Brisbane Criminal Firm Cuts Brief Review Time by 65%
A 5-lawyer Brisbane criminal defence practice uses Quillio to analyse QPS briefs of evidence, witness statements, and CCTV transcripts. The firm cut brief review time from an average of 8 hours per indictable matter to 2 hours 45 minutes, across more than 60 briefs in 5 months.
What they were trying to solve
The practice was getting larger briefs from QPS — often 600-1,500 pages for a single matter — and the principal and senior solicitor were losing entire days to the initial read-through. Identifying inconsistencies between witness statements, matching CCTV timestamps to police notes, and tracking disclosure gaps under s590AB of the Criminal Code was manual and tedious work.
Why Quillio
Quillio was set up to ingest the full QPS brief, produce a chronological timeline with every witness statement cross-referenced, flag inconsistencies between statements, and highlight disclosure gaps against the indictment particulars. The senior solicitor now gets a briefed summary the same day the brief lands.
Implementation
The firm trialled Quillio on three older briefs the senior had already worked up, to verify the output matched his own notes. After the third brief matched his conclusions, Quillio became the first step on every new indictable matter.
Measurable outcomes
Average across 60+ indictable matters over 5 months
Quillio surfaces cross-statement inconsistencies the senior had previously missed on first pass
Every s590AB request letter now references specific brief pages and missing items
Active matter list per lawyer grew without additional after-hours time
"I was doing 12-hour days just reading briefs. Quillio gives me a timeline and the inconsistencies on day one, so I can spend my time on strategy and client conferences instead of page-turning through witness statements."
How it works in practice
QPS brief of evidence analysis, witness statement cross-referencing, s590AB disclosure tracking, and bail application preparation.
What they avoided
Turning away indictable matters or running a heavier Legal Aid committee approach just to manage the brief volume.
Case study FAQs
Does Quillio handle CCTV footage directly?
Quillio works from CCTV transcripts and police descriptions of footage included in the brief — it does not process raw video files. The practitioner still reviews the footage itself.
What about legal professional privilege?
All brief material is processed on Australian-hosted infrastructure with access limited to the matter file. Nothing is used for external model training and the audit trail supports the firm's supervision obligations.
Can Quillio draft the bail application?
Yes — Quillio drafts the bail application grounds under the Bail Act 1980 (Qld) from the brief material and the client instructions, which the senior then reviews and adjusts.
How does it handle committal matters?
For committal, Quillio produces the cross-examination outline for prosecution witnesses, keyed to each statement and the relevant elements of the offence.
Does it work for Legal Aid-funded matters?
Yes — the firm uses Quillio across both private and Legal Aid QLD funded matters. The time savings actually make Legal Aid work more viable at the fixed grant.
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