Prompts for the Lawyer
AI prompts for lawyers and legal teams: drafting clauses, plain-language summaries, issue spotting, and client communication. Drafting aids, not legal advice.
For lawyers, AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are best understood as fast drafting and research aids — not a source of legal advice and never a substitute for your professional judgment. Where they help is the blank-page problem: producing a clean first draft of a clause, a plain-language summary of a redline, or an issue-spotting pass that you then review, correct, and own. The work product is yours; the AI just gets you off zero faster.
This collection reflects that drafting-aid framing deliberately. There are first-draft NDAs, MSA core clauses, and consulting agreements — each with flagged assumptions and an explicit attorney-review reminder. There's contract risk-spotting that prioritizes one-sided terms by severity, demand and cease-and-desist letters drafted without fabricated citations, lease-clause review from one party's perspective, and redline explanations that classify each change and suggest counters.
Prompting well matters here in a way it doesn't elsewhere: the output carries real consequences if it's wrong. Specific, well-scoped prompts produce drafts that are genuinely useful to refine. But every draft needs verification against current law and your facts, and no privileged or client-confidential information should ever go into a public AI tool.
What makes a good prompt for a lawyer
A strong legal prompt is narrowly scoped and explicit about what it doesn't know. Tell the AI the governing jurisdiction, the party you represent, and the deal's specifics, and ask it to flag every assumption it makes and every fact that needs verifying. The good prompts in this set bake that in — flagged assumptions, no fabricated citations, an attorney-review note — because a draft that announces its own gaps is far safer to work from than one that sounds finished and isn't.
It's equally about what you withhold. Never feed privileged communications, client identities, or confidential deal terms into a public tool; work from a generic version and add the sensitive specifics yourself. And treat any citation, statute reference, or jurisdictional claim as unverified until you've checked it against an authoritative source.
Get sharper results
- 01Never enter privileged communications, client names, or confidential deal terms into a public AI tool — draft from a generic, anonymized version and add the sensitive specifics yourself after.
- 02Treat every statute, case citation, or jurisdictional claim the AI produces as unverified; AI is known to fabricate authority, so check each reference against a primary source before it leaves your desk.
- 03Ask the AI to flag its assumptions and the facts that need verifying, then work through that list deliberately — a draft that surfaces its own gaps is far safer than one that reads as finished.
- 04Use risk-spotting prompts to prioritize one-sided terms by severity, but apply your own judgment on which ones actually matter for this client and this deal rather than accepting the AI's ranking wholesale.
Common questions
Is it safe to use AI for legal drafting?
As a drafting aid, yes, with care. AI can produce useful first drafts and plain-language explanations, but the output is not legal advice and must be reviewed against current law and your facts. You remain responsible for the final work product. Never paste privileged or client-confidential information into a public tool.
Can I trust the citations and legal references AI gives me?
No — verify every one. AI tools are known to fabricate case names, citations, and statutory references that look entirely real. The drafting prompts here are deliberately built to avoid invented citations, but you must still check any authority against a primary, authoritative source before relying on it.
How should I handle confidential client information with these tools?
Keep it out of public AI tools entirely. Work from a generic or anonymized version of the document, let the AI handle structure and language, and add client names, privileged facts, and confidential terms yourself afterward. Your confidentiality and privilege obligations don't bend for convenience.
Draft a Mutual NDA First Draft With Standard Clauses
Produces a clean first-draft mutual NDA with standard clauses, flagged assumptions, and an attorney-review reminder.
Draft Core Clauses for a Master Services Agreement
Generates first-draft MSA core clauses with consistent defined terms, flagged assumptions, and a counsel-review note.
Draft Independent Consulting Agreement Clauses
Creates first-draft consulting agreement clauses covering contractor status, IP, and termination with flagged risks.
Spot Risky and One-Sided Terms in a Contract
Scans a contract for one-sided or high-risk terms and proposes fairer alternatives, prioritized by severity.
Draft a Demand or Notice Letter for a Dispute
Drafts a professional demand or notice letter stating facts, remedy, and deadline, with flagged assumptions.
Draft a Starter Privacy Policy and Terms of Service
Produces a starter privacy policy and terms of service draft with placeholders and flags for regional legal tailoring.
Draft a Cease-and-Desist Letter First Draft
Drafts a firm first-draft cease-and-desist letter without fabricated citations, with flagged facts to verify.
Review Commercial or Residential Lease Clauses
Explains and flags key lease clauses from one party's perspective, with negotiation questions and a review note.
Draft Key Clauses for an Employment Offer Letter
Drafts core employment offer clauses including comp, status, and IP, with flags for jurisdiction-specific rules.
Explain Contract Redlines and Their Practical Impact
Explains each contract redline in plain language, classifies changes, and suggests counters with a counsel-review note.