Use Cases
Overview
Narrative delivers value to multiple stakeholders across the firm. While the core capability is the same, different teams use it for different purposes.
Pricing Teams
RFP response, fee scoping
Data-backed pricing confidence
Partners
Business development, pitches
Demonstrate relevant experience
Finance
Profitability monitoring
Catch overruns, improve margins
Marketing/BD
Credentials, tombstones
Instant access to firm track record
1. Pricing Teams: Win More, Price Better
The Challenge
Pricing teams face a recurring dilemma: price too high and lose the bid; price too low and erode margins. Without reliable benchmarks, they're forced to rely on partner memory and educated guesses.
How Narrative Helps
Intelligent Matter Retrieval & Curation
When an RFP arrives, the workflow starts with RFP Ingestion:
Upload the RFP document directly.
The system identifies key requirements and proactively asks clarifying questions to narrow the scope.
Ranked Relevance List Narrative automatically surfaces and selects the most relevant matters (whether that's 2 or 10+) based on the clarified criteria.
Automatic Selection: The system presents a "best fit" baseline set immediately.
Optional Manual Curation: Users can review this selection and explore the broader list, sorting by relevance, fees, or recency to fine-tune the comparison group.
Data-Driven Rationale & Justification
Narrative goes beyond simple averages. For your curated set, it generates a detailed pricing rationale:
Justified Choices: Explains why the recommended price is X, citing specific precedent matters (e.g., "Project Alpha had similar regulatory complexity, driving higher due diligence fees").
Impact Factors: Highlights variables that drive cost up or down (e.g., jurisdiction, deal size, opposing counsel).
Considerate of Scope: Crafts the proposal based on firm-approved scopes and assumptions that are relevant to the transaction.
Informed Decision Making: Empowering you to adjust the baseline with full context, knowing exactly how precedents support your choices.
This provides a defensible, data-backed narrative for the new proposal.
Phase-Level Breakdown
Drill into how effort typically distributes:
Due Diligence: 30% of hours
Negotiation/Drafting: 45% of hours
Closing: 25% of hours
Use this to build a credible, detailed scope for the client.
Scenario Modeling
Test different pricing approaches:
What if we use more junior leverage?
What if the client wants a fixed fee?
What's the margin impact of a 10% discount?
The Outcome
Faster responses: Hours of research reduced to minutes
Better win rates: More relevant, compelling proposals
Protected margins: Pricing grounded in actual data, not guesswork
2. Partners: Demonstrate Expertise, Win Work
The Challenge
Partners know they've done relevant work — but finding and articulating it quickly is another matter. When a prospect asks "What was it like when you handled something like this in the past?", the answer should be easily sourced and detailed.
How Narrative Helps
Proactive Experience Retrieval
Instead of simple keyword searches, partners can upload a pitch draft or client email.
The system extracts the core legal and commercial needs (e.g., "hostile takeover defense," "activist investor," "poison pill").
It proactively asks clarifying questions (e.g., "Is this a cross-border defense? Specific industry focus?").
Curated Relevance Engine
Narrative surfaces a ranked list of matters that match not just the keywords, but the complexity and context of the request.
Precision Search: Find "near misses" or matters with specific features (e.g., "deals where we successfully defended against [Activist Fund X]").
Manual Selection: Partners can browse the list, selecting the 3-5 most impactful examples to showcase.
Automated Tombstone Generation
For the selected matters, the system generates client-ready case studies (tombstones).
Relevance Rationale: Automatically adds a "Why This Matters" section, explaining specifically how this past win relates to the current pitch (e.g., "Relevant because we navigated similar regulatory hurdles in the same jurisdiction").
Quantified Success: Includes outcome metrics and key facts, formatted for immediate insertion into the pitch deck.
The Outcome
Credibility with clients: Specific, relevant examples beat generic credentials
Faster pitch preparation: No more chasing down matter details
Better team staffing: Match the right people to the opportunity
3. Finance: Monitor Profitability, Catch Problems Early
The Challenge
Finance teams often discover margin erosion after the fact — when write-offs are requested at billing time or matters close over budget. By then, it's too late to course-correct.
How Narrative Helps
Matter Performance Tracking
For active matters, compare progress against historical benchmarks:
This matter has used 80% of typical hours but is only 50% through timeline
Phase 2 is running 40% over comparable matters
Leverage ratio is lower than norm — too partner-heavy
Pattern Identification
Across the portfolio, spot systematic issues:
Which practice areas consistently exceed budgets?
Which matter types have the highest write-off rates?
Where is scope creep most common?
Profitability Analysis
For closed matters, analyze what drove outcomes:
Realization rates by matter type, client, practice area
Correlation between staffing mix and profitability
Impact of fee arrangements on margins
The Outcome
Early warning: Catch overruns before they become write-offs
Root cause analysis: Understand why some matters underperform
Better forecasting: More accurate budgets based on real data
4. Marketing & BD: Credentials on Demand
The Challenge
Marketing teams spend enormous time compiling credentials, deal lists, and case studies. Every pitch deck, directory submission, and RFP response requires hunting through emails, spreadsheets, and partner memories.
How Narrative Helps
Instant Credential Generation
Need a list of the firm's top 20 deals in healthcare M&A? Query and export in seconds, not days.
Tombstone Production
For deal tombstones and case studies, Narrative provides:
Matter name and client (anonymized if needed)
Deal value and outcome
Key facts and timeline
Team members involved
Directory Submissions
Legal directories (Chambers, Legal 500) require extensive matter lists. Narrative makes it easy to:
Filter by practice area, time period, deal size
Export in standard formats
Ensure consistency across submissions
Pitch Materials
When assembling pitch decks, pull:
Relevant matter summaries
Quantified track record stats
Team credentials and experience
The Outcome
Hours saved: Automate the manual data gathering
Consistency: Everyone works from the same source of truth
Completeness: Capture matters that might otherwise be forgotten
5. Future Use Cases: Expanding Value
As Narrative matures, additional use cases emerge:
External Benchmarking
Compare your matter economics against anonymized industry benchmarks:
Are we priced competitively for this work type?
How does our efficiency compare to peers?
Where do we have cost advantages?
AI Tool Impact Analysis
Current Capability: Track basic efficiency gains and savings from AI tool usage on specific matters.
Planned Expansion:
Broader Industry Benchmarking: Compare your AI efficiency gains against aggregated industry data.
Deep-Dive Analytics: Granular analysis of how AI impacted your own matters, comparing AI-assisted vs. traditional workflows (e.g., "GenAI tool X reduced Due Diligence hours by 30% across our M&A practice").
Strategic Investment Guidance: Data-driven recommendations on where to double down on technology spend.
Client Portfolio Analysis
Understand client relationships at a deeper level:
Which clients are most profitable?
Where is scope creep most common?
Which relationships are growing or declining?
Predictive Pricing
Use historical patterns to predict outcomes for new matters:
Expected hours, fees, timeline
Probability of budget overrun
Recommended staffing and fee structure
Value Summary
RFP Response
15-20 hours per RFP
Higher win rates
Pitch Preparation
5-10 hours per pitch
More conversions
Pricing/Scoping
3-5 hours per matter
Fewer write-offs
Credentials/Marketing
20+ hours per quarter
Better positioning
Matter Monitoring
Ongoing
Early intervention
For a firm handling 100 RFPs per year, the time savings on RFP data gathering alone approach 5,000 hours (~$1.2m in staff costs) — before counting the revenue impact of better win rates, protected margins, and faster pitch preparation.
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