Like many folks, I’m intrigued by ChatGPT– the new and powerful AI #chatbot that was released to the public last week.

I took ChatGPT “out for a spin” and I was very impressed with its capabilities.

ChatGPT highlights the possibilities for AI to be used as a tool by lawyers to better serve clients and to free up time for lawyers to perform more high-impact work for clients.

Lawyers can develop and deploy chatbots to help quickly address common, routine and repetitive questions from their clients.

For example, in the screenshot below, I asked ChatGPT the following question that I have routinely received from my clients throughout my #inhouselegal career: “What are some best practices when sharing confidential information?”

Here was the response from ChatGPT: “When sharing confidential information, it’s important to make sure that the recipient is someone who has a need to know the information and is authorized to access it. Additionally, you should take steps to protect the confidentiality of the information, such as sending it securely (e.g., encrypted email) and not sharing it with anyone else without the proper authorization. It’s also a good idea to clearly communicate the confidential nature of the information to the recipient, and to remind them of their obligations to keep the information secure.”

Wow. ChatGPT sounds like a pretty good lawyer 😉.

As #inhousecounsel, we need to embrace #operationalexcellence and look for more opportunities to make better use of our limited resources to drive higher value for our clients.

If your legal team is considering deploying chatbots to interact with your clients, here’s three suggestions:

🤖 Start Small: Develop chatbots that are conversant in a few areas that are routinely asked by your clients.

🤖 Low Risk Areas: Focus your chatbot development in surface areas that are largely non-controversial and pose low legal risk.

🤖 Thoughtful Client Messaging: Many of our clients want “bespoke” legal support from us. However, just like our clients, we have limited resources and we need to do more with less. Drive clarity that if their teams use your chatbots to address common and routine legal questions, this will free up more time for the legal team to focus on mission-critical work that will help them like closing revenue-generating contracts with customers/partners, avoiding potential compliance issues, etc…

Look for opportunities for AI to help deliver more high impact legal services to your clients. What are your thoughts about the intersection of AI and the practice of law?

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Photo of Dennis Garcia Dennis Garcia

Dennis Garcia is an Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation based in Chicago. He practices at the intersection of law, technology and business. Prior to joining Microsoft, Dennis worked as an in-house counsel for Accenture and IBM.

Dennis received his B.A. in Political…

Dennis Garcia is an Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft Corporation based in Chicago. He practices at the intersection of law, technology and business. Prior to joining Microsoft, Dennis worked as an in-house counsel for Accenture and IBM.

Dennis received his B.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University and his J.D. from Columbia Law School. He is admitted to practice in New York, Connecticut and Illinois (House Counsel). Dennis is a Fellow of Information Privacy, a Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States and a Certified Information Privacy Technologist with the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Please follow Dennis on Twitter @DennisCGarcia and on his It’s AI All the Time Blog.