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How Lawyers Use ChatGPT

 

1. Contract review. Most medium to large firms already use AI-enabled tools to help with the contract review ‘grunt work’ of due diligence, but GPT-powered tools could take this to the next level. The costs and time associated with due diligence and contract review could be significantly reduced. 

  

  

2. Summarizing texts with clarity. Not only can ChatGPT save you time in summarizing texts, documents, court cases, and clauses in legal documents. It goes a step further in explaining the text in layman’s terms. Or how about the fact that it can provide you with the legal reasoning of a case? This tool is great for law students studying for the bar exam or practicing lawyers when a client asks you to explain something in simpler terms, and even for legal research purposes.  

  

3. Drafting emails. You can use ChatGPT to draft simple emails like requesting to set up meetings, requesting status updates, and asking colleagues when you can expect comments on documents. Now, this does not remove your duty of proofreading the emails. So ChatGPT still has room for improvement.  ChatGPT can save you a lot of time drafting admin emails.  

  

  

4. Suggest changes to the tone of your emails. Not only does ChatGPT assist in drafting emails. It can also assist in checking the tone of your emails. Grammarly for the most part helps with ‘tone testing’ when drafting. ChatGPT has the same capabilities.  

  

  
5. Prepare agendas for client or company meetings. This is gold. ChatGPT can anticipate what you would likely discuss in the meeting and the general structure of the meeting. Saving time in drafting the agenda and shortening meeting times.  

  

  

6. Drafting documents/agreements. ChatGPT can be used to draft various documents like contracts, briefs, etc. Before drafting anything, you should plan, and you can use ChatGPT to assist in your initial drafting and research.    
  

  

7. Provide counterarguments like opposing counsel. ChatGPT can help you prepare for trial and negotiations by providing counter-arguments for litigation or negotiations. Counterarguments you may not have thought about.    

  

  

We still have a long way to go till we replace lawyers. I doubt we ever will, and it seems that if AI is threatening any legal jobs it would have to be the jobs done by junior lawyers and legal assistants; as most of their work is repetitive and admin-related. While this sounds great for experienced lawyers, I wonder what will happen to legal secretaries. Well. At least junior lawyers won’t have to spend two years of their training doing tedious repetitive tasks.