether the case manager is any good.
The case manager is fine. They have 140 open files and the capacity for 90. Nothing on the list of symptoms is a performance problem. All of it is arithmetic.
Nobody quits because the work is hard. They quit because there's more of it than any person could do.
Clients call the attorney for updates
The scheduled update didn't happen.
Records requests sit past 30 days
Follow-up is the first task that gets dropped.
Files have no activity note for 30+ days
Not stalled files. Forgotten ones.
The case manager works weekends to catch up
Catching up never ends.
Capacity is hours, not file count.
A case manager has about 1,800 working hours a year after holidays, PTO, meetings, and interruptions. Roughly 150 hours a month. That's the supply. The demand is the number of hours your files actually need.
Available hours per month per case manager
Paid hours minus PTO, holidays, meetings, and training. Most firms land between 140 and 150.
Hours per file per month, by stage
Pre-litigation might take 3 to 4 hours a month. Litigation, 6 to 10. Awaiting disbursement, under 1. Use your own numbers.
Capacity (files) = Available hours per month ÷ Average hours per file per month
Run your own number before the call. Everything else is an opinion until you have it.
Three ways to close it. Pick deliberately.
Most firms past capacity need the first and the third together. The first alone delays the hire by a quarter. It doesn't replace it.
Option 1
Cut hours per file
Standardize the status update. Template the records request. Firms that document their process cut 15 to 25 percent of hours per file. It is never enough on its own past a certain volume.
Option 2
Split the role
One person owning client communication, records, and documents across 100 files is three jobs. Pull records and scheduling into an admin seat, cheaper to fill and faster to onboard.
Option 3
Add a seat
When the calculator says 2.8 seats and you have 2, you need a third person. A trained remote case manager removes the recruiting cycle and lands at a fraction of the cost of adding the seat after a client leaves.
Answer rate 24/7, up from 82%
Max speed to lead, down from 34
Follow-up touches in 3 days
Cases signed by one staff member in 30 days
Attorney Assistant client figures, real client files, identities protected.
116 hours.
A capacity gap does not stay the same size.
The work that doesn't get done this month is still there next month, plus next month's work.
The Client Cost
Clients who don't hear from you assume nothing is happening. The ones who stop calling leave a review or find another firm.
The Attorney Cost
Every hour an attorney spends on case management work is an hour not billed. Lawyers already bill about 3 of 8 hours a day on average.
The People Cost
The case manager who carried 115 files for a year leaves. Now you have a 115-file gap, a recruiting cycle, and a new hire who needs 60 days to reach full capacity.
We recruit and train the case manager. You plug them into your team.
Lawyers bill about 3.0 of 8 hours a day on average, 38% utilization. Overflow from an understaffed case team makes that worse. The cheapest hire is the one you make the quarter before you need it.
Answer rate 24/7, up from 82%
Max speed to lead, down from 34
Follow-up touches in 3 days
Cases signed by one staff member in 30 days
Attorney Assistant client figures, real client files, identities protected. Clio 2025 Legal Trends Report for utilization.
We recruit and train the case manager. You plug them into your team.
Attorney Assistant is a staffing solutions and virtual assistant company for law firms. We recruit, vet, and train full-time virtual staff in case management, records, and client communication, and your firm embeds them in your own team, systems, and day-to-day process. Co-managed: we handle QA, coaching, and performance.
Staffline
A permanent dedicated staff member for your firm, 40 hours a week. Case manager, records coordinator, admin, client communication — the seat the calculator told you to add.
Frontline
A 24/7 live intake team available on demand. Not an answering service. When intake is pulling your case managers off their files, Frontline takes intake back.
Frontline is coverage on demand. Staffline is permanent staff.
You will get a trained person, and you will still need to train them on how your firm does things. A case manager we place knows legal support work and your case management system. They do not know your files, your clients, or your process on day one. We remove the recruiting cycle and the turnover risk. We do not remove onboarding. Budget 30 to 60 days.
Discovery Call
What type of firm you are, and what the calculator found.
Recruit and Train
We source, vet, and train for the seat.
Onboard With Our 30/60/90
Into your systems, with your case managers.
We QA, Coach, And Own Performance
You direct the work.