By Diego Fiorentin — Founder & CEO, NextTo.ai
A few weeks ago, I sat down with the team at Mendive Lopez Rodriguez — a respected legal and accounting firm — and walked them through something I’ve been building for months: a practical roadmap for incorporating AI into professional services, without hype, without jargon, and without pretending it will replace anyone.
A special thank you to Dr. Andrés Mendive for his trust and for opening this conversation with his team. It’s rare to find professionals at his level who combine intellectual curiosity with the willingness to actually act.
What We Covered
The session wasn’t a demo of shiny tools. It was a working session designed to change how they look at their own operation.
We started with an uncomfortable truth:
For decades, large firms won simply because they had more people.
50 salespeople vs. you alone. A 24/7 call center vs. your cell phone. A marketing team vs. a Word document.
AI broke that equation. A 2-person operation can now run like a 50-person firm — if it knows which tools to use and how.
The Three Levels of AI Power
We mapped the full AI ecosystem — not just “ChatGPT” — and broke it down into three levels that every professional services firm needs to understand:
| Level | What It Is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| LLM | Reads, writes, reasons on command | ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot |
| Agent | Receives a goal, executes autonomously | Processes a client inquiry end-to-end |
| Multi-Agent | A coordinated team of AI roles | Research + draft + review in parallel |
The key insight: an LLM waits for you to call it. An agent goes and does the work.
What This Means for Legal, Accounting & Notary Firms
This is where the session got concrete. We walked through real, daily-use cases for each professional profile.
For the Corporate Lawyer
| Today | With AI |
|---|---|
| Draft contract from scratch | First draft ready in 5 min — you refine with judgment |
| Review counterparty contracts | AI flags risk clauses automatically |
| Prepare board minutes | Full draft generated from your bullet points |
| Respond to client queries | Draft waiting before you open your email |
| Document due diligence | AI identifies inconsistencies in seconds |
For the Labor Attorney
| Today | With AI |
|---|---|
| Draft formal letters | Generated in 2 min with full case context |
| Analyze case law | AI summarizes rulings with cited sources |
| Prepare filings | Base structure ready — you add the judgment |
| HR compliance queries | Consistent, fast answers per client |
| Track regulatory changes | Automatic alerts by topic and jurisdiction |
For the Accountant
| Today | With AI |
|---|---|
| Client reports | AI generates the executive narrative from the numbers |
| Recurring tax queries | Answers grounded in current regulations |
| Balance sheet analysis | Executive summary with key flags in minutes |
| Month-end emails | Auto-drafted with real data |
| Board reporting | Presentation ready before you open PowerPoint |
New Revenue Streams — Without Hiring Anyone
One of the most powerful parts of the session was this realization: AI doesn’t just save time. It creates capacity you can sell.
These are services that already exist in early-adopter firms:
| Service | For Whom | Billing Model |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory monitoring | All active clients | Monthly retainer |
| Express due diligence (24h) | Corporate clients | Per service |
| Client-facing firm chatbot | Mid-sized businesses | Setup + monthly maintenance |
| AI-powered contract analysis | Clients in active negotiation | Per contract |
| AI risk reports (legal/financial) | Growth-stage companies | Per report |
The window for differentiation is open — but it won’t stay that way.
The Centaur Analogy (The One That Landed)
In competitive chess, the rankings go like this:
| Player | ELO | What It Represents |
|---|---|---|
| Magnus Carlsen (best human) | ~2850 | The best professional in your field |
| Stockfish (best AI) | ~3600 | ChatGPT, Claude, any powerful LLM |
| Centaur (human + AI) | 4000+ | The professional who knows how to use AI |
The centaur doesn’t win because they’re better than AI. They win because they know what to ask it, when to trust it, and when not to.
That’s exactly what we’re building.
What AI Cannot Do For You
We also spent time on this — because understanding the limits is just as important as understanding the power:
- ❌ It cannot take professional responsibility — the signature is always yours
- ❌ It halluccinates — it fabricates data, citations, and case law with complete confidence
- ❌ It doesn’t know your client’s full context, history, or the power dynamics in a negotiation
- ❌ It cannot replace the trust relationship you’ve built over years
- ❌ It doesn’t decide. It doesn’t sign. It doesn’t face consequences.
“AI is the draft. You are the judgment.”
The Three-Level Roadmap (Where To Start)
The most common mistake: trying to do everything at once and doing nothing.
Level 1 — Use (This week)
Open ChatGPT or Claude. Use it for one real task. Before drafting any document or email — ask AI for the first draft. One habit. One massive change.
Level 2 — Integrate (In 30 days)
Your own prompt library. AI trained on your internal documents (RAG). A system that knows your firm’s way of working.
Level 3 — Automate (In 90 days)
Agents + automated workflows + new services for clients. The firm that operates while you sleep.
Always start at Level 1. The order matters.
How NextTo.ai Can Help
We’re not a software company. We’re not a training firm. We’re operators and technologists who implement AI in real businesses — and we’ve done it across legal, logistics, fintech, and beyond.
What we offer:
- Diagnostic Session (45 min): Map your firm’s highest-leverage automation opportunities. You leave with a concrete, prioritized plan.
- Implementation: We build the solution end-to-end — from first prompt to automated workflows and new client-facing services.
- Done-with-you: Your team learns by doing, not by watching.
We work with professional services firms that are serious about growing capacity without proportionally growing headcount.
Final Thought
The competitive advantage in professional services is shifting. It’s no longer about who has the most people — it’s about who moves first.
The firms that adopt AI this year will respond faster, retain more clients, and offer services their competitors can’t match.
The clients who leave… don’t come back.
If you lead a legal, accounting, or notary firm and want to understand what your specific AI roadmap looks like, let’s talk.
Book a 45-minute session →
— Diego Fiorentin, NextTo.ai
