AI Prompts for Lawyers

Draft a response email to a prospective client who submitted an inquiry to my law firm.

Firm/attorney name: [your name and firm]
Practice area: [e.g., family law, personal injury, small-business contracts]
What the prospect said: [paste their message or summarize their situation]
Consultation offer: [free 20-min call / paid consult at $X / intake form link]
Scheduling next step: [Calendly link / phone number / times I'm available]

Requirements:
- Warm, professional, reassuring tone; plain English, no legalese
- Acknowledge their situation specifically WITHOUT giving legal advice or an opinion on the merits
- Ask 3-5 focused intake questions I need answered before a consultation (dates, parties, documents, deadlines, jurisdiction)
- State clearly that no attorney-client relationship is formed until a signed engagement, and that this email is not legal advice
- Include the consultation offer and one clear next step
- Keep it under 200 words
- Do not promise outcomes, quote fees beyond what I provided, or reference specific statutes
- End with a short signature block placeholder

Rewrite the following case update as a plain-English status email to my client.

Client name: [name]
Matter: [short description, e.g., "your breach-of-contract claim against [X]"]
What happened: [paste the development: filing, ruling, offer, hearing date, etc.]
What it means for them: [your take, in shorthand]
What happens next: [next step and rough timing]
Action needed from client: [documents, a decision, signature, or none]

Requirements:
- Friendly, calm, professional tone; assume no legal background
- Translate every legal term into everyday language, or define it briefly in parentheses
- Structure: (1) one-line summary, (2) what happened, (3) what it means, (4) what's next and when, (5) what I need from you
- Be honest about uncertainty; do not overpromise timelines or outcomes
- Keep it under 250 words, short paragraphs or bullets
- Stay neutral about the other side; write nothing I wouldn't want read back in court
- End with an invitation to reply with questions

Act as a contracts attorney and build a review checklist for the agreement below. Do not give a legal conclusion. Produce a checklist I will work through and verify against the actual document and governing law.

Contract type: [e.g., commercial lease, MSA, independent contractor, NDA]
Who I represent: [party name and role, e.g., the tenant or the vendor]
Governing law / jurisdiction: [state]
My client's priorities: [e.g., cap liability, keep termination rights, protect IP]
Key terms (or paste the contract): [paste text or summarize]

Requirements:
- Organize as a checklist grouped by category: parties & recitals, scope/deliverables, payment, term & termination, liability & indemnity, IP/confidentiality, dispute resolution, boilerplate
- For each item, note what to confirm and the common trap to watch for from my client's side
- Flag any clause that is missing, one-sided, or ambiguous as a [REVIEW] item
- Add a short list of clarifying questions to raise with the client or counterparty
- Do not draft final language or assert what the law requires; I will verify each point
- Format as clean markdown checkboxes; keep each explanation to one line

Draft a client engagement letter for my law firm. This is a first draft I will review, adapt to my jurisdiction's rules of professional conduct, and finalize. Flag anything that needs a lawyer's judgment.

Firm name: [firm]
Client name: [client]
Matter / scope of representation: [describe precisely what is and is NOT included]
Fee arrangement: [hourly $X / flat $X / contingency X% / retainer $X]
Billing terms: [frequency, expenses, retainer replenishment]
Jurisdiction: [state]

Requirements:
- Standard sections: parties, scope of representation (with explicit exclusions), fees and billing, client responsibilities, communication, file retention, termination/withdrawal, dispute resolution, and a signature block
- Plain, professional language a non-lawyer can understand
- Insert [REVIEW: jurisdiction-specific] markers where state bar rules likely govern (trust accounting, contingency disclosures, fee-splitting, arbitration language)
- Do not invent statute or rule citations; leave a placeholder where a citation is needed
- Neutral, non-adversarial tone
- Output as a formatted letter with clear headings, and note at the top that it is a draft for attorney review

Draft a demand letter for my client. Produce a persuasive first draft; I will verify every fact, legal basis, and figure before sending on firm letterhead.

My client: [name and role]
Recipient: [name/company and role]
Background facts: [what happened, in chronological order, with dates]
The harm / breach: [what the recipient did wrong and how my client was harmed]
What I'm demanding: [specific payment amount, action, or cure]
Deadline to comply: [date]
Consequence if ignored: [litigation, reporting, etc.; keep it truthful and lawful]
Governing agreement or law, if any: [contract section / statute, or leave blank]

Requirements:
- Professional, firm, unemotional; no threats beyond lawful consequences
- Structure: parties, factual background, the breach/liability, the demand, the deadline, and reservation of rights
- State the demand and deadline unambiguously
- Insert [VERIFY] next to every date, dollar amount, and legal assertion I must confirm
- Do not fabricate contract clauses, statutes, or case law; use a placeholder where a citation belongs
- Avoid defamatory or overstated claims
- Keep it under 500 words; output as a formatted letter with a signature block

Help me prepare to depose a witness. Produce a deposition outline and question set I will refine against the case file. This is a drafting aid, not legal advice.

Case: [short caption, e.g., "Smith v. Acme, breach of contract"]
Who I represent: [party]
Deponent: [name and role, e.g., defendant's operations manager]
Key issues to establish: [2-4 facts or admissions I need]
Documents in play: [exhibits I'll use, by short name]
Known weak spots in my case: [what opposing counsel may exploit]

Requirements:
- Open with a short list of goals for this deposition
- Group questions by topic; within each, move from broad background to specific admissions (funnel technique)
- Write clean, non-compound, non-leading foundation questions, then targeted follow-ups
- Include questions to authenticate each listed document
- Add a "watch for" note per topic flagging likely evasive answers and my follow-up
- Do not assume facts not provided; mark gaps as [NEED FROM FILE]
- Output as a structured outline I can print and annotate

Act as a legal research assistant and build an issue-spotting outline for the situation below. Do NOT cite cases or statutes; I will run the actual research and verify the law. Your job is to structure the analysis.

