AI settings for a small law firm in South Carolina
Checked against the source documents on October 26, 2026
The South Carolina Supreme Court's interim AI policy warns that information submitted to an AI program may become public. The court wrote that for its own staff; the risk is the same for a firm. The settings that answer that are on the main checklist. This page says which ones South Carolina points at, and why.
What South Carolina has said
Supreme Court of South Carolina (Chief Justice John W. Kittredge): Appellate Case No. 2025-000043, Order Re: Interim Policy on the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence, 2025-03-25.
- Confidentiality. Section (d)(2): lawyers must ensure generative AI use does not compromise client confidentiality or violate Rule 407 SCACR.
- Competence. Not addressed for lawyers beyond responsibility for accuracy of work product (d)(1).
- Supervision. Not addressed for lawyers; (c)(2) lets supervising judges and lawyers limit employee use.
- Disclosure. No disclosure or certification requirement for filings; policy says it does not specifically address lawyer use (d)(1).
- Verification. Section (d)(1): lawyers and litigants are responsible for accuracy of all work product and must use caution relying on generative AI output.
One line from it: "must use caution when relying on any output of Generative AI" (Interim Policy, section (d)(1), p.3).
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
- 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. Rule 407 SCACR, Rule 1.1, Comment [6] (reasonable understanding of benefits and risks of technology the lawyer uses to provide services or store or transmit.
In motion: Interim Policy remains in effect until further order of the Chief Justice or Supreme Court (section (e)); no comment deadline. No SC Bar ethics advisory opinion on AI is pending or issued as of EAO 26-02. source
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.