The paralegal's work is where AI helps most and where the risks are sharpest. Summarizing a 300-page medical record, building a chronology from a box of emails, drafting a first set of interrogatories from a template, turning a deposition transcript into a topic index: hours-long tasks a capable model can rough out in minutes, leaving you to check and refine.
The risk starts with confidentiality. Client documents are protected by attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine, and the firm's duties under the professional conduct rules extend to every tool you use. Consumer chatbots that may retain or train on inputs are not the place for client material unless the firm has vetted the tool and its terms.
Then there is the citation problem. Models produce case names, reporters, and pin cites that do not exist, and lawyers have been sanctioned for filing them. Everything you draft still goes to a supervising attorney, and nothing AI produces moves the line between paralegal support and the practice of law.
Quick wins this week
- Paste a deposition transcript (in a firm-approved tool) and ask for a topic index with page and line references, then spot-check ten entries against the transcript.
- Turn a set of dated emails or records into a chronology table with date, event, source document, and a note on relevance.
- Give the assistant your standard interrogatory template and a fictional fact pattern and ask for a tailored first draft to bring to the attorney.
- Paste a court's local rules and ask for a filing checklist formatted as a table with the rule number for each requirement.
What AI can do for paralegals, task by task
Document review and summarization
In a firm-approved tool, upload the document set and ask for summaries at a set length, key facts, parties, dates, and any references to issues you name. Ask for page citations and check a sample against the source. Models skip sections of long documents and merge facts across documents; a summary is a map, not the territory.
Chronologies and case timelines
Paste records or their summaries and ask for a timeline table: date, event, source document with page, and open questions. Ask it to mark any date it inferred rather than found. Verify every entry against the source before the attorney relies on it; one wrong date can mislead an entire strategy session.
Medical record chronologies in injury and malpractice matters
Medical records carry privilege concerns and, depending on how the firm obtained them, obligations under client authorizations and HIPAA-related agreements. Use only tools the firm has approved for that material. Ask for a chronology by provider and date, diagnoses and procedures with page cites, and gaps in treatment. Check every entry; models misread handwriting and abbreviations.
Drafting discovery and routine documents from templates
Provide the firm's template, the case facts, and the applicable rules, and ask for a first draft of interrogatories, requests for production, deposition notices, or subpoenas. Ask it to keep the template's numbering and definitions and to list anything it changed. Verify rule citations and limits against the current rules; the supervising attorney reviews and signs.
Cite-checking and citation formatting
Use the assistant to check Bluebook or local citation format, flag inconsistent short forms, and build a table of authorities. Do not use it to find or confirm authorities. Every case, statute, and regulation gets pulled in Westlaw or Lexis, read, and checked for subsequent history with KeyCite or Shepard's. A model-generated citation is unverified until you have the document open.
Court rules, filing checklists, and deadlines
Paste the relevant local rules or standing order and ask for a filing checklist with the rule number for each requirement, formatting rules, and service requirements. Compute deadlines yourself with the firm's docketing system and the rules' counting method; models miscount days, holidays, and service extensions.
Prompts for paralegals
Replace the bracketed placeholders, paste into any chat assistant, and iterate on the result.
Deposition transcript topic index
Act as a litigation paralegal preparing a deposition digest. From the transcript below, produce: (1) a topic index listing every subject discussed, with page and line ranges; (2) every exhibit referenced with the page where it was introduced; (3) all admissions or statements relevant to [KEY ISSUES]; (4) any testimony that conflicts with these known facts: [KNOWN FACTS OR PRIOR STATEMENTS]. Quote testimony verbatim with page and line. Do not paraphrase in a way that changes meaning, and do not draw legal conclusions. Transcript: [PASTE TRANSCRIPT]
Tip: Run this only in a tool your firm has approved for client material. Spot-check citations before the digest goes to the attorney.
Chronology from records
You are a paralegal building a case chronology. From the documents below, create a table with columns: Date, Event, Source (document name and page), Persons involved, Notes. Sort by date. If a date is inferred rather than stated, mark it 'inferred' and explain. If two documents conflict on a date or fact, list both entries and flag the conflict. Do not add events that are not in the documents. After the table, list gaps in the record longer than [GAP LENGTH] and any documents referenced but not included. Documents: [PASTE DOCUMENTS OR SUMMARIES]
Tip: The conflict-flagging rule is the most useful line here. Verify every entry against the source before use.
Discovery requests from a template
Act as a paralegal drafting discovery for attorney review. Using our template and the facts below, draft [DOCUMENT TYPE, FOR EXAMPLE INTERROGATORIES OR REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION] in [JURISDICTION] under [APPLICABLE RULES]. Keep the template's definitions, instructions, and numbering, tailor each request to the facts and claims listed, and stay within [LIMIT] requests. At the end, list every place you departed from the template and any rule citation I need to verify. Template: [PASTE TEMPLATE] Facts and claims: [PASTE CASE SUMMARY, CLIENT IDENTIFIERS REMOVED IF NOT IN AN APPROVED TOOL]
Tip: Verify the request limits and rule citations against the current rules. The attorney reviews and signs, always.
