The AI prompts that work for lawyers share five parts: a role, context, a specific task, an output format, and constraints. Below are 10 tested prompts my firms run every day, ready to copy.
A blank chat box is where AI enthusiasm goes to die. A lawyer opens Claude, types “help me with this case,” gets something generic, and decides AI is overrated.
My firms don’t have that problem because nobody improvises. CPLG, my national lemon law firm, has 62 staff producing consistent AI output every day, and the reason is boring: standardized prompts. Same input format every time, same output format every time. That’s the difference between a firm that runs on AI and one enthusiastic partner who runs on it alone.
Here’s the library. Copy any of these into Claude or ChatGPT, replace the bracketed variables, and go.
| # | Prompt | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intake summary | Every new intake call |
| 2 | Client update email | Regular client contact |
| 3 | Demand letter draft | First drafts for attorney review |
| 4 | Opposing counsel reply | De-escalating without conceding |
| 5 | Contract risk review | Pre-negotiation prep |
| 6 | Deposition questions | Witness prep |
| 7 | Discovery responses | Gap-flagged drafts |
| 8 | Concept explainer | Client calls and emails |
| 9 | Review request text | After a good outcome |
| 10 | Caseload report | Friday management reporting |
What makes a prompt actually work
Every prompt that survives at my firms has five parts: a role (who the AI is), context (what it needs to know), a task (the specific job), an output format (what the result looks like), and constraints (what it must not do).
The bad version:
Write a demand letter for my client's lemon law case.The good version:
You are a consumer protection attorney. My client bought a 2023 Ford Explorer on March 12, 2024, and it has been in the shop 5 times for the same transmission defect, 47 days total. Draft a demand letter to Ford's consumer affairs department requesting a repurchase under the Texas Lemon Law. Professional and firm tone. Structure: facts, legal basis, specific demand, 30-day deadline. Under one page. Do not cite case law and do not invent facts beyond what I gave you.Same tool, same model. The second one produces a usable first draft. The first produces a template you could have googled.
Now the working prompts.
1. Intake notes to structured case summary
This is the highest-volume prompt at CPLG. Intake staff paste raw call notes and get back the same structure every time. (Automating the intake conversation itself is a later step; see AI intake for law firms.)
You are a senior lemon law attorney reviewing a new intake. Convert the raw call notes below into a structured case summary with these sections: Vehicle (year, make, model, VIN if given); Purchase date and dealer; Repair history (each visit: date, complaint, days in shop); Total days out of service; Warranty status; Case strength (strong / moderate / weak, with a two-sentence reason). If a required detail is missing from the notes, list it under "Missing information" instead of guessing.
Notes: [PASTE RAW INTAKE NOTES]2. Client update email in plain English
Clients fire lawyers over silence, not results. This keeps updates cheap to send.
Write an email updating my client on their case. Plain English at an 8th grade reading level, no legal jargon, under 200 words. Reassuring but honest about the timeline. Do not promise any outcome. End with one sentence telling them exactly what happens next and whether they need to do anything.
Case type: [CASE TYPE]
What happened since the last update: [DEVELOPMENTS]
What happens next: [NEXT STEP AND ROUGH TIMELINE]3. Demand letter first draft
First drafts, not final drafts. An attorney reviews everything before it goes out. High-volume demand practices eventually outgrow a prompt here; that’s when AI demand letter tools earn their fee.
You are an attorney at [FIRM NAME] drafting a demand letter to [RECIPIENT]. Tone: professional and firm, no threats, no filler. Structure: facts in chronological order, the legal basis in one short paragraph, an itemized list of damages, a specific demand with a deadline of [DATE], and the consequence of non-response (filing suit). Facts: [FACTS]. Damages: [ITEMIZED DAMAGES]. Basis: [STATUTE OR CLAIM TYPE]. This is a first draft for attorney review, so mark any assumption you make with [FLAG].4. Response to an aggressive opposing counsel email
The hardest emails to write well are the ones you’re angry about. Outsource the composure.
