AI for law firms, without risking client confidentiality

What can AI safely do in a law firm?

AI can safely take on the preparation around legal work: finding the right precedent, producing a first draft of a letter or file note, filing correspondence to the right matter and taking down the details of a new enquiry. It should not give legal advice, and a lawyer should check everything it produces before it leaves the firm. What separates safe use from unsafe use is where the matter content goes and who reviews the output.

In practice, that gives a 10–100 person firm four sensible places to start:

• Precedents and know-how. A private assistant that answers from your own precedents, practice notes and procedures, and shows the source document behind each answer.
• First drafts. Letters, file notes and summaries drafted by the Drafting Assistant, by Pylon Digital, then reviewed and settled by the responsible lawyer.
• Matter correspondence. The Inbox Agent sorts email, files it to the right matter and drafts replies for a lawyer to approve.
• New enquiries. Intake and after-hours cover, so prospective clients hear back quickly without anyone giving advice before a conflict check.

What do Australian legal regulators expect when lawyers use AI?

Regulators expect lawyers to keep client information confidential, exercise their own judgement and verify everything AI produces. The joint statement on the use of AI in Australian legal practice, issued in December 2024 by the Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner (VLSB+C), the Law Society of NSW and the Legal Practice Board of WA, says lawyers cannot safely enter confidential, sensitive or privileged client information into public AI chatbots.

Use is growing, and so is scrutiny. VLSB+C research published in May 2026 found that 36.7% of Victorian lawyers who responded to the 2025 lawyer census use AI tools in their legal practice. In August 2025 the VLSB+C varied a Victorian solicitor’s practising certificate after he gave a court a list of authorities, generated with AI, that contained inaccurate citations. That is why every agent we build prepares work for a lawyer to approve, and keeps an audit log of what it did on each matter. Our guide on whether AI is safe for Australian law firms covers the checks to run first.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Where does our client data go?

Client data should go only into tools your firm has approved, set up so you know who can see it and where it is held. With Private AI, matter content is never pasted into a public chatbot: client data is stored in fully GDPR-compliant data centres, the assistant answers from the documents you choose to include, and only people you approve can use it. Agents and automations store client data in the same GDPR-compliant data centres, and we switch on the settings each AI provider offers to keep client data out of model training.

For a review by your risk partner or general counsel, our security and data residency page explains how client data is stored and protected, and your proposal sets out how your data is handled so your risk partner can check it before anything connects. Each system’s handover documentation records what personal information it holds, where it is kept and who can see it. If you are weighing a private assistant against a business ChatGPT plan, our comparison of private AI and ChatGPT for law firms sets out the trade-offs.

How does AI help with precedents and first drafts?

AI helps most when it starts from the firm’s own precedents rather than the open internet. A private knowledge assistant indexes your precedent bank, practice notes and procedures, so a lawyer can ask for the firm’s standard clause or the checklist for a matter type and get an answer that cites the source document.

The Drafting Assistant then produces first drafts of letters, file notes and summaries in the firm’s style, and the responsible lawyer reviews, corrects and settles each one. The joint regulators’ statement makes clear that lawyers stay responsible for the work, and that AI use should not unnecessarily increase a client’s costs, for example through time spent correcting poor output. Drafts that start from your own precedents should need less correcting.

How do partners see WIP and lock-up by matter each week?

Partners see WIP and lock-up every week when the report builds itself from the practice-management system. Automated practice reporting connects to LEAP, Actionstep or Clio and delivers a weekly view of unbilled WIP, aged WIP, debtors and utilisation by matter, fee earner and practice group, with a written definition behind every figure.

Trust accounting sits outside the report’s reach by design. The report never writes back to your practice-management system, so it does not post to a trust ledger or move trust money. In Victoria, the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules require monthly trust reconciliation statements within 15 working days after the end of each month, and law practices that operate trust accounts must have their trust records externally examined for each trust year ending 31 March. The report shows partners which matters carry aged WIP; it does not replace those obligations.

This is general information, not legal advice.

How can a law firm answer new enquiries faster?

A firm answers new enquiries faster when the first response and the collection of details no longer wait for a free lawyer. The Client Intake Agent qualifies website and email enquiries, collects the parties’ names and a short description of the matter, prompts your conflict check and books a meeting once the check is cleared. The After-hours Receptionist answers calls and chats outside business hours, takes messages and books appointments.

Neither agent gives legal advice or accepts instructions. A lawyer reviews each enquiry, clears the conflict and decides whether the firm acts.

What should a law firm website and client portal do?

A law firm website should answer the questions clients ask before they call, with a page for each practice area, plain guidance on fees and process, and a fast way to enquire. A client portal takes over once the firm is instructed, showing matter progress, documents to sign and secure messages, so staff field fewer status calls.

Websites builds answer-first practice-area pages with structured data, designed to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and Google’s Core Web Vitals targets. Our law firm website checklist lists what each page needs. For clients already on the books, App Development builds client portals that read from LEAP, Actionstep or Clio rather than replacing them, so lawyers keep working in the system they know.

How does a law firm get started?

Every engagement starts with a free 45-minute discovery call about your systems, your matters and the admin partners want to stop doing. From there, a firm either starts with AI Setup, which puts an approved business AI plan and a usage policy in place, or with a scoped build such as Private AI, an agent or Practice Reporting. Once it is live, a monthly Managed AI service keeps it hosted, monitored and up to date as your practice changes.

Your proposal sets out the timeline to your first live tool before you commit.