ChatGPT Prompts for Lawyers: Boost Efficiency in Legal Work with AI

ChatGPT, the AI chatbot from OpenAI, has taken the world by storm, and the legal industry is no exception (be sure to take a look at our resource guide on AI for Lawyers). With just a few simple ChatGPT prompts, lawyers can answer questions, write entire emails, or even get relationship advice (though whether or not you’d want to accept the latter is up to you).

In this blog post, we’ll explore the best ChatGPT prompts for lawyers, helping you harness AI to streamline legal tasks, improve research, and boost productivity.

If you feel stuck when it comes to actually getting started with AI at your firm, be sure to join our on-demand CLE-eligible webinar to learn practical ways legal professionals can use AI at their firm (including demonstrations!)

ChatGPT prompts for lawyers: top use cases in legal practice

From creating legal marketing content to drafting legal documents, ChatGPT presents opportunities for efficiency for law firms. 

With ChatGPT, lawyers can:

• Research and write legal documents more efficiently.
• Summarize complex legal cases and concepts in plain language for clients. 
• Answer common legal questions and provide general legal information. 
• Automate legal tasks such as contract drafting or document review.
• Conduct secondary research for cases. 

For example, using ChatGPT prompts for legal research can save legal professionals hours of time. A prompt like “Conduct legal research on [legal issue] and summarize relevant case law” can yield comprehensive insights into complex legal matters.

If you’re looking to use AI for legal research, check out this blog post: AI for Legal Research: Tools, Tips, and Examples.

 

How to write effective ChatGPT prompts for lawyers

The more concrete your ChatGPT prompts are, the better your results will be. Follow these steps:

• Assign a role: Tell ChatGPT what point of view, expertise, or perspective it should take. For example: “Act as my opposing counsel.”
• Provide context: Give as much information as possible and ask for your desired outcome or result. For example, “Act as my opposing counsel and provide counter arguments to [legal case].”
• Follow up with questions: Ask additional questions to get more information. You can also rephrase questions if you don’t like you don’t like your initial answer. 
• Ask for sources: You can specify that you want sources cited.
• Modify your output: Remember to always edit, polish, and verify your responses; never copy and paste.

Josh Kubiki’s guide on how to interact with ChatGPT follows a similar model, called the 5 Ps:

Example of a good prompt for ChatGPT

ChatGPT prompts can be tailored to a wide range of legal contexts. For example, when handling a civil case, you could use the following prompt to explore potential risks for your client:

Prompt: I want you to act as a legal professional for a civil case. My client, a tenant, is attempting to get their damage deposit back from their former landlord, who kept the deposit despite my client leaving the property in pristine condition.

If my client loses this case, please tell me what the potential consequences are for their business or personal life? Be as detailed as possible. Please include financial consequences, personal consequences, and reputational consequences.

6 ChatGPT prompts every lawyer should use for better legal outcomes

If you’re not sure where to start, here are six chatGPT prompts to use as a jumping off point. This will help you begin to experiment with chatGPT in your legal practice.

Remember: These ChatGPT prompts are designed as starting points. They may not work as expected in every situation. Always exercise caution when inputting any prompts, and remember to always verify and edit the outputs of ChatGPT before using them for any legal purposes.

1. Conduct legal research and analysis

Prompt: Conduct legal research on [legal issue or topic]. Please be concise. Summarize the relevant case law, statutes, and regulations. Provide analysis and conclusions based on your research.

2. Uncover precedents

Prompt: Provide me with an overview of the legal precedents in [area of law]. Please tell me what key cases exist in this area of law and what the key legal arguments were. Please also identify the potential consequences of misinterpreting the legal precedents.

3. Confirm proper citation format

Prompt: Review this [legal document type] to ensure proper citation format and accuracy. Please review for any errors and make necessary corrections.

4. Prepare a case 

Prompt: Please provide me with a list of all the possible outcomes of [legal dispute]. Please tell me how I can prepare for them.

Define statutes and regulations for [legal issue

Prompt: What are the governing statutes and regulations relating to [legal issue] in [jurisdiction]?
Note: Remember that ChatGPT’s knowledge only goes to 2021. Use this prompt as a starting point only and be sure to conduct your own follow up research.

5. Develop a legal strategy

Prompt: What are the potential risks and benefits of pursuing this legal strategy [describe strategy]?

6. Create discovery questions

Prompt: Generate a list of questions for opposing parties in discovery for [specific legal issue]. Please ensure the questions are clear and concise.

Limitations of ChatGPT: A reminder

Like all tools, ChatGPT has limitations, and comes with risks, the biggest being that there is no replacing your expertise, critical thinking, or soft skills as a lawyer. All of these help you make informed legal decisions.

As well, ChatGPT’s knowledge only goes up to 2023, but paid subscriptions allow it to search the web in real time.

And, of course, be mindful of the ethical implications of using AI for legal work . Keep client confidentiality in mind, and do not share specific case details with ChatGPT.

So, hypothetically, you could ask ChatGPT to draft a confidentiality agreement and the AI tool would write out a response in a matter of seconds. 

You can also leverage AI tools specifically designed for legal case management, like Clio Duo, to simplify your workday with automatic summaries, personalized recommendations, intelligent insights, and more.

Remember to be careful with the information you enter into ChatGPT. We cover more in our post about the ethical considerations of AI and law.

Final notes on ChatGPT prompts for lawyers

ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can streamline numerous aspects of legal practice. By mastering effective ChatGPT prompts, lawyers can improve their research, enhance client interactions, and easily make informed decisions on cases. While AI will never replace the human element of law, it’s clear that ChatGPT prompts present many opportunities for modern legal professionals.

Still, there is good reason to explore not only how AI can help you and your law firm, but how to implement it at your firm. Be sure to join our on-demand webinar on how law firms us AI to hear from our AI experts on practical use cases for AI in law firms, popular tools and how to choose them, and the ethical considerations of AI for law.

Want more? Check out these resources on AI: 

• Ethical concerns of AI and law
• ChatGPT Search for Lawyers
• AI tools for law firms

 

We published this blog post in June 2023. Last updated: December 11, 2024.

Categorized in: Clio, Technology