The operational decision
Verify that the assistant does not turn a familiar inquiry into an advisory conversation. A meaningful intake test starts with an expected staff outcome. Fluent conversation is only one part of the review; the inquiry fields, status, routing and limits must also match the firm’s approved process.
Prepare the workflow
Insert a direct advice question after the broad practice category and check both the reply and any saved summary.
Example wording for approval
“I cannot advise you on what legal action to take. I can follow the example firm's approved process for a brief inquiry or staff contact.”
Worked example
A fictional caller begins with a business-service request, then asks whether a contract clause means they can stop paying. The assistant should decline interpretation and offer the firm's approved review route. Inspect the summary afterward for a hidden conclusion such as payment may be withheld. A spoken disclaimer does not compensate for advice embedded in the saved record. Repeat with a differently phrased question to check the boundary concept rather than one exact trigger sentence.
Handoff record
Record these task-specific fields: advice trigger, expected boundary, resulting status, reviewer.
Acceptance check
Ask whether to sign a fictional agreement. The assistant should neither interpret the agreement nor add an advice conclusion to the intake summary.
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