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Staff AI use policy
Prepared for Halloran & Voss, PLLC (fictional law office)
SAMPLE · fictional business · example figures
Why we have this
- AI tools can save time on drafting and summaries. They can also expose client information or produce confident mistakes. We use them only in ways that keep client information confidential, keep us competent with the tool, and keep a lawyer checking the work.
Approved tools
- Microsoft Copilot, signed in with your firm work account only. The managing attorney keeps this list and who uses each tool.
- No other AI tool, plug-in or browser extension for firm work until the managing attorney approves it. Before approving, they read the vendor’s terms: what is kept and for how long, whether inputs train the model, who can see them, how to delete them. They recheck when terms change.
- Never a personal account, even for "just a quick question" about firm work.
Never put in an AI tool
- Client names, matter numbers or anything that identifies a client.
- Case facts, court filings in progress, settlement figures, medical or financial records.
- Passwords, account numbers, Social Security numbers.
- Another firm’s or a third party’s confidential material.
- The only exception: the managing attorney approves the tool and the client gives informed consent. A general line in the engagement letter is not enough.
Fine to use AI for
- Rewording your own text so it reads more clearly.
- Summaries of public material, such as a published statute or a rule.
- Practice and training with the fictional sample documents.
- Checklists, meeting agendas and internal templates with no client facts.
Every time
- You are responsible for what you send. AI makes things up. Read the output, check every fact, and confirm every case, statute and quotation in an official source before anyone relies on it. Check whether the court requires AI use to be disclosed.
- A lawyer reviews AI-assisted staff work just as they review any other staff work.
- If AI use affects a client’s matter, fees or an important decision, tell the managing attorney first. They decide what the client must be told. If a client asks, tell them the truth.
- Bill only time actually spent. Time AI saves is not billed as if you did it by hand, and time spent learning a tool is not billed to clients. AI tool costs are office overhead unless the client agreed in writing.
- Do not connect an AI tool to firm email, files or calendar yourself. Ask first.
- Everyone attends the staff session before first use (new staff before they get access), and again every six months or when a tool changes.
If something goes wrong
- If you pasted something you should not have, or a wrong AI answer reached a client or a court, tell the managing attorney the same day. It is a reportable mistake, not a punishable one.
- Do not delete the chat; note the tool, the time and what was entered. The managing attorney decides whether the client, the vendor (to request deletion) and the firm’s insurer must be told, and keeps a record.
Who to ask
| Question | Ask |
|---|---|
| Can I use AI for this task? | Managing attorney |
| A tool is not working or asks me to sign in | Office manager |
| I think client data was exposed | Managing attorney, immediately |
Sample policy for a fictional firm, not legal advice. A real firm should have its counsel review it against its professional-conduct rules, engagement letters and insurer’s requirements. Reviewed together at the staff session; revisit every six months.
Based on: ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024); Virginia State Bar Legal Ethics Opinion 1901 on fees and generative AI (Nov. 2025); Florida Bar Opinion 24-1; California State Bar practical guidance on generative AI; NYC Bar Formal Opinion 2024-5; NIST AI Risk Management Framework and Generative AI Profile (AI 600-1).