9 Best ChatGPT Prompts for Legal Professionals

Crafting effective prompts is essential for leveraging ChatGPT's full potential. Poorly written prompts can lead to generic or irrelevant outputs, while clear and concise instructions produce accurate, relevant, and legally sound results.

Practical Use Cases of ChatGPT for Lawyers

ChatGPT enhances legal workflows by improving efficiency and accuracy in various tasks. Lawyers can leverage it for research, contract drafting, contract review, and client communication. From summarising case law to drafting basic legal documents, ChatGPT assists in multiple domains.

Some practical use cases of ChatGPT for legal professionals:

• Legal Research and Case Analysis: Summarize case law, analyse statutory provisions, or identify relevant precedents.

• Drafting Legal Documents: Create contracts, policies, and agreements tailored to specific legal needs.

• Contract Review: Highlight risks, inconsistencies, and missing clauses in complex contracts.

• Client Communication: Simplify legal jargon and draft clear emails, summaries, or reports.

• Litigation Support: Assists in drafting motions, preparing legal arguments, and summarising depositions.

• Compliance and Due Diligence: Analyses regulations and helps identify potential compliance risks.

How Prompts Address These Use Cases

For instance, using a prompt like “Summarise GDPR compliance requirements for vendor contracts” helps lawyers quickly produce actionable insights. Similarly, a prompt for drafting NDAs ensures outputs are tailored to specific legal contexts, saving time and reducing errors.

Prompts for Legal Research and Writing

ChatGPT simplifies legal research by summarising cases, analysing statutes, and finding precedents. It also assists in drafting memos, arguments, and other legal writing tasks with tailored prompts.

Example Prompt for Case Summaries

Prompt: “Summarise the key facts, issues, decisions, and precedents in the case Brown v. Board of Education. Present the output in bullet points.”

Result: A concise summary highlighting the significance of the ruling, its impact on desegregation, and its place in civil rights law.

Example Prompt for Statutory Analysis

Prompt: “Analyse Article 15 of GDPR. Summarise the right of access for data subjects, and provide examples of recent enforcement cases.”

Result: ChatGPT delivers a breakdown of Article 15, explaining key aspects like data subject rights and referencing relevant case studies.

Example Prompt for Writing a Legal Memo

Prompt: “Draft a memo addressing whether an employer can terminate an employee in Sweden without providing notice. Include references to the Employment Protection Act.”

Result: A structured memo summarising legal requirements and applicable case law under Swedish employment regulations.

Prompts for Drafting Legal Documents

ChatGPT aids in drafting contracts, policies, and agreements by producing clear, structured outputs tailored to specific requirements.

Example Prompt for Contract Drafting

Prompt: “Draft a non-disclosure agreement under English law. Include clauses on confidentiality, a two-year term, and penalties for breaches in plain language.”

Result: A professional NDA draft ready for review, ensuring compliance with specified requirements.

Example Prompt for Policy Writing

Prompt: “Create a data retention policy for a technology company. Include compliance with GDPR and specify retention periods for financial and personal data.”

Result: A clear and actionable policy document aligned with GDPR and industry standards.

Prompts for Contract Review

ChatGPT assists in identifying risks, inconsistencies, and missing clauses during contract review. Tailored prompts improve the accuracy of outputs.

Example Prompt for Clause Identification

Prompt: “Identify and summarise the governing law, force majeure, and liability clauses in this contract. Provide a 100-word summary for each clause.”

Result: A detailed summary highlighting critical legal terms and their implications.

Example Prompt for Risk Assessment

Prompt: “Highlight risks in this service agreement related to termination clauses and penalty fees. Suggest two mitigation strategies for each identified risk.”

Result: ChatGPT identifies specific risks and offers actionable strategies for addressing them.

Prompts for Client Communication

ChatGPT simplifies legal jargon and crafts clear client communications. Structured prompts enable tailored emails, summaries, and reports.

Example Prompt for Simplifying Legal Jargon

Prompt: “Rewrite this liability clause in plain English for a client. Ensure clarity while retaining the clause’s legal intent.”

Result: A simplified explanation of the clause, ensuring client understanding without compromising accuracy.

Example Prompt for Drafting Client Emails

Prompt: “Draft an email summarising this contract for the CFO. Include a brief introduction, a 75-word summary of the terms, and 50 words each on payment terms and termination conditions.”

Result: A professional, concise email tailored to the recipient’s needs.

Limitations and Alternative Solutions

ChatGPT is a powerful tool, but it has limitations. Its lack of real-time access to jurisdiction-specific laws and nuanced understanding of legal complexities may result in inaccuracies. Always review AI-generated content to ensure compliance and correctness.

For tasks requiring deep legal expertise, tools like Pocketlaw CLM provide tailored solutions for contract drafting, compliance checks, and legal reviews. Pocketlaw's tools complement ChatGPT by addressing its limitations, ensuring outputs are jurisdiction-specific and highly reliable.

Further reading: How to Write Legal AI Prompts