Jurisdiction: [state / federal]
Area of law: [e.g., landlord-tenant, employment, contract]
Facts: [paste the client's facts]
The question I need answered: [the core legal question]
My client's goal: [what outcome they want]

Requirements:
- List the legal issues raised, most to least important
- For each issue: the elements or factors a court would weigh, the facts that cut each way, and the open questions I need to research
- Identify what additional facts would change the analysis
- Suggest search terms and the TYPES of authority to look for (statute, regulation, controlling vs. persuasive case law) without naming specific cases
- Explicitly do not state legal conclusions or invent citations; leave [RESEARCH] placeholders
- Output as a clean outline with a heading per issue

Write an educational blog post for my law firm's website that attracts prospective clients searching for help.

Firm name: [firm] | Location: [city, state]
Practice area: [e.g., estate planning, DUI defense, small-business law]
Topic / question the reader is Googling: [e.g., "Do I need a will if I'm renting?"]
Target reader: [who they are and their situation]
Call to action: [book a consult / call / download a checklist]

Requirements:
- Helpful, plain-English, trustworthy tone; educate first, sell last
- Structure: clear H1, a short intro naming the reader's problem, 4-6 H2 sections answering the real questions, a brief FAQ, and a CTA
- 700-900 words; short paragraphs, scannable
- Include a visible disclaimer that the article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship
- Do not state law as settled fact or cite specific statutes/cases unless I add them; keep guidance general and note that specifics vary by jurisdiction
- Avoid fearmongering and any guarantee of outcomes
- Naturally include the practice area and location once or twice for local SEO, without keyword stuffing

Summarize the following contract in plain English for my client so they understand what they're signing. This is a client-facing explanation; I will confirm accuracy against the document.

Who I represent: [client name and role]
Contract type: [e.g., commercial lease, vendor MSA]
Paste the contract or key sections: [text]

Requirements:
- Assume the client has no legal training
- Structure: (1) what this contract does in one sentence, (2) my client's main obligations, (3) the other side's main obligations, (4) the money terms, (5) how it ends and any penalties, (6) the 3 clauses to pay closest attention to and why
- Translate legal terms; put the original term in parentheses the first time it appears
- Flag anything unusual, one-sided, or risky as a "Heads up" note
- Do not recommend whether to sign; present the facts and the risks
- Note at the end that this is a summary for understanding, not legal advice, and the signed document controls
- Keep it under 400 words, bullet-friendly

Write a follow-up email after an initial consultation with a prospective client.

Prospect name: [name]
Matter discussed: [short description]
Next steps I recommended: [scope / approach we discussed]
Fee arrangement offered: [hourly, flat, or retainer, with amounts]
What I need from them to proceed: [signed engagement, retainer, documents]
Deadline or timing consideration: [statute of limitations concern, filing date, or none]

Requirements:
- Warm, confident, low-pressure tone; reassure without overpromising
- Recap what we discussed and the recommended path in plain English
- Restate the fee arrangement clearly and the exact next step to engage
- If there is a real time constraint, note it factually without scare tactics
- Reiterate that no attorney-client relationship exists until the engagement letter is signed
- Do not guarantee outcomes or give new legal advice beyond what we covered
- Keep it under 220 words; end with a clear call to action and a signature placeholder

Draft a non-engagement (declination) letter to a prospective client I am not taking on. This is a first draft; I will adapt it to my jurisdiction's rules and confirm no deadlines are missed.

Firm name: [firm]
Recipient: [prospect name]
Matter they came to me about: [short description]
Reason, kept general and professional: [conflict, not my practice area, capacity, or declined; pick one, no detail needed]
Did I review any documents or facts?: [yes/no]

Requirements:
- Polite, professional, and brief
- State clearly that my firm will NOT be representing them and that no attorney-client relationship has formed
- Do NOT give legal advice on the merits of their matter
- Include a general caution that legal claims have deadlines (statutes of limitations) and they should consult another attorney promptly to protect their rights
- Offer a referral resource generically (e.g., the state bar referral service) without naming a specific attorney unless I add one
- If they provided documents, note that they are being returned
- Insert [REVIEW: SOL/date] if a time-sensitive deadline may exist
- Output as a formatted letter; keep it under 250 words

Draft a first set of interrogatories and requests for production for the case below. Produce a working draft I will tailor to my jurisdiction's discovery rules, numerical limits, and the actual case file.

Case: [caption / short description]
Who I represent: [party]
Opposing party: [name and role]
Claims/defenses at issue: [list the causes of action or defenses]
Facts I need to prove or disprove: [3-6 key facts]
Governing rules/jurisdiction: [e.g., state civil procedure / FRCP]

Requirements:
- Produce two labeled sections: Interrogatories, and Requests for Production of Documents
- Tie each request to a specific claim, defense, or fact I listed
- Write clear, single-subject requests; avoid compound or vague wording
- Include placeholder blocks for standard [DEFINITIONS] and [INSTRUCTIONS] at the top
- Flag [CHECK LIMIT] where jurisdictional caps on the number of interrogatories may apply
- Do not assume facts not provided or cite specific rules/numbers I did not give; use placeholders
- Note at the top that this is a draft for attorney review and must be checked against local rules and proportionality limits
- Output as a clean, numbered document