What can AI automate for a Legal Assistant?

AI can help with: Summarizing long depositions, transcripts, and email threads; Drafting routine correspondence and standard form documents; Extracting dates and deadlines from contracts and orders; Organizing and tagging discovery documents by keyword; Building tables of authorities and proofreading citations.

What stays distinctly human for a Legal Assistant?

Still human: Verifying every fact, date, and citation against the source record; Maintaining client confidentiality and judgment on what to share; Communicating with clients, courts, and opposing counsel directly; Knowing local court rules, clerk preferences, and filing nuances; Flagging issues that need an attorney's legal judgment.

AI for Legal Assistant: tools, prompts, and how the role is changing

The shift

How AI is changing the Legal Assistant role

AI now handles many routine legal support tasks like summarizing long depositions, drafting standard correspondence, and pulling key dates from contracts. It can review discovery documents for relevant terms and prepare first drafts of pleadings or memos. This frees Legal Assistants to focus on case strategy support, client communication, and accuracy checks.

What AI can take off your plate

Summarizing long depositions, transcripts, and email threads
Drafting routine correspondence and standard form documents
Extracting dates and deadlines from contracts and orders
Organizing and tagging discovery documents by keyword
Building tables of authorities and proofreading citations

What stays distinctly human

Verifying every fact, date, and citation against the source record
Maintaining client confidentiality and judgment on what to share
Communicating with clients, courts, and opposing counsel directly
Knowing local court rules, clerk preferences, and filing nuances
Flagging issues that need an attorney's legal judgment

Tools

Five AI tools for Legal Assistants

Microsoft Copilot

A Legal Assistant uses it inside Word and Outlook to draft client emails, format pleadings, and summarize long email threads about a case.

ChatGPT

Use it to draft cover letters, summarize statutes in plain language, and create checklists for filing requirements in different courts.

Spellbook

A Legal Assistant uses this Word add-in to review and redline contract clauses and flag missing or unusual terms before an attorney reviews them.

Clearbrief

Use it to check that statements in a brief match the cited evidence and to build linked exhibits and tables of authorities.

CoCounsel (by Thomson Reuters)

A Legal Assistant uses it to summarize deposition transcripts, organize document review, and prepare timelines from case files.

Prompts

Five prompts to try today

Paste these into Claude or ChatGPT and replace the bracketed parts with your own details.

1. Summarize a deposition

Summarize this deposition transcript for an attorney. List key admissions, dates, names, and any contradictions. Note page and line numbers for each point. Transcript: [paste transcript]

2. Draft a client status letter

Draft a professional status update letter to a client named [client name] about their [case type] matter. Include recent developments: [list developments] and next steps: [list next steps]. Keep the tone clear and reassuring.

3. Build a filing checklist

Create a step-by-step filing checklist for a [document type] in [court name and jurisdiction]. Include formatting rules, required copies, deadlines, and filing fees if known.

4. Extract key dates from a contract

Read this contract and list all dates, deadlines, renewal terms, and notice periods in a table with the relevant clause number. Contract: [paste contract text]

5. Plain-language explanation

Explain this statute or rule in plain language for a client who is not a lawyer. Keep it under 200 words and note any deadlines or actions they must take. Text: [paste statute or rule]

A day in your inbox

This is the kind of brief a Legal Assistant gets, every weekday morning.

The Morning Current

Weekday morning

✦ Personalized for: Legal Assistant

Today's Tool

Summarize a deposition with CoCounsel

A Legal Assistant uploads a 200-page deposition transcript and asks CoCounsel to pull every admission and date with page and line citations. This turns a half-day reading task into a focused summary the attorney can scan in minutes.

Today's Prompt

The prompt to use

Paste this: Summarize this deposition transcript. List key admissions, dates, names, and contradictions with page and line numbers. Then list the three most important points for trial prep.

Today's Trick

Always verify the cites

AI summaries can misread page numbers or invent a quote, so spot-check each cited point against the actual transcript before passing the summary to the attorney.

AI for Legal Assistants