Smith Clinesmith is a national litigation firm that focuses exclusively on nursing home abuse and neglect — representing some of society's most vulnerable people against well-funded corporate defendants. Dawn Smith and her partner Curtis Clinesmith built the firm around that mission. The work is hard, and for years, the resource gap felt insurmountable.

The 20-Person Problem

Smith is blunt about the disadvantage plaintiff lawyers have historically faced.

"The defense almost always has more money, more people, more everything," she says. "They could just really outwork us by putting 20 people on a set of medical records that would take me weeks to go through — they could get through it in days."

That imbalance shaped everything: which cases firms could afford to take, how long litigation dragged on, and how much pressure plaintiffs could actually apply. Then AI arrived.

"Now with AI, I can use the tools to be as efficient as 20 people," Smith says. "AI really levels the playing field."

From Days to Minutes

The time savings showed up immediately. Erik Montana, the firm's Chief Strategy Officer, remembers the moment it clicked.

"I had an attorney message me with crying emojis, just saying, I don't think you understand — I got my first draft of a complaint out in an hour," Montana recalls. "Her complaints typically took four to five hours. She saved three hours. And that's three more complaints if she needed to, or that's drafting a demand, or that's client communication."

Another attorney — a 70-year-old who Montana describes as "definitely not AI native, but willing to learn" — saw a task that had taken three days his entire career drop to 45 minutes.

"I can't find anything else in any other industry that's had this type of impact outside of the automobile overtaking the horse," Montana says.

Cases Moving Faster

The efficiency gains translate directly to case velocity. JP McConnell, an attorney responsible for helping align the firm’s AI tools with the day-to-day work of its legal staff, has watched the entire litigation timeline compress.

"We're just seeing cases move faster with AI, specifically Eve," McConnell says. "From inception all the way through to settlement or trial date — there's no more lag time between the defense hitting us with 15 motions and us having to respond. The defense is on the back foot saying, where did you come from with all of this?"

Real-Time Advantage

Smith has taken AI further — using it in live proceedings. During depositions and hearings, she feeds information into Eve and gets answers in real time.

"If you're sitting and taking a deposition and you get a load of baloney from a witness, you can call them on it instantly," she says. "Before, you'd have to take a break, pull out the records, find the pages. Most of the time you couldn't do something like that."

The same applies when opposing counsel throws out case law. "If a defense lawyer throws up a case, I pull it down, feed it in, and ask for a summary. That's seconds, as opposed to 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes. I can figure out exactly the right way to argue it so I give my clients the best chance of winning."

A Rebirth at the Firm

The impact goes beyond productivity. Smith describes a cultural shift.

"Our people were really feeling overworked for quite a long time," she says. "And there's kind of a rebirth — more energy — because we can focus on things we were built to focus on. Now we can get the little things done in a shorter timeframe and focus on the strategy, the things that we love about the law."

Montana sees it in quality of life. "When people are getting time back, they're living healthier, happier lives," he says. "Having more fulfilled relationships with their friends and family. Sitting on a couch on a Saturday instead of worrying about drafting a complaint."

Actually Being a Lawyer

For Smith, the transformation comes down to one thing: she gets to do the work she became a lawyer to do.

"With all of the time that I save using Eve, I get to actually be a lawyer," she says. "Spend time thinking about the case, figuring out creatively how to make it better. I don't have to spend time doing the mundane things. Those are done. So I can think."

She'd never go back. "I don't think I would ever want to give it up because of how I can ask real-time questions about the medical records," Smith says. "I would never want to practice again in this area of law without that."

Why Eve

Smith had clear expectations for an AI vendor. "I expect them to change and get better every second, just like I'm trying to change and get better," she says. "I expect them to listen to my feedback."

Eve delivered. "We go to Eve with an idea — can you do this? — they say, we don't know, but we will try. For a company to give us that accessibility — that's incredible."

Her advice to other plaintiff firms? "You don't have to learn — you just try it. If you're not taking on new platforms like Eve to figure out how to make your firm better, you're falling behind."

The 20-person defense team advantage? Gone. The playing field? 

Finally level.