Frequently Asked Questions – About Actionable AI for Lawyers
If yours isn’t here, ask.
For ethics questions, start with Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 24-1 and ABA Formal Opinion 512.
Scope and engagement
Florida law firms with fewer than 25 lawyers, including solos and small partnerships. The best fit is a firm with recurring work, limited internal technology capacity, and a practical reason to improve one workflow at a time.
No. If you can use Word and email, you have the technical baseline. The work happens on the practice side, not the IT side.
Assessment: about two weeks from kickoff to delivery. One workflow implementation: typically two to four weeks. Retainer: ongoing, three-month minimum, month-to-month after that.
No code. I build workflows using your existing tools, train your team, and document everything. If the work actually needs code, I’ll say so and refer you to a developer I trust.
Most assessment and implementation work can run remotely. In-person workshops and onsite work are scoped separately based on the work, location, and travel.
Yes. The Private Workshop is a focused 90-minute session. Half-day workshops are also available. If your goal is implementation rather than training, start with the AI Workflow Assessment or One Workflow, Done Right.
Tools and technology
Almost never. Most small firms have AI features inside Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, their document management system, and their billing platform that nobody is using. We start there. The Make the Software You Own Earn Its Keep guide shows how to inventory what you already pay for.
That’s the most common starting point. Part of the Assessment is mapping what you have, what you’re paying for, and what’s actually being used. Sometimes the right move is consolidation before AI. To see where you stand first, take the 2-minute readiness self-check.
Generalists know consulting. IT vendors know plumbing. Neither tends to know the inside of a law practice. I do.
Confidentiality and ethics
It depends on the tool, account type, contract, settings, and information involved. A paid business account is not a blanket approval. Before client information is entered, the firm should review the exact data-use terms, retention, permissions, connectors, authorized users, and access controls. Use de-identified or synthetic information until the firm approves the tool and the specific use. For the questions to put to a vendor, see the Vendor AI and Data Governance Audit, and for the rules, the 25 AI ethics questions.
Guidance is changing. Your firm should check the current rules and opinions in every jurisdiction where its lawyers practice. If new guidance affects a workflow, update the policy, training, and review steps. Recurring issues include competence, confidentiality, supervision, candor, client communication, and fees.
Outcomes
I will not promise a return that has not been measured. We define a baseline before the work starts, track the time, errors, rework, cycle time, or missed follow-up the workflow is meant to improve, and review the result after the pilot. The value depends on volume, adoption, and how consistently the firm uses the new process.
The Top 10 AI Workflows by ROI ranks where small firms usually see results first.
I’m a former lawyer. I am not your lawyer. I will flag the ethics-rule pressure points I see (confidentiality, supervision of non-lawyer assistance, fee disclosure, billing for AI-assisted work), but your bar’s rules govern, and your ethics counsel decides.
For Florida specifics, start with the 25 AI ethics questions.
That’s the only question that matters. The reason most AI rollouts fail isn’t the technology: it’s the rollout. I train, document, and pace the work so it sticks. If the firm’s leadership doesn’t want it to stick, no consultant can fix that.
That’s a conversation, not a refund. If the recommendations don’t fit, we revise. The deliverable is meant to be useful, not a brochure.
Yes, after the three-month minimum. Month-to-month after that.
Still have questions?
Send them over. I will tell you plainly whether I can help.