AI settings for a small law firm in Pennsylvania
Checked against the source documents on October 26, 2026
Pennsylvania's Joint Formal Opinion 2024-200 asks the plain question about any AI tool: is the information secure, or out in the world for all to see? The settings that answer that are on the main checklist. This page says which ones Pennsylvania points at, and why.
What Pennsylvania has said
Pennsylvania Bar Association Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Philadelphia Bar Association Professional Guidance Committee: Joint Formal Opinion 2024-200, Ethical Issues Regarding the Use of Artificial Intelligence (16 pp., no issue date printed; PBA index lists May 22, 2024;, 2024-05-22.
- Confidentiality. Rule 1.6: must not input client confidential information into AI lacking adequate confidentiality and security protections (p.9); ask who sees the data and whether it is out in the world (p.15).
- Competence. Rule 1.1 and Comment [8]: lawyers must be proficient with AI as with any other technology; ongoing CLE and training expected (p.2, p.9, p.14-15).
- Supervision. Rules 5.1 and 5.3: treat the AI tool like a human hired for the task; Rule 5.5 requires a licensed lawyer in the loop (p.13-14).
- Fees. AI-related expenses must be reasonable and appropriately disclosed to clients (p.2, p.16).
- Disclosure. Rule 1.4: inform clients of AI benefits, risks and limits (p.10); be transparent with clients, colleagues and courts about AI use (p.16); federal standing orders on certification described (p.5-6).
- Verification. Verify every citation and that it supports the proposition; hallucination cases Mata and Crabill discussed; lawyer remains responsible for baseless arguments (p.4-6, p.9, p.11).
One line from it: "Is the information secure or out in the world for all to see?" (Joint Formal Op. 2024-200, p.15).
The settings that answer it
- Use the business plan, not a personal one. On Claude Pro, Claude Max and ChatGPT Plus, training on chats is each user's own setting. On Claude Team, ChatGPT Business and Microsoft 365 Copilot with a work sign-in, business data is not used for training by default. On the checklist
- Turn off the training and feedback exceptions an admin can still turn off (Claude feedback, ChatGPT personal accounts that are still in use). On the checklist
- Set retention on purpose instead of taking the default. On the checklist
- Turn on single sign-on so a lawyer who leaves loses access the same day. On the checklist
- Decide on connectors, apps and agents before staff add them. On the checklist
- Pick a rule on memory, and teach temporary or incognito chats for one-off matter questions. On the checklist
- Put the vendor's written terms on training, retention, subprocessors and breach notice in the file. On the checklist
- Write the one-page staff instruction and a note for each new hire. On the checklist
- Keep a verification step before anything is filed. That is a procedure, not a setting, and no vendor sells it. On the checklist
- Decide what the engagement letter says about AI use and billing. That is yours to write; I only flag that the opinion raises it. On the checklist
Rules around it
Technology competence: Yes. Pa. R.P.C. 1.1 Comment [8], adopted verbatim from the ABA Model Rule, effective 2013-11-21
What this page is not
This is a tech settings page, not legal advice. The state document above is the ethics half and it is yours to read and decide on. I am not a lawyer. I link the source so you can check me.
Send me one screenshot
Crop out client names, send me a screenshot of your Claude, ChatGPT or Microsoft 365 admin settings page, and I'll write back what I'd change. Free. I never need a login.
If you want this kept current for your firm, that is the monthly desk: I watch these settings as the vendors change them and as your state changes its guidance, answer staff questions in writing, usually within one business day, and write up setup notes for each new hire. $500 a month, cancel any month.
Who wrote this
I'm Nick Kaufman. I've spent six years in customer-facing technical support for SaaS, payments and CRM software, 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 and I don't give legal advice. I set up software so it does what the people responsible for it decided it should do.
Other states: the full list.