Below is an email from opposing counsel. Draft a reply that is professional and firm. Rules: do not match their tone, do not concede anything, do not apologize, correct factual misstatements plainly, and restate our position in two sentences or less. Under 150 words. The goal is to de-escalate while giving up nothing.
Their email: [PASTE EMAIL]
Our position: [ONE-SENTENCE POSITION]
Anything they got factually wrong: [CORRECTIONS, OR "NONE"]5. Contract review: risk-shifting clauses ranked
Point it at the client’s side and make it rank. Firms that live in contracts daily should also look at AI contract drafting tools, which go past what a prompt can do.
You are reviewing this contract on behalf of my client, the [CLIENT ROLE, e.g., BUYER]. List every clause that shifts risk, cost, or liability onto my client. For each one: quote the clause, cite the section number, explain the risk in one sentence, and rate severity high / medium / low. Rank from most to least severe. Then name the three changes I should push for first in negotiation.
Contract: [PASTE CONTRACT TEXT]6. Deposition prep questions
Give it the witness, the case, and what you need established.
Draft 25 deposition questions for a [WITNESS TYPE, e.g., DEALERSHIP SERVICE MANAGER] in a [CASE TYPE] case, grouped by topic with a heading per group. Start each topic with foundation questions before the harder ones. Include at least three questions designed to lock in testimony usable for impeachment later. Case background: [TWO-SENTENCE SUMMARY]. What this witness needs to establish for us: [GOALS].7. Discovery response drafting helper
It won’t know your facts, so make it flag every gap instead of filling them.
Help me draft responses to the discovery requests below. For each request: state whether to answer, object, or answer subject to objection; suggest applicable objections under [JURISDICTION] rules; then draft the response. Do not fabricate facts. Where a response needs a fact I have not given you, insert [NEED: description] so I can fill it in.
Requests: [PASTE REQUESTS]
Case facts: [SUMMARY]
What we do not want to volunteer: [SENSITIVITIES]8. Explain a legal concept to a client
Use this before every welcome call and every “what does this mean” email.
Explain [LEGAL CONCEPT] to my client in under 150 words at an 8th grade reading level. Use one everyday analogy. No statute numbers, no citations, no jargon. End with one sentence on what it means for their situation: [ONE LINE OF CASE CONTEXT].9. Five-star review request text
Reviews drive intake volume more than most lawyers admit. Ask while the client is happiest.
Write a text message asking my client for a Google review after a good outcome. Under 320 characters, warm but not gushing. Use their first name [FIRST NAME] and describe the result in plain terms: [RESULT, e.g., "your vehicle buyback"]. Include this link: [REVIEW LINK]. Do not offer anything in exchange for the review. Give me three versions.10. Weekly caseload status report
Raw notes in, management report out. This one saves my case managers hours every Friday.
Below are my raw case notes from this week. Turn them into a status report with one row per case: case name, stage, what moved this week, what is blocked, next action, owner. Put any case with no movement in 14+ days at the top under "Needs attention". Format as a table. Do not invent activity for cases I did not mention.
Notes: [PASTE RAW NOTES]Where to keep them
A prompt library in your head is not a library. Three options, in the order I’d pick them:
Claude Projects. Create a project per practice area, paste the prompts into the project instructions, and the whole team chats inside it. This is what CPLG does.
A text expander like aText or TextExpander. Type “;intake” and the full prompt appears in any app. Fastest for solo lawyers.
A shared Google Doc. Least elegant, works everywhere, better than nothing.
And the rule that built this library in the first place: every time you write a good prompt twice, save it. That’s it. Six months of that rule and you’ll have a library nobody at your firm wants to work without.
Start now. Pick the prompt above that matches something sitting in your inbox today, run it, and save your edited version as prompt number one. Tomorrow’s resource covers where prompts fit in the bigger adoption sequence if you haven’t read it yet.