iChatGPT is one of the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools making waves among techies and business owners alike.
Not only is ChatGPT based on one of the most robust databases to date, but it also provides a treasure trove of use cases – from answering questions and writing content to generating complex code and beyond. ChatGPT is helping businesses streamline their operations, answer customer queries, create marketing collateral, and so much more.
Many of these applications translate to the legal industry as well, allowing law firms to create marketing content, draft proposals, respond to client questions, and generate documents. In fact, there are many creative ways lawyers can use ChatGPT’s AI technology to level up their businesses and even attract new clients.
In this guide, we provide 10 of the most useful ChatGPT prompts lawyers can use to save time, generate leads, and provide better service to their clients.
Why use ChatGPT?
ChatGPT was built on an extensive database of information and advanced machine learning technology in order to understand user inquiries and generate human-like responses. It’s equipped to respond to a wide range of questions and prompts, spanning everything from pet care and poetry to neuroscience and nuclear physics.
While ChatGPT has near-endless applications, it is particularly helpful to businesses that are looking to streamline their internal processes and save time and money on their marketing. For legal professionals in particular, ChatGPT can help you stay updated on legal developments, improve law firm SEO, and enhance your client services.
Below are 10 ChatGPT prompts you can use to improve your law firm business
1. ChatGPT as your legal research assistant
Prompt: “Act like a legal research assistant. Summarize the meaning of [topic, case law, etc.] and provide an example.”
ChatGPT leans on its robust database to answer questions, provide information, and surface reference materials in response to user prompts. With that, lawyers can essentially use ChatGPT as their personal research assistant to uncover information regarding a range of legal topics.
ChatGPT’s outputs can be helpful for your own reference, for answering client questions, or for adding content to your website. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to summarize the meaning of “Probate Law” for your service page or explain how the divorce filing process works in Washington state.
2. Draft legal documents in seconds
Prompt: “Generate a first draft of a contract for a [type of business transaction], including standard clauses."
We all know that drafting contracts can be one of the most time-consuming parts of running a legal business. Fortunately, ChatGPT can make creating contracts so much faster – assuming you have the right prompt!
Below is an example output of ChatGPT creating a contract for a business acquisition agreement:
3. Generate SEO blog post ideas
Prompt: "Suggest topics and key points for our next blog post on [area of law]."
Not sure what to publish on your blog? ChatGPT can help with that!
Blogging can help improve your law firm’s SEO and drive more traffic to your website. But the success of your blogging efforts depends on you coming up with engaging topics and crafting helpful, informative content.
You can use ChatGPT to generate a list of blog post ideas related to your niche or area of law. You can even ask ChatGPT to create an outline of a blog post based on one of the topics. That way, you’ll never run out of interesting blog post ideas!
4. Write social media marketing copy
Prompt: "Please create engaging social media copy for our law firm's upcoming post regarding [topic]. The post will aim to educate our audience on [benefit] and [benefit]. The copy should be informative, concise, and suitable for sharing on platforms like Facebook and Twitter."
Writing social media posts can be another stumper for law firms, especially when it comes to complex legal topics. ChatGPT can help you craft copy for nearly any social media platform, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Simply provide ChatGPT with the target topic, the points or benefits you want to highlight, and a quick description of your business. You can even advise ChatGPT about tone if you want your post to be funny, quirky, professional, serious, etc.
5. Create client communication templates
Prompt: "Create a template for a client update email regarding the status of their case in [case name]."
How many times have you had to send a nearly identical email to a client? Instead of writing this email from scratch, you could use ChatGPT to create templates for your most common emails and responses.
ChatGPT can create templates for new client outreach emails, lead follow-up emails, invoice reminders, newsletters, and more. Having these templates ready to go can save you time in the future and ensures that all of your communications follow a similar format.
6. Create training materials
Prompt: "Create a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) document instructing [role] on how to [achieve result].”
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are a form of training materials that can be used to teach team members how to accomplish certain tasks, use tools, file documents, etc. ChatGPT can whip up SOPs in a matter of seconds, saving you tons of time compared to creating your own training materials.
For example, you could ask ChatGPT to create an SOP instructing a new receptionist on how to use your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. Or, it could create an SOP for a legal assistant on what materials to send to new clients during onboarding.
7. Write FAQs for your website
Prompt: "Compile a list of frequently asked questions for our website's 'FAQ' section regarding [area of law]."
Chances are, you field a lot of the same questions from new and existing clients. These frequently asked questions (FAQs) would make up a great page on your website, directing users to helpful resources.
ChatGPT can generate a list of questions and corresponding questions related to a particular topic or area of law. While you will want to review this content for accuracy, it can be helpful context to include on your website, in blog posts, and in marketing materials.
8. Generate an email newsletter
Prompt: “Write an email newsletter for a [practice area] law firm. Include placeholders summarizing and linking to our latest blog article and newly published case study. Include a call-to-action to [desired action].”
