If you practiced law 10 years ago, the idea of having a “knowledge-based chatbot” to answer client questions at midnight wasn’t just a fantasy — it was a $50,000 development project that no solo practitioner could afford.
Today, it is becoming a reality thanks to Marla Miller, a former small law firm owner and founder of 9To5 Legal Docs.
Miller, a former international tax attorney who cut her teeth in big corporate multinationals, never intended to become a tech founder. After a move back to her hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana, she opened a solo practice, dealing with the same “bottleneck” that plagues almost every small firm lawyer: the realization that there are only so many hours in the day to sell.
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“I liked what I did, but I didn’t like how I had to do it,” Miller explains. “You can’t really do complex tax work for small-to-medium-sized businesses using the big corporate model. I found myself repeating myself a lot, dealing with the consultation grind, and realizing that on your own, you are the bottleneck.”
For Miller, the catalyst for change came during a trip to South by Southwest (SXSW). Miller watched a trademark attorney who was automating processes and selling forms online, and the light bulb went on. “I thought, there’s got to be a better way to do this. People needed information, and they didn’t need to pay $500-plus an hour to get it.”
The Pivot: From Practice to Platform
Miller’s solution is a new platform, 9To5Docs.com — currently in soft launch — designed to bridge the gap between early-stage startups and the attorneys who serve them.
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The premise is built on a simple observation: early-stage startups, despite their unique value propositions, usually follow a predictable legal path. They need LLCs or Delaware C-Corps; they need SAFE notes for funding; they need standard employment agreements. Because the structure is repetitive, it is ripe for automation.
But unlike the new wave of “AI Native Law Firms” making headlines, Miller isn’t trying to replace the attorney. She’s trying to clone the attorney’s efficiency.
The 9to5 platform offers a “data room” backend that handles corporate records, e-signatures, and storage — essentially combining the utility of Dropbox and DocuSign into a single legal workflow. But the real game-changer will drop in 2026 with “Hey Jane,” an AI agent trained on business tax and startup law.
“Think of it as the answer to those burning entrepreneur questions on a Thursday at midnight,” Miller says.
The goal is to allow other solo attorneys to white-label these tools. Instead of a lawyer spending 20 minutes answering a basic question about an EIN number, their white-labeled AI agent handles the education. When the client needs high-level strategy, the human lawyer steps in. It’s a hybrid model that promises to make solos “AI-enabled” rather than obsolete.
The “Cliff” of Entrepreneurship
Transitioning from a specialized tax practice to a tech startup required more than just coding; it required a fundamental rewiring of the lawyer brain.
“As an attorney, it’s almost safe,” Miller admits. “You know the rules. You navigate them. There are parameters. But building a startup? It feels like you’re on the edge of a cliff, you don’t know what’s over there, and you just have to jump.”
The shift also meant abandoning the security blanket of the billable hour. In a law firm, sitting at a computer and billing means you are working. In a startup, productivity might look like taking a walk to problem-solve or staring at a whiteboard to set strategic direction — activities that generate zero immediate revenue but are vital for long-term survival.
Why Women Are Leading the AI Charge
Miller is part of a growing cohort of women founders in the legal AI space — a demographic shift from the cloud-computing boom of the previous decade, which was largely male-dominated.
When asked why women are gravitating toward AI legal tech, Miller has a theory: “Women are very efficient humans. We have to be. We are organized, and AI is the ultimate tool for efficiency if used right.”
As Miller prepares to roll out consultation automation and attorney-facing tools in Q1 of 2026, she remains a test subject for her own software, running her practice through the platform to iron out the kinks. It’s a risky, non-typical path, but for a lawyer who grew tired of the “consultation grind,” the view from the edge of the cliff looks promising.
Marla Miller’s platform is currently in soft launch. She will be attending the Women in AI event at Vanderbilt Law School in February.
Carolyn Elefant is one of the country’s most recognized advocates for solo and small firm lawyers. She founded MyShingle.com in 2002, the longest-running blog for solo practitioners, where she has published thousands of articles, resources, and guides on starting, running, and growing independent law practices. She is the author of Solo by Choice, widely regarded as the definitive handbook for launching and sustaining a law practice, and has spoken at countless bar events and legal conferences on technology, innovation, and regulatory reform that impacts solos and smalls. Elefant also develops practical tools like the AI Teach-In to help small firms adopt AI and she consistently champions reforms to level the playing field for independent lawyers. Alongside this work, she runs the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant, a national energy and regulatory practice that handles selective complex, high-stakes matters.