How in-house lawyers can use AI to keep up to date with changes in law

Here's a time-saving set of prompts you can cut & paste to tick one job off your list

One of the tasks of an in-house lawyer is to keep the business informed of changes in law. More significantly - in house counsel are required to work out how those changes will affect the business, to get a plan in place to deal with them and have a strategy to respond.

It’s a big ask. Regulation can come from a lot of directions - from government, regulators, from changes in case law - how do you keep on top of it all ? And how do you work out what matters?

Here, fortunately AI can help. Attached are a set of prompts that can help any in house lawyer to identify and understand the legislation, to work out how it will affect their business and to communicate it to the business in a way that the business understands.

They were created using a series of questions to Chat GPT following a set process and work better the more context that you give - but can be used on any Large Language Model (LLM) that is up to date. As always - I can’t give any promises as to the results & you’ll want to check these for yourself, but the results should make it easy enough to do that. So you can concentrate on everything else in your inbox.

The 12 step plan (including all the prompts you need is here (opens google document) and reproduced below (prompts in italics).

Step 1: Monitor Regulatory Changes

Use AI to generate a summary of the latest regulatory updates from specified sources relevant to the industry or sector. This helps in keeping the process timely and relevant.

AI Prompt: Generate a summary of the latest regulatory updates from [specific regulatory body] related to [industry or sector] as of [today's date].

Step 2: Verify and Analyse the Regulation

Analyze the regulation using AI to provide a detailed breakdown of its implications, ensuring a thorough understanding before moving forward.

AI Prompt: Analyse the full text of [new regulation name and number] issued by [regulatory body]. Provide a detailed breakdown of its implications for [specific industry or company sector].

Step 3: Draft the Summary of the Regulation

Draft a concise summary of the regulation using AI to ensure clarity and accessibility for all stakeholders.

AI Prompt: Create a clear and concise summary of the regulation [regulation name] focusing on its purpose, key dates, and primary requirements.

Step 4: Detail the Key Changes and Impact

Detail the key changes and their potential impacts using AI, providing stakeholders with the necessary information to understand how the changes affect the organization.

AI Prompt: Compare the new regulation [regulation name] with the existing [related regulation name]. Highlight key changes and assess the potential impacts on [company's specific departments or operations].

Step 5: Develop the Action Plan

Develop a comprehensive action plan using AI to detail necessary steps for compliance, ensuring all tasks are clearly defined and assigned.

AI Prompt: Based on the impact analysis of [regulation name], draft an action plan detailing the immediate steps and long-term adjustments needed for compliance. Include role-specific tasks and timelines.

Step 6: Draft the Compliance Strategy

Use AI to draft a strategic plan for compliance, incorporating industry best practices and ensuring all regulatory requirements are met.

AI Prompt:: Propose a compliance strategy for adapting to the new regulation [regulation name]. Incorporate best practices for [industry] compliance and suggest oversight mechanisms.

Step 7: Review and Approvals

Organize review and approval processes using AI to draft communications, ensuring all stakeholders have the opportunity to provide feedback.

AI Prompt:Generate an email draft to send to stakeholders for reviewing and approving the draft regulatory update document. Include a link to the document and a deadline for feedback.

Step 8: Communicate the Update

Communicate the update across the organization using AI to draft and format the communication, ensuring wide and effective distribution.

AI Prompt: Draft an internal communication plan to disseminate the updated regulatory guidelines to employees across all departments. Suggest formats and channels for effective distribution.

Step 9: Provide Training and Support

Prepare training and support materials using AI to ensure comprehensive understanding and implementation of the new regulations.

AI Prompt:: Create an outline for a training session on the new regulation [regulation name]. Include key points to cover, recommended delivery methods, and interactive elements to ensure understanding.

Step 10: Set Up Monitoring for Compliance

Set up a monitoring system using AI to regularly check compliance and report on the effectiveness of the implemented changes.

AI Prompt: Outline a compliance monitoring schedule post-implementation of the new regulation [regulation name]. Suggest metrics for evaluation and intervals for reporting.

Step 11: Update as Necessary

Regularly update the regulatory response using AI to adapt to changes or new information that may arise.

AI Prompt: Draft a procedure for periodically reviewing and updating the company's response to the regulation [regulation name], including triggers for review and roles involved.

Documentation and Record Keeping

Use AI to maintain and update documentation related to the regulatory update process, ensuring all data is accurate and accessible for audits.

AI Prompt: Prompt: Generate a template for documenting all stages of the regulatory update process, from initial monitoring to final implementation, ensuring version control and audit trails.

This process, once put into place can take some of the “grunt” work out of updating the business on new regulations. Please do let me know what you think.

© Richard Nicholas (2024), BeyondUseful.com