ChatGPT Prompts for Solicitors and Law Firms: 21 Templates You Can Use Today

The short version: ChatGPT can draft client update emails, cost estimates, review replies, social posts and internal admin for a solicitor's firm in minutes, but it must never see a client's name, case number, address or any fact that could identify a matter. Strip the details out first, write the prompt around a generic scenario, then add the real names back in yourself before sending. Below are 21 prompts split by use, with a rewrite of a weak one into a strong one.

What ChatGPT is safe to use for at a law firm

ChatGPT is a drafting tool, not a research tool and not a filing cabinet. Use it for the first draft of anything written: a client letter, a fee quote, a social post, an internal memo template. Do not use it to check case law, confirm a limitation date or store anything that came from a client file. Free ChatGPT and the paid Plus tier both use conversations to improve the model unless you turn that off in settings, so the safest working rule for a firm is: no client name, no matter reference, no address, no dates that would identify a real person, ever, in any prompt.

Every prompt below is written as a template with square brackets for the bits you fill in after ChatGPT has finished. Fill those brackets in Word or in your case management system, not in the chat window.

Prompts for client emails and updates

• "Write a short, warm email telling a client their [type of matter, e.g. conveyancing] has moved to the next stage. Tone: reassuring, plain English, no jargon. End with a clear next step and a rough timeframe in weeks."
• "Write an email to a client explaining a short delay in their matter caused by [reason, e.g. waiting on a third party search]. Apologise once, briefly, then explain what happens next and when."
• "Draft a client email asking for three missing documents needed to proceed: [list document types, not names]. Make the list easy to scan and explain why each one is needed."
• "Write a closing email to a client whose matter has finished. Thank them, explain what happens to their file and for how long it is kept, and invite a referral if they were happy."
• "Turn this list of bullet points into a plain English update email a client with no legal background could understand in one read: [paste your own bullet points, no client details]."

Prompts for quotes and fee estimates

• "Write a fixed fee quote email for [type of work, e.g. a simple will] at £[price], explaining what is and is not included, and when payment is due."
• "Draft an email explaining the difference between our fixed fee and hourly rate options for [type of matter], with a worked example showing what a typical case costs under each."
• "Write a short, clear explanation of disbursements for [type of matter, e.g. probate] so a client understands why the final bill may be higher than the quote."
• "Rewrite this fee estimate paragraph so it reads as an amount, not a discount: [paste your draft]. Keep it under 80 words."

Prompts for review replies

• "Write a reply to a five star Google review from a conveyancing client, thanking them without naming the matter or repeating any detail from their review that could identify them to someone else reading it."
• "Write a calm, professional reply to a one star review that does not admit fault, does not discuss the case, and invites the person to contact the firm directly to resolve it."
• "Draft three short variations of a thank you reply to reviews mentioning 'quick' and 'clear communication' so our replies do not all read the same."
• "Write a reply to a review that criticises our fees, focused on value and transparency, without quoting a specific price."

Prompts for social posts

• "Write a LinkedIn post explaining one common mistake people make with [area of law, e.g. lasting power of attorney] and how to avoid it. No case examples, just general guidance."
• "Write three short LinkedIn posts introducing a new solicitor joining the firm, focused on their specialism and one fact about how they work with clients."
• "Turn this general legal update into a plain English LinkedIn post for small business owners: [paste a rule change, e.g. a new employment law threshold]."
• "Write a short post marking [firm milestone, e.g. an anniversary or an award] that thanks the team and clients without naming any client."

Prompts for internal admin

• "Draft a standard letter template for a [type of matter] file that has placeholders for client name, address and reference, ready to be merged."
• "Write an internal checklist for onboarding a new client in [area of law], covering the documents and checks needed before work starts."
• "Draft a short internal memo explaining a change to our [process, e.g. file review] procedure, written for staff who have not seen the old process."
• "Write a polite chaser email template to send to a client who has not returned signed documents after two weeks."

What to change in every prompt before you use it

Every prompt above has brackets. Before you paste it in, decide the tone (formal or warm), the length you want (ask for a word count if the first draft comes back too long), and whether you want a British English, plain English draft rather than anything that sounds like a contract clause. If the first answer sounds stiff, ask ChatGPT directly: "make this sound less formal and more like a person wrote it." That one follow-up line does more work than rewriting the whole prompt.

One weak prompt and one strong prompt

Weak: "Write an email to a client about their case."

This gives ChatGPT nothing to work with. It will guess the area of law, the tone, the stage of the matter and the length, and the draft will need a full rewrite.

Strong: "Write a 120 word email to a residential conveyancing client whose purchase has moved to exchange of contracts. Tone: warm but professional. Explain that exchange usually happens within a week, that they should not book removals until we confirm the date, and sign off inviting questions."

The strong version names the matter type, the stage, the tone, a length, one instruction the client needs to act on, and a sign off. That is the difference between a draft you can send with one small edit and a draft you throw away.

Mistakes to avoid, and never paste client-identifying details

The single most important rule for any solicitor or law firm using ChatGPT is this: never paste a client's name, address, date of birth, case reference, opponent's name, or any fact specific enough to identify a real person or matter into the chat window. That includes free ChatGPT, ChatGPT Plus and any browser plug-in version, because none of them are covered by your firm's confidentiality obligations or your professional indemnity cover in the way your case management system is. Write every prompt as a generic template with brackets, get the draft back, then fill in the real details yourself, offline, in your own systems.

Other common mistakes: sending the first draft without reading it (ChatGPT will occasionally state something as fact that is wrong, so a human must check every legal statement); using ChatGPT to check a limitation date, a court deadline or a piece of case law (it can be wrong and confident at the same time); and pasting an entire client letter in "to check the tone" when a summary would do the same job with none of the risk. If you would not want the detail printed on a public noticeboard, do not put it in the prompt.

I have written more around this on the site: How to Use AI for Social Media in Law Firms, AI Consultant for Law Firms: What the Work Involves, What It Pays, and What Most Consultants Get Wrong.

Related guides live in the ChatGPT Prompts and Limits: 30 Guides to Fun Prompts, Photo Edits and Daily Caps.

I built a free ChatGPT prompt generator for exactly this.

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe for a solicitor to use ChatGPT at all?

Yes, for drafting generic text such as templates, quotes, social posts and review replies, as long as no client-identifying detail goes into the prompt. Treat it the same way you would treat a public forum: assume anything typed in could be seen by someone outside the firm.

Can ChatGPT check legal accuracy?

No. It can draft in plain English, but it should never be trusted to confirm a legal rule, a deadline or a piece of case law without a qualified person checking it against a primary source such as legislation.gov.uk.

Should junior staff be allowed to use ChatGPT unsupervised?

Only with the same brackets-and-templates approach in this article, and only for non-advice drafting such as admin letters and social posts. Anything client-facing should still get a second pair of eyes before it goes out.

Does the paid version of ChatGPT change the confidentiality risk?

Paying for ChatGPT Plus does not make it acceptable to paste client details in. The setting that matters is whether chat history and training are switched off in the account settings, and even then, the safest approach for a regulated firm is to never rely on that setting and keep prompts generic.

What is the quickest way to roll this out across a firm?

Pick five templates from this list that match your most common client communications, agree the tone as a team, and put the bracketed versions in a shared document so every fee earner is starting from the same safe template rather than writing their own prompts from scratch.