Email newsletters are great for keeping clients and subscribers informed about office updates, new blog posts, recent case studies, and other types of important information. But writing these monthly emails can feel like a chore. Fortunately, ChatGPT can make this process way easier.
When submitting a prompt to ChatGPT, be sure to include details about the references you plan to include in the email (e.g. the title of your latest blog post, events you want to highlight, etc.). That way, the newsletter will be more relevant to your business and will include placeholders for you to add links to the corresponding blog posts, events, etc.
9. Create client intake forms
Prompt: "Create a comprehensive client intake form template for different practice areas, including questions and information needed."
Client intake is where a lot of law firms miss important details, making it difficult to follow up with potential clients. Having a well-defined client intake process will ensure you collect all the important information you need to connect with new leads and/or schedule a consultation.
ChatGPT can help you create a form template that your team can use to take down new client information. You can suggest required fields or ChatGPT can make suggestions for you. For example, you can specify that you want the form to include the client’s name, phone number, email address, reason for calling, etc.
10. Develop case strategy for trial
Prompt: "Assist in developing a strategic approach for our upcoming trial in [case type] by analyzing key arguments and potential pitfalls."
Even the best attorneys need a little help strategizing from time to time. Considering how much information is needed to build a case, there’s no shame in asking for a little help. In fact, ChatGPT can do a lot of the heavy lifting for you when it comes to building your case strategy.
Of course, the more detail you provide to ChatGPT the better, as it can’t build your entire case only based on a broad topic. But it can provide suggested talking points, pitfalls, examples, and more.
Lawyers Share How They Use ChatGPT in Their Businesses
Many attorneys are using ChatGPT to support their business processes, level up their marketing, and provide better service to their clients. While there are limitations, ChatGPT is quickly becoming a helpful tool to law firms far and wide.
We asked these lawyers how they are using ChatGPT in their businesses:
"We are using ChatGPT to draft some articles, but are also being hyper-diligent in reviewing said articles for accuracy. It is a nice tool that we do see helping us produce more content at a faster rate; however, it does have significant limitations." – Jim Parrish, The Parrish Law Firm
"In our business, we employ ChatGPT as an initial drafting tool for presentations, talks, and research. This allows us to quickly establish a foundational structure and content, which we then refine and customize, ensuring a seamless blend of AI efficiency with human touch." – Ryan McKeen, Connecticut Trial Firm
"At Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, we've harnessed ChatGPT to answer client inquiries and provide quick and accurate information. Through ChatGPT, we've enhanced client engagement while optimizing operational efficiency." – Seth Bader, Bader Scott
"We’ve used ChatGPT to streamline HR tasks by generating job descriptions, KPIs, and career paths, while also enhancing marketing efforts with social media captions, content ideas, hashtags, and profile optimization. We’ve also used it with client communications and demand writing, saving time for nearly every role in the firm." – Kayla Grayson, Viles & Beckman
"Our office uses Chat GPT regularly. Currently, we are using Chat GPT for administrative tasks and not for actual legal work. The staff will utilize it to create emails, draft letters, and even come up with ideas for various projects. We have used it successfully for the launch of our new podcast “Let’s Get Personal”. We were able to create a guest questionnaire, letters to potential podcast guests, a sample podcast framework, and questions for the actual podcast and it has worked quite well. We continue to explore and try it for a variety of different tasks and I suspect its use will only continue to grow." – Chris DiBella, DiBella Law Offices
“Incorporating GPT into my law firm has revolutionized our case research and document drafting, enabling us to provide swift and informed responses to our clients. It's like having an extra pair of hands, helping us to be more efficient and focused in fighting for our clients' rights." – Digger Earles, Laborde Earles
"At Meyer Wilson, ChatGPT acts as a digital assistant. It drafts emails, tackles coding tasks, assists with Excel formulas, and swiftly analyzes vast amounts of data. It's like having a tech-savvy colleague ready to help at every turn." – David Meyer, Meyer Wilson
“At Fasig Brooks Law Firm, we recognize the value of leveraging technology to enhance our operations. ChatGPT has become an integral part of our business, enabling us to provide more efficient and responsive legal services. We incorporate ChatGPT into our operations by utilizing it for research, document drafting, and client communication, allowing our team to work more collaboratively and deliver exceptional service to our clients. Additionally, this new technology has been instrumental in expanding the capacity of our Marketing Department while avoiding the additional expense of hiring more staff. We rely on ChatGPT to plan content calendars, write scripts for short-form videos, aggregate target audience data, draft press releases, and more. Our law firm is more responsive and effective with this invaluable tool in our arsenal of resources.” – Catherine Register, Fasig | Brooks
"We use Chat GPT to summarize meeting transcripts to identify the key points of the meetings. ChatGPT helps our law clerks draft statements of fact and or argument in a more persuasive cohesive fashion. ChapGPT provides our law clerks with simplified explanations to answers concerning difficult theories of law." – Sandy Van, Van Law Firm
