Is it safe to use ChatGPT or Copilot for legal letters? Five things to check

Mostly, if you treat what comes back as a new draft. A rewriting tool does not just fix grammar: it decides how firm the letter sounds, and it can commit you to things you never decided. Here is a real example, what the ABA says, and the five things to check before any AI-edited letter goes out.

The short answer

Use AI to tidy wording, then read the result against your notes and the file, not just for flow.
The usual changes: a deadline appears, “suggest” becomes “immediately”, a threat gets sharper, a date or citation changes.
Before you paste anything in, check that the tool's terms fit your duty to protect client information.

A real example

A lawyer's note between calls, to be turned into a letter to opposing counsel:

Letter to opp counsel: no response to our 14 Mar letter - looks deliberate, a delay tactic. Strongly suggest their client reconsiders before we escalate. We will escalate if needed.

Asked to make it “clearer and more concise”, a general-purpose AI assistant returned this (run on 30 September 2026, copied exactly, without its subject line and greeting):

We have not received a response to our letter dated March 14, 2026. This silence appears to be a deliberate delay tactic.
We strongly suggest your client reconsiders their position immediately. If we do not receive a response within five business days, we will escalate this matter further without additional warning.

It reads like a finished letter. It also commits the firm to a five-day deadline, an ultimatum (“immediately”) and escalation “without additional warning”. None of those was decided, and the note's “looks deliberate” has become an accusation in the firm's name.

Before you paste: confidentiality

The ABA's Formal Opinion 512 (29 July 2024) says the duty to protect client information extends to generative AI. Lawyers should understand how a tool uses what is entered, read its terms and privacy policy, and in some cases get the client's informed consent first, “particularly a ‘self-learning’ tool whose output could be inadvertently shared with others.” It also says not to rely on AI output “without an appropriate degree of independent verification or review of its output.” Check your state bar's guidance as well.

Five things to check before it goes out

1
Deadlines nobody set
Look for any time limit, date or "within" that is not in your notes. "Within five business days" in the example came from nowhere, and the other side is entitled to hold you to it.
2
How strong each statement is
"Strongly suggest" is not "immediately"; "appears" is not "is"; "we may" is not "we will". Rewriting tools tend to make letters sound firmer and more certain, because firm prose reads as good prose. Read each sentence for how much it commits you to.
3
Promises and threats
A rewrite can turn "we will escalate if needed" into "without additional warning", a position you may not want to be held to. Every consequence the letter names should be one you decided on and are prepared to carry out.
4
Every date, amount, name and reference
Check each one against the file: invoice numbers, sums, dates of earlier letters, party names, matter references. A rewrite can reformat, round or quietly correct them, and a "corrected" date is as wrong as a typo.
5
Citations, after the last edit
If the letter cites cases or statutes, check them again on the final version. In TOV Realty v. Suarez the citations were checked before the AI polish, and the polish changed them. A cite check done before the last edit checks a draft you are not sending. What happened in that case, and our free citation checker.

The quickest way to run all five: put your notes or approved draft and the AI version side by side in a compare tool, so every change is highlighted. Our free Text Compare runs in your browser.

Where ABCcount fits, exactly

ABCcount's Legal mode turns rough notes into a finished letter and then checks the result against what you wrote: dates and amounts come back exactly as they went in, and it will not add a deadline, sum or threat you did not set.

It does not yet catch a whole new citation added from nowhere, so the checks above still apply. Try it free: 7 days of Pro for one person, or a 14-day pilot for your firm. No card.

Start a free trial See Legal mode

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to use ChatGPT or Copilot for legal letters?

For tidying wording, it can save time, but the result is a new draft, not your draft with better grammar. Check it for added deadlines, stronger or weaker statements, new promises or threats, and every date, amount and citation before it goes out. Also check that putting client information into the tool is consistent with your duty of confidentiality.

Can I put client information into ChatGPT?

The ABA’s Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) says the duty to protect client information extends to generative AI. Lawyers should understand how a tool uses what they enter, read its terms and privacy policy, and in some cases get the client’s informed consent first, particularly for a tool that learns from what users enter. Your state bar may have its own guidance too. This page is general information, not legal or ethics advice.

Why does AI add deadlines and threats to a letter?

A request to make a letter "clearer" or "more professional" is a request to rewrite it, and these tools are good at producing text that sounds decisive. Specific deadlines and firm consequences sound decisive, so they tend to appear even when nobody asked for them.

Do I have to check AI output before sending it?

The ABA’s opinion says lawyers should not rely on generative AI output "without an appropriate degree of independent verification or review of its output". In practice that means reading the final version against your notes and the file, not just reading it for flow.

Does ABCcount stop this?

Its Legal mode checks every rewrite against what you wrote: dates and amounts must come back exactly as they went in, and it will not add a deadline, sum or threat you did not set. It checks the numbers inside a citation, such as volume, page and year, but it does not yet catch a whole new citation added from nowhere, so cite-check the final version whatever tool you use.

Sources: ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024), as reported by LawNext; TOV Realty, LLC v. Suarez (Conn. 2026); the AI rewrite is the run published on our demand letter template page. Checked 8 November 2026. This page is general information, not legal or ethics advice.

Also free: a demand letter template with a worked example, and how AI changes the facts in incident reports.