AI Policy Template for Legal Services
After the highly publicized sanctions over fabricated AI citations, no law firm can treat AI use as informal. Rules of professional conduct on competence, confidentiality, and supervision all apply to generative AI, and several courts now require certification that filings were checked for AI fabrications. A written policy is the minimum standard of care — it defines what client information can touch which tools and makes citation verification mandatory.
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AI risks specific to law firms
- Hallucinated case citations have led to sanctions against lawyers in multiple courts
- Entering client facts into a consumer chatbot may waive privilege or breach confidentiality duties
- Bar associations increasingly expect written AI supervision policies under competence rules
- Courts increasingly require disclosure or certification of AI use in filings
Compliance requirements your policy must address
Attorney-Client Privilege
Privileged or confidential client information must not be entered into AI tools that retain prompts or use them for model training. Lawyers remain responsible under applicable rules of professional conduct (including competence and confidentiality duties) for all AI-assisted work product, and must verify all AI-generated citations and legal authorities before filing or client delivery.
What a complete legal services AI policy includes
- Purpose, scope, and who the policy covers (employees, contractors, volunteers)
- Approved AI tools and the process for approving new ones
- Acceptable uses — and the prohibited list, including data that must never enter prompts
- Privacy-law clauses for your jurisdictions (GDPR, EU AI Act, CCPA, PIPEDA) plus Attorney-Client Privilege requirements
- Human review and accountability rules for AI output
- Incident reporting, enforcement, and annual review
Frequently asked questions
- Is using ChatGPT on client matters an ethics violation?
- Not inherently — but entering confidential client information into a tool that retains prompts may breach your duty of confidentiality, and filing unverified AI output can violate competence and candor duties. A policy draws the lines that keep AI use inside the rules.
- Should the policy cover legal research tools with AI features?
- Yes. Westlaw, Lexis, and practice-management tools now embed generative AI. Your policy should distinguish vetted legal AI tools under firm agreements from consumer chatbots.
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Start the generatorDraftAIPolicy is not a law firm; documents are self-help templates, not legal advice.