Kaufman Ops

What your firm should have in writing before staff use AI on client work

Last reviewed October 25, 2026

The ABA says a lawyer who uses generative AI on client matters has to understand the tool well enough to protect confidentiality, supervise the output, and bill honestly (Formal Opinion 512, July 29, 2024). The Florida Bar said the same in Opinion 24-1. Neither one tells you which settings to flip. This page shows what the three big vendors put in writing as of October 2026, and the settings checklist shows what to flip.

The questions a client could ask you

  1. Does the vendor train its models on our matters?
  2. Who else can see our data?
  3. How long does it keep what we type?
  4. How fast do they tell us if something leaks?
  5. What do we inherit from their audits, and what is still on us?

If you cannot answer those five in one breath, do not let staff paste a client document into a chat window yet.

What the vendors say, in their own documents

ChatGPT Business and Enterprise (OpenAI)

No training on your workspace data by default; it takes an explicit opt in. Admins set how long chats are kept, and deleted chats leave their systems within 30 days. Subprocessor list published, last updated October 14, 2026. Breach notice in the DPA is "without undue delay," no fixed hour count. SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 on the trust page. A HIPAA agreement is not offered on Business or Enterprise. Admins can turn memory off for the whole workspace, control which apps connect, verify your domain, and on Enterprise pull an audit log of every conversation.

OpenAI: business data, enterprise privacy, subprocessor list, data processing addendum, trust portal

Claude Team and Enterprise (Anthropic)

No training on your inputs or outputs by default; the one exception is feedback you send on purpose, and an owner can switch that off. Deleted chats leave their storage within 30 days. Custom retention windows are Enterprise only, 30 day minimum. Subprocessor list published on the trust center. Breach notice in the DPA is within 48 hours. SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and ISO 42001. A HIPAA agreement is offered on Enterprise. Memory is off for each user until they turn it on, and an owner can disable it for the whole organization.

Anthropic: is my data used for training, how long Anthropic stores organization data, subprocessors, data processing addendum, trust center

Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat (Microsoft)

Prompts, answers and the files Copilot reads are not used to train the foundation models. History sits in a hidden folder in each user's mailbox, so your existing Purview retention rules and audit apply to it. Subprocessor list published, and the Copilot list names outside model providers, some on by default. Breach notice is 72 hours under the Microsoft DPA. ISO 27001, ISO 27018 and HIPAA named on the privacy page. The catch for a small firm: Copilot Chat arrives inside Microsoft 365 business plans whether anyone decided it should, so the only question is whether anyone set it up.

Microsoft: Copilot privacy, enterprise data protection, retention for Copilot, incident management and the 72 hour notice

What you inherit and what you do not

You inherit the vendor's audits. Their SOC 2 covers their servers, not your office. Nothing on this page adds a control the vendor does not already have.

What is on you: who at the firm has an account, whether memory and connectors are on, whether a departed paralegal still has a login, whether anyone ever read the retention setting, and whether your engagement letter says you use these tools. That is the part that changes, and it changes every month.

What the desk does

I keep a written settings checklist for each tool your firm uses and update it when the vendor moves a default. You send a question, you get a written answer by the next business day. New staff get a one page note on day one. Each month you get a short note on what changed at the vendors and in the bar rules, with links.

I never log in to your systems. Your own admin clicks; I tell them where. Not legal advice. Month to month, you own every document, and the first month is invoiced after the first checklist lands.

Email nick@kaufmanops.com

I'm Nick Kaufman. Six years of customer-facing software support, including three years at Tier 2 on a CRM built for financial advisors, whose firms work under SEC and FINRA rules. I'm not a lawyer.

Vendor terms move. Every line above was read from the linked vendor page on October 25, 2026, and this page is re-read every month.