1. Start with the Thomson service area, not an assumed market
Thomson is a municipality in Georgia, and the 2020–2024 American Community Survey records a population estimate of 6,821 with a margin of error of 14. The recorded county relationship is McDuffie County. That geographic fact helps define the firm’s operating context, but it does not establish legal demand, search activity, competition, lead volume or revenue. A firm should also avoid treating Thomson, McDuffie County, a judicial circuit and a court class as interchangeable. Georgia Courts publishes official resources for citizens and legal professionals, but those resources do not by themselves define the firm’s service area or software requirements.
Recommended approach
Use Thomson and McDuffie County as explicit scope questions during consultation: Which clients, matters or referral relationships belong in the workflow? Which locations must staff distinguish? Which court, matter or office attributes are operationally important? Preserve those distinctions in the proposed data model rather than using one broad location field.
