Define the proactive intake agent’s job

A proactive agent is an AI agent that does recurring work within limits you set. It acts when a defined event happens, such as a new approved batch of documents arriving, so you don't have to type a fresh request each time.

Give the agent a role name, such as Matter Watch. The name fixes one job and one scope. When an inventory entry appears or an exception is raised, you can trace it to Matter Watch and to the job statement it was working under. If one general assistant also drafted letters and summarized depositions, you couldn't tell which instruction produced which result.

Example. The sample matter for this course is a commercial lease dispute, and your client is the tenant. Matter Watch has one job: keep the matter's document index current as approved documents arrive. It does not draft, research or advise. Later lessons add other roles, each with its own name and scope.

A job statement is the written definition of what the agent does. For an intake agent it has three parts.

Approved inputs. These are the folders or batches that count as permitted evidence. For example: "Documents the paralegal places in the matter's Intake – Approved folder, one batch at a time."

Output. The output is a document index, a list of every document in the matter record. Each entry gives a source reference (where the document came from and where it is stored), the document date, and the jurisdiction where it matters. For example, a lease may be governed by one state's law.

Must not. The agent does not decide privilege, choose discovery questions, or move material into a workspace your organization has not approved. Those calls stay with the attorney.

The must-not list matters as much as the task. An agent told only to "organize the file" may start sorting documents by privilege on its own.

This course works with two options, OpenAI Dots and Claude Duet. Choose between them on what you can confirm, not on what you assume either one can do. Ask four questions:

1. Is the tool approved by your organization for client material? If it isn't, it cannot hold this matter's documents, however capable it is.
2. Which connections may it use? Your approvals might allow it to read the matter's document store but not your email.
3. How does it report? The run report has to reach a named reviewer in a form they will read.
4. How can it be paused or stopped, and by whom?

Check each answer in the vendor's current documentation and with whoever approves tools in your organization, such as IT, information security or a knowledge-management lead. Features and terms change, so note the date you checked. This course does not cover pricing or procurement.

Example. Suppose your firm has approved one tool for client documents and the other only for non-client work. Then the choice for the lease dispute is settled before you compare anything else.

There are two ways to set up the work. A single run processes one defined batch and then ends. A continuing brief stays active and responds to each new approved batch as it arrives.

Use a continuing brief only when two things are true: new material is expected, and someone is assigned to review its reports. Without a reviewer, reports pile up unread. That is worse than having no agent, because the record looks current when nobody has checked it.

Example. In the lease dispute, the client has delivered the lease and early correspondence. Opposing counsel's production is expected in batches over the coming weeks. A continuing brief fits, as long as the matter paralegal is named as reviewer. If this were a one-off contract review with every document already in hand, a single run would be enough.

Use the explorer to estimate the review load. At 4 batches a month and 30 minutes per report, that is 2 hours of review a month. If no one has that time, start with single runs.

Approved connections are the only places the agent may read from or write to. Name them in the job statement. For example:

• Read: Lease Dispute / Intake – Approved
• Write: Lease Dispute / Document Index

Everything else is off limits, including places that seem harmless: a personal cloud drive, a team chat, or a general-purpose AI workspace your organization has not approved.

Privileged, confidential or identifying client information stays out of any cloud workspace your organization has not approved. This applies even to a quick test. To try the setup first, use the course's sample matter, or material with client details removed, in an approved environment.

Example. A partner forwards a new email chain to your inbox and asks you to have Matter Watch "pick it up." Email is not an approved connection. There are two right moves. You can place the chain in the approved intake folder through your normal process. Or you can ask, through your approval route, whether email should be added. Giving the agent access to your inbox is not one of them.

An exception is an item the agent sets aside for an attorney instead of handling it itself. Exception rules list what triggers one. For Matter Watch:

• Unclear origin. There is no sender, no source, or no record of how the document reached the folder.
• Possible privilege marker. The document has a header such as "Attorney–Client Privileged", or a lawyer appears on an email chain.
• Duplicate with different content. The filename and date match another document, but the text differs.
• Outside the permitted batch. The file wasn't part of the approved delivery.

For each exception, the agent records the item and the reason it was flagged. It does not add the item to the index as settled, and it does not guess. A flagged privilege marker is a note to the attorney, not a privilege decision.

The rule also says who receives exceptions and what happens next. For example: "Exceptions go to the supervising attorney in the run report. The agent does not process a flagged item until the attorney answers."

An agreed report is what the agent sends after each run, and it names who reviews it. At minimum it lists items added, items changed and exceptions raised. For example: "Run 2: 12 added; 1 changed (date corrected from the source); 2 exceptions (possible privilege marker; file outside batch). Reviewer: matter paralegal. Exceptions to the supervising attorney."

A pause rule says who can stop the work and what triggers a stop. Typical triggers:

• material appears from an unapproved source
• the assigned reviewer is unavailable
• the tool's approval changes
• a report shows changes nobody expected

A retire rule says when the job ends and what record is kept. The job might end when the matter closes or a new brief replaces this one. The record should include the final index, every run report, the exception log with the attorney's answers, and the version of the job statement in force.

With these written down, your job definition is complete. The next lesson tests it on a second batch.