Guide
ChatGPT for lawyers: the account type is what matters
Someone at your firm is probably using a general chatbot already, likely on a personal account they pay for themselves, and nobody's talked about it. The question worth asking is which account it's on.
Consumer and business accounts are governed by different terms
- On consumer tiers, the default handling of what you type is more permissive, and the settings that change it sit in a menu you may never have opened.
- On business and enterprise tiers, the vendor takes on contractual obligations: your content is not used to train the models by default. The top enterprise tier adds an audit trail and lets an administrator set how long chats are kept.
The same person typing the same words is in a materially different position depending on which login they used. You want to know that before somebody asks you about it.
Terms change. Read the current terms for the specific product and tier your firm uses instead of relying on a summary, including this one.
The questions worth answering inside your own firm
None of these are technical, and you can answer all of them this week.
- Who is using one, and for what? Ask neutrally. If people feel judged, you'll get a safe answer instead of a true one, and you need the true one.
- Whose account is it on? Personal accounts are the thing most worth changing, because a firm account costs little and puts you on the business terms.
- Has client information gone into it? Ask plainly and without judgment. If the answer is yes, work with it rather than blaming anyone.
- Who reads the output before it goes anywhere? Drafts used to get reviewed. You need to know whether they still do, and by whom.
- Is any of this written down? If it isn't, that's your gap.
What we won't tell you
None of this is legal advice. We won't tell you what your professional obligations are. There's published guidance on using these tools in practice, many state bars have taken a position, and your own judgment beats ours on that. Be suspicious of anyone who isn't a lawyer telling you confidently what you're permitted to do.
An outsider is useful for something narrower and more boring: writing down what your firm actually does today, how your specific accounts are set up, and where the gaps are. You hand that document to someone qualified, so they spend their time on judgment instead of fact-finding.
Want the version specific to your firm?
The audit works through your actual accounts and settings with you, then writes down what's happening and where the gaps are. We never ask to see client files.