For Legal Professionals

Your privileged work product should not be training data.

ABA Model Rule 1.6 doesn't carve out exceptions for ChatGPT. We build private AI that knows your firm — without ever touching a public LLM.

🔑 Trained only on your matters, your precedents, your firm — air-gapped from public LLMs.

The compliance regime that applies

Legal AI isn't just a data governance question — it's a professional responsibility question. These are the rules your firm is already bound by.

ABA Model Rule 1.6

Attorneys have a duty of confidentiality to clients. Sending privileged communications to a third-party AI service may constitute unauthorized disclosure — and the ABA hasn't carved out an exception for productivity tools.

ABA Formal Opinion 512 (2023)

The ABA formally addressed generative AI use by attorneys. Opinion 512 requires lawyers to understand how AI tools handle client data, obtain informed consent where necessary, and verify AI-generated work product. Public LLMs fail on point one.

Attorney-client privilege risk

Sharing privileged communications with a third-party service may waive privilege. Courts are still sorting out whether AI tool disclosures constitute "third-party" waiver. You don't want to be the test case.

Conflict-checking implications

Most firms don't realize their conflict-checking data — matter histories, client names, opposing parties — is some of the most sensitive data in the firm. Exposing it to a public model creates lateral hire and privilege risks that compound over time.

The risks that keep firm partners up at night

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Privilege exposure

Every time an associate pastes case strategy into ChatGPT, they may have just shared privileged communications with a third-party model. ABA Model Rule 1.6 doesn't carve out exceptions for generative AI.

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Client confidentiality at stake

Lateral hires carry emails and matter files from prior firms. A junior associate querying an AI trained on your client list could be surfacing data from opposing parties' counsel.

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Conflict-checking gaps

Most conflict systems don't surface patterns across matter histories the way an AI that knows your full file archive would. False negatives create real malpractice exposure.

What private AI does for a law firm

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Contract review at scale

Run NDAs, MSAs, and lease agreements through a model trained on your firm's preferred positions. Associates get faster redlines, partners get consistent outcomes.

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Case research across firm history

Query years of prior matters, briefs, and deposition transcripts. The model knows your precedents — not generic case law from the internet.

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Client intake triage

Qualify inbound matters faster. Pull conflict flags, surface similar matters in your history, and route the intake to the right partner before the client even hangs up.

How we'd approach a law firm engagement

Four phases. Fixed-price. You own the model at the end. See the full methodology →

01

Data Audit & Privilege Map

Weeks 1–3

We inventory your matter files, email archives, and document management system. We map what's privileged, what's confidential work product, and what can be used for fine-tuning. You review and approve the training corpus before a single document enters the pipeline.

02

Private Infrastructure Build

Weeks 4–8

We stand up a VPC-isolated deployment — your cloud account or on-premise. The model never routes through public APIs. Role-based access controls ensure associates see their matters, not others'. Conflict-checking logic is built into the query layer.

03

Fine-Tuning & Validation

Weeks 9–14

We fine-tune on your firm's documents and validate against your preferred contract positions, brief formats, and research patterns. Partners and associates review outputs before go-live. We iterate until it's right.

04

Handoff & Retainer

Month 4+

Model weights and deployment config transfer to you. Monthly retainer keeps the model current as caseloads shift and new matter types come in. You own it — we maintain it.

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Sample Work Product

See the depth of a Vermont AI Systems engagement — a complete AI Readiness Assessment in Law Firms format.

See a sample AI Readiness Assessment for a Vermont law firm →
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Interactive Demo

See exactly what private AI feels like for a 52-attorney Vermont law firm. Ask about M&A contracts, litigation strategy, billing history, and partner workload — all sourced from fictional internal documents.

Try the Green Mountain Legal Partners demo →

What Law Firms clients ask us

Is using private AI for legal work permitted under the Rules of Professional Conduct?

Yes — when properly structured. ABA Formal Opinion 512 permits AI use when attorneys understand how the tool handles client data, take reasonable precautions, and supervise AI-generated output. A private deployment you control satisfies those requirements. A public LLM you don't control creates material professional responsibility risk.

Can the model access our conflict-checking system?

Yes. We integrate with most DMS and matter management platforms during the data pipeline phase. Conflict-checking queries run against your firm's actual matter history — not a third-party database. No client names or matter data leave your environment.

What happens to the model if we end the retainer?

You keep it. Model weights, fine-tuning data, and deployment configuration transfer to you at project close. The retainer covers ongoing maintenance and retraining — not access. If you end the relationship, you retain a fully functional model. We don't believe in lock-in.

More questions? See the 15 questions to ask any AI vendor →

Ready to stop hoping your data stays private?

The discovery call is 30 minutes. We'll tell you exactly what it would take to build this for your organization, what it would cost, and whether we're the right fit.

✓ Free 30-min call ✓ No data leaves your environment ✓ We tell you honestly if we're not the right fit
🚫 Zero public LLM commitment Your data never touches OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, or any public model. Not even for evaluation.
🏗️ VPC isolation, always Every deployment runs inside your private cloud environment or on-premise infrastructure. No shared infrastructure, no external API calls.
🏔️ 20+ years Vermont IT services Not a startup. Tim Parrow and the Vermont AI Systems team have been building and maintaining enterprise IT infrastructure in Vermont since before cloud existed.
🔑 You own the model Model weights, fine-tuning data, and deployment config transfer to you at project close. Month-to-month retainer after initial term. No lock-in.