Returns processing rebuilt, a React app shipped, and DevOps automated
At one of the country's most recognized legal settlement administration firms, a multi-year engagement covered three distinct technical challenges: rebuilding a mission-critical mail returns processing system that processed at 1100% greater speed, shipping a new customer-facing React SPA from scratch, and implementing a fully automated DevOps pipeline.
One of the country's leading legal settlement administration firms
The client is one of the most well-known and efficient legal settlement administration firms in the United States — managing class-action settlements, coordinating nationwide mail processing, and providing claimants with case status visibility across large-scale legal proceedings. The technology platform was built on a Microsoft .NET stack: C# codebases in ASP.NET with SQL Server databases.
Shawn Livermore engaged with the client across three interlocking technical initiatives: the redevelopment of the core returns processing business logic, the design and delivery of a new customer-facing React SPA, and the formalization and automation of the DevOps CI/CD pipeline. Work was delivered through weekly on-site sessions, two to three days per week, with deep involvement across operations, development teams, and business leadership.
A 1100% speed increase in the system at the center of operations
The client's returns processing logic sat at the operational center of the business — managing USPS mail-return processing for class-action settlement mailings nationwide. The existing system had accumulated significant technical debt and could only process one mail item at a time. Batch runs that should take minutes ran for four hours. The system was a bottleneck across every engagement the firm managed.
The redevelopment began with structured requirements and analysis sessions alongside the client's subject-matter experts — mapping every step of the existing process before any stored procedure was touched. The approach that followed expanded the parameterization model to use table-based parameters instead of individual parameters, and decomposed the monolithic process into many distinct, manageable subprocesses that could run concurrently.
The result: processing speed increased by over 1100%. Batch runs that had taken four hours ran in under 30 minutes. The system could now process thousands of mail items concurrently — a capability the business had never had before.
A React SPA designed for the legal industry — from zero to production
The client needed a way to bring case status, mail tracking, member details, and claims data directly to the attorneys, law firms, and claimants who depended on their operations. The work covered the full product lifecycle — requirements, design, architecture, implementation, testing, deployment, and post-launch marketing support.
The application was built on a horizontally segmented database architecture that isolated customer-facing data from the primary production systems — addressing both compliance requirements and the performance constraints of serving sensitive data at scale. Response times were brought below one second for all cases regardless of data volume.
Key views included a filterable case list with drill-down into project management summaries, nationwide USPS mail tracking down to individual piece status, member detail with complex permission and jurisdiction controls, claims processing status, and financial reporting with payment detail. The client used the delivered design assets and animations in its own sales and marketing materials — expanding the reach of the work beyond the product itself.
From manual deployment steps to a documented, automated CI/CD pipeline
The client's deployment process had grown organically and relied heavily on manual steps, undocumented tribal knowledge, and ad-hoc coordination between development teams. The DevOps engagement assessed the existing pipeline, documented every step with precision, and reconfigured the entire process around automation.
Working with TeamCity, Octopus, Azure DevOps, Git, and Redgate, the team implemented ticket-driven branching, automated database backup and sanitization for developer environments, isolated local database workflows, and post-deployment verification flows. Developers reclaimed more than three hours per week previously spent on manual deployment coordination. Database deployments that had required manual intervention became fully automated. The entire pipeline was documented in detailed flowcharts every team member could reference and follow.
Watching Shawn come alongside our team was awesome. He really carried the project forward.
Application screenshots
I work closely with a designer to curate and refine the user interfaces, driving product and helping to refine business processes along the way.
Get the full case studies
Three separate case study documents cover each engagement in detail — the logic redevelopment, the React SPA, and the DevOps pipeline — including flowcharts, architecture decisions, and measured outcomes.
