ROI Case Study · Nevada Appellate · Three Real Matters

What DilloLex saved on three real Nevada appeals, task by task.

When firms ask whether the time savings are real, this is the honest answer: three actual Nevada appellate matters, drafted and assembled by DilloLex with an attorney reviewing and approving every output. The numbers below are conservative, the assumptions are stated in plain sight, and you can substitute your own.

General information, not legal or financial advice. Real matters, de-identified. No client or case names are disclosed, consistent with the firm's confidentiality obligations. Read the limits of this study first.

The headline, stated accurately

Across all three appeals combined, DilloLex saved between 34 hours (ultra-conservative) and about 50 hours (conservative) of attorney and staff time. That is a total across three matters, not a per-matter figure. Per appeal, the conservative savings ran roughly 14 to 20 hours each. We state it both ways on purpose, because the per-matter and the cumulative numbers are different claims and a careful reader is entitled to both.

34–50 hrsTotal time saved across all three appeals, ultra-conservative to conservative
14–20 hrsConservative time saved per appeal
≤30 minAttorney revision time on each matter, all output reviewed and approved

What DilloLex did on each matter

On each appeal, with the attorney reviewing and approving everything before it was used, DilloLex:

  • Drafted the full brief from the firm's corpus, the record, and research.
  • Assembled the NRAP 30 appendix on the two appellant-side matters.
  • Built the table of contents and table of authorities.
  • Verified word-count compliance against NRAP limits.
  • Checked and formatted the record citations.
  • On the answering-brief matter, flagged opposing counsel's record-citation errors, places where the cited pages did not support the position claimed.

The conservative benchmarks we measured against

Time savings are only as honest as the manual baseline you compare against. We used conservative drafting speeds for an experienced appellate attorney writing polished prose: 750 to 1,000 finished words per hour, a range ABA writing data supports for careful legal drafting. The supporting tasks use the conservative floors below. Where a range existed, the lower (more skeptical) number carries forward.

Supporting taskUltra-conservativeConservative
NRAP 30 appendix assembly
(gather, organize, paginate, index)
2.0 hrs3.0 hrs
TOC + TOA
(manual citation pull, sort, format)
1.5 hrs2.5 hrs
Word-count compliance + formatting0.5 hrs0.5 hrs
Record cite verification0.5 hrs1.0 hr

The three matters, per appeal

Each row is a real matter. "DilloLex time" includes the AI output plus the attorney's review and revision. "Manual time" is the conservative estimate of what the same work would take by hand.

MatterDilloLex time
(incl. attorney revision)
Manual time
(conservative)
Hours saved
Appeal 1
Opening brief, ~12,000 words + NRAP 30 appendix
3.5 hrs23.0 hrs19.5 hrs
Appeal 2
Opening brief, ~8,000 words + NRAP 30 appendix
3.5 hrs17.7 hrs14.2 hrs
Appeal 3
Answering brief, ~10,500 words, no appendix
1.0 hr18.0 hrs17.0 hrs
Three-matter total8.0 hrs58.7 hrs50.7 hrs

The ultra-conservative tier, which assumes the fastest realistic manual drafting speed (1,000 words per hour) and the lowest supporting-task floors, still totals 34 hours saved across the three matters. The conservative tier totals about 50 hours. Both tiers are shown so the range is visible, not hidden behind a single round number.

The task-by-task breakdown, per appeal

The totals above are built from the line items below. Each table shows the conservative manual estimate for every task on that appeal, the DilloLex time including attorney review and revision, and the resulting hours saved. The attorney's review time is counted against DilloLex, never hidden, so the savings figure is the conservative one.

Appeal 1 — opening brief (~12,000 words) + NRAP 30 appendixConservative
Drafting (12,000 words)16.0 hrs
NRAP 30 appendix assembly3.0 hrs
TOC + TOA2.5 hrs
Word-count compliance + formatting0.5 hrs
Record cite verification1.0 hr
Manual total23.0 hrs
DilloLex (output + attorney revision)3.5 hrs
Hours saved19.5 hrs
Appeal 2 — opening brief (~8,000 words) + NRAP 30 appendixConservative
Drafting (8,000 words)10.7 hrs
NRAP 30 appendix assembly3.0 hrs
TOC + TOA2.5 hrs
Word-count compliance + formatting0.5 hrs
Record cite verification1.0 hr
Manual total17.7 hrs
DilloLex (output + attorney revision)3.5 hrs
Hours saved14.2 hrs
Appeal 3 — answering brief (~10,500 words), no appendixConservative
Drafting (10,500 words)14.0 hrs
TOC + TOA2.5 hrs
Word-count compliance + formatting0.5 hrs
Record cite verification1.0 hr
Manual total18.0 hrs
DilloLex (output + attorney revision)1.0 hr
Hours saved17.0 hrs

An answering brief carries no appellant appendix, so its savings come from drafting, the tables, and cite verification rather than appendix assembly. On this matter DilloLex also flagged several of the opposing brief's record citations that did not support the pages they pointed to; the attorneys verified each one. That review is real value but is not counted in the hours above.

What those hours are worth

We use $250 per hour as the floor. Real Nevada appellate attorneys commonly bill $350 to $750. At the floor, the value of the time saved across these three matters runs from about $8,500 (34 hours) to $12,500 (50 hours). At a still-conservative $350 per hour, the conservative tier is worth roughly $17,500. The math improves at real rates, not the other way around.

The limits of this study, stated plainly. This is three matters, not a statistical sample. Treat it as a proof of concept: real matters, real attorneys in the loop, real output reviewed and used, not a guarantee of what any given firm will see. Your results depend on your document volume, your drafting speed, and how much review your work demands.

This is appellate work specifically. The numbers here come from briefs and appendices, the hardest document type DilloLex handles: word-limited, court-rule-specific, and citation-heavy. They do not transfer one-to-one to family law disclosures, PI demand packages, or general civil work. Those have their own savings models. See the wage-and-task ROI methodology for the general case.

An attorney reviewed and approved every output. The "DilloLex time" figures include that review. DilloLex is decision support; the supervising attorney is responsible for verifying every brief, confirming the currency and accuracy of every authority, and meeting every professional and ethical obligation. Nothing here is filed without a lawyer's sign-off.

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