Counsel-led use only
Define that AI tools used on legal matters operate under lawyer or authorised officer supervision. Privilege and confidentiality rules still apply to prompts and outputs. “The model summarised it” is not a privilege strategy.
Useful tasks
- First drafts of routine contract clauses from approved playbooks
- Checklists for due diligence
- Summaries of public statutes for internal education (verified)
- Organisation of matter documents with access control
Hard boundaries
Do not upload opposing-party confidential materials into unapproved clouds. Do not let non-lawyer staff treat model output as legal advice to third parties. When the matter is sensitive, raise the isolation level—or do not use AI at all.
Vendor bar
Prefer vendors who understand zero-training contracts, regional hosting and tight admin controls. Link assessments to ethical vendor assessment and procurement discipline in diocesan AI procurement.
Training the wider staff
Non-lawyer staff must know they may not paste case material into personal tools “just this once.” Include legal-matter rules in the organisation’s AI code of conduct. Offer a simple path: if it is about a dispute, a contract under negotiation, or a named party, use only counsel-approved systems—or none.
One training slide is not enough. Repeat at onboarding and after any near-miss.