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AI Tool Inventory and Review Checklist for Firms
Tools arrive one attorney at a time. This checklist covers the inventory, the approval step, the review of output, and the note that belongs in the matter file.
Start With the List
- List every tool that touches client information: drafting assistants, transcription, document review, cloud storage, and research platforms.
- For each tool, record the vendor, the data it receives, who approved it, and the date.
- Sort the list by whether client data reaches the tool. Most will not, and those need less attention.
- Include tools that arrived through a practice management platform or a subscription someone already had.
- Keep the list where staff can see it, so nobody has to guess what is allowed.
Approval Before Client Data
- Read the terms for retention, secondary use, and where data is processed before the first client detail goes in.
- Treat consumer free tiers as unapproved for client work unless they were assessed and recorded.
- Record who decided, what they read, and what client information is allowed into the tool.
- Get confidentiality and data processing terms in place with any vendor holding client data.
- Where a vendor will not put answers in writing, record what was asked, what was provided, and what the firm decided.
Review of Output
- Check every citation: it has to exist and say what the draft claims it says.
- Confirm the analysis fits the jurisdiction and the matter rather than describing the law in general.
- Confirm the facts are this client's facts, not a plausible version of them.
- Review what was given to the tool, not just what came out of it.
- The attorney who signs the document owns its contents, whether or not a tool helped write it.
What Belongs in the Matter File
- The tool used, where the firm's policy requires it to be recorded.
- Who reviewed the output and the date of that review.
- Corrections made after review, where the final draft differs from the tool's output.
- Any client communication or consent the engagement terms or the jurisdiction require.
- Source documents given to the tool, where they matter to the analysis.
When Something Goes Wrong
- Identify what was sent and to whom before anything else.
- Work out whether client information reached a system it should not have.
- Correct the work and tell the client where the engagement requires it.
- Write down what happened, what changed afterward, and who decided.
- Keep the note. A short history of problems found and fixed holds up better than an assurance that nothing has ever gone wrong.
Reviewing the Control
- Check the list monthly, add anything new, and remove what the firm has stopped using.
- Once a quarter, pull two matters and confirm the review record exists.
- Confirm new attorneys hear which tools are approved during onboarding.
- Where an unapproved tool is genuinely better, assess it and either add it or decline it in writing.
- Leave no tool sitting in the space between approved and prohibited.