AI for solicitors: four workflows that keep you in charge

AI for law firms: four jobs worth starting with

These are examples for a scoped pilot, not claims about completed law-firm projects. Each supports preparation while legal judgement stays with the firm. The final workflow depends on the systems, permissions and checks agreed with your team.

1. Client intake and enquiry triage

Enquiries come in by web form, email and voicemail, some of them after hours. A proposed triage workflow could prepare a summary in your inbox or case management queue. It pulls out names, dates and the other side, suggests a department, lists what is missing and drafts an acknowledgement for a person to send. It also prepares the names for your conflict search.

Picture a probate enquiry sent at 9pm. By morning it sits in the private client queue, marked “missing: date of death, whether there is a will”.

Stays with a person: whether you act, the conflict check itself and client due diligence. Set an urgent route to a fee earner for potential court dates or limitation issues, and test how missed or ambiguous information is handled. AI triage must not become the only way urgent matters are noticed.

2. Document review support

AI can produce a first pass on a file: a dated chronology, a list of parties, a comparison of a returned draft against your version, or the clauses that depart from your checklist. Require a source reference for each material assertion, and flag anything that cannot be supported. Check references as well as the summary: a plausible page number is not proof that the source says it. Our guide to testing an AI matter-preparation workflow sets out a fuller test plan.

Stays with a person: checking the source before anything is used in advice, a letter or a court filing.

3. Time recording

If your fee earners rebuild the week from memory on a Friday afternoon, time goes unrecorded. A time capture workflow drafts narratives from calendar entries, sent emails, call notes and documents saved against each matter number. The fee earner approves, edits or deletes each entry.

If Copilot summarises your Teams meetings, our Microsoft Copilot training teaches people to treat that summary as a draft, not the attendance note of record.

Stays with a person: posting time to a client ledger.

4. Precedent and know-how search

A search assistant can answer a request such as “show me our last three commercial lease renewals with a break clause” and link to the source documents.

Permissions decide what it can see. Microsoft says Copilot only shows a user the organisation’s data that the user already has at least view permission for. If a matter folder is shared too widely, its contents can turn up in the wrong person’s answers. Review matter permissions first with whoever runs your IT. Our Copilot training covers what a user can access and why oversharing matters.

Stays with a person: case law and statute. Every authority is checked against an authoritative source before use.

What the regulators say about AI for solicitors

This is a summary of published guidance. Your firm remains responsible for applying its professional duties to a proposed workflow.

England and Wales: the SRA

The SRA’s 17 August 2026 warning notice on misuse of AI highlights false information in court documents and risks to client confidentiality. It says that using AI does not transfer the professional’s responsibility for the work.

A paid subscription does not automatically provide suitable safeguards. Firms should check the contractual, technical and organisational arrangements for the information they intend to use. Supervisors remain responsible for effective oversight, and authorities cited in legal submissions must be checked against genuine sources.

Bring the compliance lead into scoping. The SRA’s compliance tips also encourage firms to review whether their existing technology already meets the need before buying more.

Northern Ireland: the Law Society of Northern Ireland

The Law Society’s Guidance on the Responsible Use of AI applies to solicitors in Northern Ireland. It emphasises protecting confidential and privileged information, maintaining control over tools, checking outputs and keeping responsibility for the final work with the solicitor.

The guidance advises against putting confidential information into an AI system the firm does not directly manage, warns about privileged material in insecure systems and addresses correcting inaccurate material submitted to a court. Your compliance lead should review the guidance before a pilot uses live files.

Firms practising in other jurisdictions should check their own regulator’s requirements. Where a firm is regulated in more than one jurisdiction, assess all applicable duties.

Data protection

Map the personal information a workflow will use, who can access it and which suppliers process it. Assess whether the processing is likely to create a high risk to people and therefore requires a data protection impact assessment. Record the reasoning even where you decide a DPIA is not required. The ICO’s AI guidance is under review following legislative changes, so check the current position.

The project scope should include documentation of those data flows. Confirm the parties’ data-protection roles and any required contractual terms before connecting live client information. Our AI policy template provides a starting point for firm-specific rules; it needs review and adaptation before adoption.

AI tools for solicitors: what we set up and what we avoid

We start with what the firm already pays for. Check existing features before buying another tool.