Filing checklist from local rules
You are a paralegal preparing a filing in [COURT]. Using only the rules text below, build a filing checklist as a table: requirement, rule number, and how we satisfy it. Cover formatting (page limits, font, margins, spacing), required sections and certificates, exhibits and appendices, electronic filing requirements, and service. Do not add requirements from general knowledge; if something common is not in the text, list it under 'not addressed in provided rules'. Do not calculate deadlines. Rules text: [PASTE THE LOCAL RULES OR STANDING ORDER]
Tip: Deadlines come from your docketing system and the rules' counting method, never from the model.
Plain-English client status letter
Draft a client status letter from a paralegal on behalf of [ATTORNEY NAME], for attorney review before sending. Matter: [MATTER TYPE, NO CLIENT NAME IF NOT IN AN APPROVED TOOL]. What has happened since the last update: [EVENTS]. What happens next and when: [NEXT STEPS AND DATES]. What we need from the client: [REQUESTS]. Clear, calm, plain English, with any legal term followed by a short explanation. Under 250 words. Do not include legal advice, predictions about outcome, or opinions on the merits; state facts and process only.
Tip: Read for anything that sounds like advice or a prediction, and cut it. The attorney signs off before it goes out.
Want a prompt for something else? Use the Prompt Builder.
Skills to build
Knowing which tool is approved for which material
Why: Client documents, privileged communications, and work product have different handling rules, and firms increasingly specify which AI tools are cleared for which.
How: Get the firm's AI policy in writing. Keep a simple list: tool, approved for client material yes or no, notes. Ask before you paste, every time it is unclear.
Verifying citations as a discipline
Why: Fake citations have led to sanctions, and the paralegal who catches one before filing is worth a great deal to the firm.
How: Every case, statute, and regulation gets pulled in Westlaw or Lexis, read, and checked for subsequent history. Keep a log of hallucinated citations you catch; it makes the case for the workflow.
Prompting with the template and the constraints
Why: The model does its best work when it has your firm's format, the applicable rules, and clear limits. Without them it invents structure.
How: Build a folder of prompt-ready templates: discovery sets, chronology tables, digest formats. Paste the template first, then the facts, then the rules.
Reading summaries against the source
Why: Summaries look complete and are not. The dangerous errors are omissions and facts merged from different documents.
How: For every summary, check a sample of entries against the source and read any section the model calls unremarkable. Ask for page citations for every point so checking is fast.
Staying inside the paralegal role
Why: AI makes it easy to produce something that looks like legal analysis. Delivering it to a client without attorney review is unauthorized practice, and the tool does not change that.
How: Keep the workflow explicit: AI drafts, you check, the attorney reviews and signs. When a client asks a question the model could answer, route it to the attorney.
Tools worth knowing
Claude
A careful writing and analysis assistant that shines on long documents.
ChatGPT
The general-purpose AI assistant most of your coworkers already use.
Microsoft Copilot
AI inside Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams, with your company's data protections.
NotebookLM
A research notebook that only answers from the sources you give it, with citations.
Grammarly
The writing checker that now drafts, rewrites, and reviews wherever you type.
Cautions for paralegals
Client information is protected by attorney-client privilege, the work-product doctrine, and the confidentiality duty in Model Rule 1.6, which supervising attorneys must extend to you. Never paste confidential client data into a consumer AI tool unless your firm has approved that tool for that use. Check whether a tool retains or trains on inputs, and prefer legal-specific platforms or enterprise tools inside the firm's own environment.
Models fabricate case names, citations, holdings, and quotations, and courts have sanctioned lawyers for filing them, starting with Mata v. Avianca in 2023. Verify every cited authority in Westlaw or Lexis, read it, and check its subsequent history. Treat any citation you did not verify yourself as unverified.
AI output that reads like legal advice does not make it appropriate for a paralegal to deliver. All substantive work goes through a supervising attorney, and client questions about their rights or strategy go to the attorney, not to you and not to a chatbot.
A growing number of judges have standing orders requiring disclosure or certification when generative AI is used in filings, and bar associations have issued their own guidance. Check the judge's standing orders and local rules on every matter and keep a record of what AI was used for.
Models miscount days and misapply holiday and service rules, so every deadline is computed in the firm's docketing system. When AI helps with redactions or document assembly, check metadata and hidden layers before anything is produced or filed.
Your 30-day plan
- Week 1: Get the firm's AI policy and the list of approved tools. If none exists, ask the supervising attorney what is allowed. Use an approved tool daily for non-client tasks: emails, checklists, formatting.
- Week 2: Run one transcript index or document summary in an approved tool and check it against the source. Log every error you find.
- Week 3: Build one chronology and one discovery draft from a template. Time both against your usual process and have the attorney review them.
- Week 4: Practice the citation workflow: draft, extract every authority, verify each in Westlaw or Lexis, check subsequent history. Build the filing checklist for your next filing from the local rules.
- End of month: Present to the attorney or practice group what saved time, what errors you caught, and a proposed workflow with review steps.
Frequently asked questions
Will AI replace paralegals?
Can paralegals use ChatGPT for client work?
How do I verify AI legal citations?
Which AI tools are made for legal work?
Terms used on this page
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