What Work Verification is
Work Verification is the closing deliverable of an engagement — and the one firms reach for when expectations shift. It assembles what was actually delivered on the case (Discovery diagnostic, Strategy report, implementation work), what was agreed and paid, and a client-safe narrative of the engagement into a Work Product & Fee Summary PDF. When a refund demand, chargeback, or complaint arrives, the record answers instead of a timeline rebuilt from memory.
Where it lives
Work Verification is the final phase on the CaseRail ribbon and a report type in the Reports tab. Because it reads the same case record everything else wrote to — documents generated, billing events, activity history — it does not depend on anyone remembering what happened. The work was preserved as it occurred.
The express path
For deliverables-led engagements, a guided three-step flow produces the packet:
- Confirm deliverables — the flow proposes what is actually on file (Discovery diagnostic, Strategy report, or both) and only includes what exists unless you say otherwise.
- Confirm fees — agreement totals and payments prefill from the billing ledger and Discovery authorization; review and correct anything that is off.
- Generate the PDF — preview the Work Product & Fee Summary, then generate. The packet saves to Documents and clears the Work Verification phase.
Deterministic where it counts
The fee worksheet is grounded in the deterministic fee ledger — recorded charges, payments, and hours. AI may prefill narrative and suggest work-completed entries from the case history, but on any conflict the ledger wins. The same discipline applies to the client-facing narrative: it is governed and sanitized to be client-safe, with internal operator language and raw case notes kept out of the deliverable.
When to use it
- At natural delivery points — closing the advisory phase, completing implementation milestones, or ending the engagement.
- When a fee dispute, refund demand, or chargeback arrives and you need evidence of work performed, dated and tied to the case.
- When a client goes quiet mid-engagement and you want the record current before the conversation resumes.
- During handoffs — a new operator inherits a case with its delivery record already assembled.
What it costs
Running Work Verification analysis consumes one Work Verification / Retention credit, which covers the analysis, the in-app intelligence, the saved work product, and the client-facing export. See Billing & credits for how metering works.
Retention, not just defense
The same record that defends a fee also retains a client. A documented summary of work performed — presented proactively rather than produced under protest — is one of the stronger retention conversations a firm can have. Firms that generate the packet at delivery time, deliver it through the client portal, and reference it in renewal conversations turn fee defense into an asset rather than an emergency.