• Microsoft 365 Copilot, if the firm runs on Microsoft 365. Microsoft states that prompts, responses and data accessed through Microsoft Graph in its business Copilot are not used to train its foundation models.
• ChatGPT or Claude on a business plan whose data terms the firm has checked.
• Power Automate for the hand-offs: moving an enquiry into the right queue, sending a reminder, asking a fee earner to approve a time entry.

A pilot should exclude personal logins and any tool whose data handling the firm has not assessed and approved. Naming a tool here does not mean its maker endorses or partners with us.

What we will not automate

• Advice sent to a client without a solicitor reading it.
• Anything filed with, or sent to, a court.
• Conflict decisions and client due diligence decisions.
• Limitation or court dates taken from a date the system inferred.
• Settlement offers and anything that touches client money.

How a first project runs at a law firm

1. A free 15-minute call. Tell us the matter type, your systems and the step that costs the most fee-earner time.
2. Agree the scope. A fixed-price AI audit for £750 that ranks opportunities and risks, or a written scope for one workflow. Not sure you are ready? See our AI readiness assessment.
3. Test on a fictional matter. We test on a made-up matter or an approved, sanitised document set, with awkward cases such as an undated note, before any live file is connected.
4. Pilot with one team. We record the time to produce and check each output, and every correction.
5. Hand over. Documentation and practical training to use, check, pause and maintain the system. More on our AI implementation services.

What it costs

• First call: free, 15 minutes, no obligation.
• AI audit: £750 fixed. Ranked opportunities, risks and a written plan that is yours, whoever builds it.
• Builds and training: quoted after we agree a written scope.
• Managed AI: from £250 a month, plus a one-off setup fee from £1,750.

Software and licence costs are extra. Prices are in sterling and your quote confirms VAT and payment. See our prices page.

Who you would work with

Blue Canvas AI Ltd is registered in Northern Ireland (company number NI737502). Phil Patterson, founder and director, has helped teams adopt AI since 2022. Davy Anthony, our AI Implementation Consultant, builds the workflows. We are not a law firm and do not give legal advice. More about the team.

One public example of our training work is VetIMPRESS / Farmvet Systems, where the engagement covered five functions, including finance and administration. It is a veterinary software business, so this demonstrates cross-team training rather than law-firm implementation experience.

Bring us one matter type and one bottleneck

Tell us which matter type to start with and where the fee-earner hours go. If a better precedent or a cleaner process would do more than AI, we will say so.

Book a free 15-minute call

FAQ

Can solicitors put client information into ChatGPT?

Only after the firm has assessed the proposed use and approved the safeguards. The SRA warns that both paid and free tools may lack appropriate protections. Law Society NI guidance also cautions against giving confidential information to an AI system outside the firm’s control. A paid business account alone is not sufficient justification.

Does the SRA allow law firms to use AI?

Yes. The SRA describes its regulation as outcomes-focused, so firms are free to use AI tools provided they meet its standards. Its August 2026 warning notice makes clear that the solicitor remains responsible for the work.

Our firm is in Northern Ireland. Does SRA guidance apply to us?

Only where the SRA also regulates you or your firm. Solicitors in Northern Ireland are regulated by the Law Society of Northern Ireland under the Solicitors (Northern Ireland) Order 1976, and it has published its own Guidance on the Responsible Use of AI. Its main points are close to the SRA’s: protect confidentiality and privilege, check every output and keep the solicitor responsible. If you are regulated in both jurisdictions, check both.

Will AI replace our trainees or paralegals?

That is not what we build. The workflows on this page draft, sort and search, and people check the output. The SRA Code says supervisors remain accountable for the work of the people they manage. We do not promise staff cuts, and we would be wary of anyone who does.

Do we need Microsoft 365 Copilot licences?

Not to start. Some workflows use Copilot, while others use Power Automate, ChatGPT or Claude. If Copilot is an option, we confirm licences and access before planning any training exercises.

How much does it cost to start?

The first 15-minute call is free. Our AI audit is a fixed £750. Builds and training are quoted after we agree a written scope. Managed AI starts at £250 a month plus a one-off setup fee from £1,750. Software and licence costs are separate.