Intelligent conversation operations
The consultation confirmation, the document checklist, the hearing date and the invoice — with a client who will forward the message to their business partner and expects the firm to have kept the record. Everything about the client's own matter is utility; the newsletter about the new corporate tax rules is marketing.
The category decides everything else: the price, whether it reaches somebody who opted out, and the criteria it is reviewed against.
| Message | Category | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation confirmed with {{lawyer}} on {{date}} — bring the documents below | Utility | About the appointment the client booked. The checklist as a list in the message is what makes the first meeting productive rather than a second appointment to bring the passport copy. |
| Hearing scheduled at {{court}} on {{date}} at {{time}} | Utility | The date the client is waiting for, sent the moment the court's notice lands — as a template, because the client last messaged when they signed the engagement letter. |
| Invoice {{number}} for {{amount}} is attached; due {{date}} | Utility | About the engagement. The PDF as a document header, the amount as a variable — and the delivery receipt is what the firm cites when the client says they never saw it. |
| Corporate tax registration deadline, new visa rules — a note from the firm | Marketing | A client alert is marketing however useful it is, so it goes to clients who opted in — which for a firm is most of them, if the engagement letter asked. |
Client communication on a lawyer's personal WhatsApp is the firm's most common data-protection breach and its least noticed: the lawyer leaves, the phone goes with them, and the firm cannot produce the thread when the client, the court or the regulator asks for it. The UAE's PDPL, Bahrain's and Oman's, and the Saudi PDPL all treat a client's matter as personal data the firm is accountable for, whichever phone it sits on. A verified firm number with a shared inbox keeps the thread with the matter: assigned to the lawyer, visible to the partner, retained under the firm's policy, and receipted per message so "we informed the client on the 14th" is a record rather than a recollection. Zanii's assistant can take the intake — matter type, urgency, documents in hand — and hands anything substantive to a person; it is never the one giving advice.
Dear {{1}}, your consultation with {{2}} is confirmed for {{3}} at {{4}}, {{5}}. Please bring: {{6}}. Reply here if you need to reschedule or have documents to send ahead.
Category: Utility
The double braces are variables WhatsApp fills per recipient. Meta rejects a template whose numbering has gaps, and Zanii catches that before you submit it.