Internal Notes vs Client Messages on an AI-Drafted File: Keeping Them Apart

An AI-drafted file picks up a lot of writing that was never meant for the client. The Reviewer leaves notes on entries. A send-back tells the Preparer what to look at again. The Preparer writes remarks for the Reviewer and for themselves, in shorthand, with entry IDs and guesses they haven't checked yet.

Some of those notes turn into questions only the client can answer. A note written for the Firm reads very differently to the person on the other end.

In this method, the Firm keeps internal notes and client messages apart. It keeps a two-column note log, has a person reword internal notes that need client questions in the Firm's client voice, and saves the client's answer against the note it came from. The plugin drafts; the Firm's preparer prepares; the Reviewer signs off. Client messages are written and sent by people at the Firm, in whatever systems the Firm already uses.

This piece gives the note log, a rewording guide, a sample client message, a pre-send check and a Doe example. For logging each question and answer in full, see the client question log.

Internal notes vs client messages

An internal note is written for people at the Firm. It can carry entry IDs, the Firm's status words, a Reviewer's shorthand and an unchecked guess. That works inside the Firm, where the people reading it know the file.

A client message is written for the client. The message can name the client's document without relying on entry IDs, draft details or the Firm's shorthand. A guess pasted into a message can read as the Firm's conclusion.

In this method, the Firm never pastes an internal note to a client as written. Nothing goes to the client from a draft. A person at the Firm writes the client message in the Firm's client voice, and a person at the Firm sends it.

How the notes get written in the first place is its own topic, covered in review notes on AI-drafted work.

The two-column note log

The Firm can paste this into the client's file and adapt it. Each internal note that needs the client gets a row.

In this method, the left column stays in the Firm. The right column holds the message, planned or as sent, plus the Firm's handling details. The client's answer is saved on the left, next to the note it came from, so whoever opens the entry later sees the note and the answer together.

Not every internal note gets a row. A note the Preparer can settle from the folder stays an internal note.

A rewording guide the Firm can adapt

In this method, the person rewording reads the internal note and then writes the message fresh. The guide lists what to drop and what goes in its place.

What the message adds: the Firm's usual greeting and sign-off, the document the question is about, and how the client can answer.

If the Firm keeps its own entry status words, as in a shared vocabulary for AI-drafted work, those words stay in the left column.

A sample client message

Here's an internal note as a Reviewer might leave it: "INC-BANK-A: SB. Deposit labeled Transfer, source unclear. Prob. from savings? Ask client."

The Firm might reword it for the client like this:

Hi Jane, thanks for sending the bank statements. On the statement for the business account, the page headed "Deposits" shows a deposit labeled "Transfer." Could you tell us where that deposit came from? A reply to this message works, or a call if that's easier. Thanks, Alex at the Firm

The entry ID is gone, along with the "SB," the guess about savings and the note to the Preparer. What's left is a question about a page in Jane's own statement.

The pre-send check

In this method, the person sending reads the right column against this check before the message goes out. The Firm can add its own lines.

• The message has no entry IDs, Firm shorthand or status words.
• It offers no guess about what an item is.
• It names the document and page heading the client would recognize.
• It says nothing about the draft or about who at the Firm raised the question.
• It reads in the Firm's client voice, as if the client had never seen the internal note.
• The right column holds the message exactly as it will be sent, with who reworded it and who is sending it.
• The left column still holds the internal note it came from, with room for the answer.

Saving the answer

When the client answers, a person at the Firm saves the answer in the file against the internal note it came from: word for word for a written reply, or a call note for a call. The same person marks the status on the right answered.

The answer doesn't settle the entry by itself. The Preparer works the entry from the answer and the source documents, and the Reviewer signs off on the whole file, answered notes included. No file is done without the Reviewer's sign-off.

If no answer comes back, the Firm's own follow-up steps apply, as in a follow-up cadence for open requests.

Who rewords and who sends

The Firm decides. In this method, the Preparer who has the file rewords and sends, or the Firm names someone else for client messages. Either way, rewording, sending and saving are done by people at the Firm.

The note log isn't a sign-off and doesn't stand in for one. An answered row means the client replied, not that the entry is done.

A Doe example

The names and file below are made up for illustration.

Jane Doe owns Doe Holdings, a synthetic client of the Firm. Alex Doe is the Preparer and Pat Doe is the Reviewer.

During review, Pat sends the file back to Alex with the internal note from the sample above on entry INC-BANK-A. Alex can't settle it from the folder, so Alex adds a row to the note log: Pat's note word for word, the entry ID, and Pat as the writer.

Alex rewords it with the guide. The entry ID, the "SB" and Pat's guess about savings come out, and the page is named the way Jane would know it. Alex puts the message word for word in the right column with Alex as rewording and sending it, runs the pre-send check, and sends it to Jane through the Firm's usual client portal.

Jane replies with where the deposit came from and attaches the statement for that account. Alex saves her reply word for word in the left column against Pat's note, adds the statement to the folder, and marks the row answered.

Alex works the entry from Jane's answer and the new statement, notes the change for Pat, and sends the file to Pat again. Pat reviews the whole file, the answered note included, and signs off on the whole file.

Jane never sees Pat's note. Anyone opening the entry later sees the note and the answer side by side.

Where TracePrep fits

We've built a TracePrep plugin that drafts these steps in your Firm's workflow, while your preparer decides and your Reviewer signs off. Join the waitlist and we'll tell you when plugin access opens.

Get on the list for plugin access

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. In TracePrep's workflow, the plugin drafts, the Firm's preparer prepares, and the Firm's Reviewer signs off. Access to the plugin is by waitlist. Keep client data inside the systems your Firm has approved.