Prompt Governance
Definition: Prompt governance refers to the policies, controls, and review processes law firms use to manage how lawyers and staff craft, refine, and approve prompts for AI systems so outputs remain accurate, secure, ethical, and compliant with legal duties.
Example
A litigation team uses an internal prompt library for tasks like drafting deposition outlines and summarizing expert reports. Each prompt has been vetted for confidentiality, accuracy risk, and privilege protection. Lawyers must use approved prompt templates or submit new prompts for review before deploying them in client matters.
Why It Matters?
Prompts are instructions that shape AI outcomes. Poorly written prompts can leak confidential data, generate incorrect analysis, or expose the firm to ethics violations. Prompt governance protects attorney work quality, client confidentiality, evidentiary integrity, and malpractice risk while building consistent AI performance across the firm.
How to Implement?
- Create approved prompt templates for common workflows
- Require lawyers to review and edit AI outputs before using them
- Train staff on prompt safety, accuracy checks, and confidentiality
- Maintain a controlled internal prompt library and update it regularly
- Assign AI governance owners to approve new prompts and audit usage