Kaufman Ops

AI settings for a small law firm in Massachusetts

Checked against the source documents on October 26, 2026

Massachusetts Bar Counsel's AI article says to read a tool's terms and make sure the vendor can purge your client's data on request. The settings that answer that are on the main checklist. This page says which ones Massachusetts points at, and why.

What Massachusetts has said

Office of Bar Counsel, Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers (Afton Pavletic, Assistant Bar Counsel): The Wild West of Artificial Intelligence: Ethical Considerations for the Use of A.I. in the Practice of Law, 2024, date not printed on the document.

  1. Confidentiality. Rule 1.6 bars revealing client information absent informed consent or an exception; AI inputs can be a disclosure (p. 4-5).
  2. Competence. Rule 1.1 cmt. 8: understand generally how the tool works and what data it collects (p. 4).
  3. Supervision. Rules 5.1/5.3: firms need clear technology-use policies, training and monitoring (p. 6).
  4. Fees. Rule 1.5: technology costs passed to clients must reasonably reflect actual cost (Rule 1.5 section).
  5. Disclosure. Consult clients on significant AI use (Rule 1.4); Mata and Crabill show the cost of hiding AI use from courts.
  6. Verification. Mata v. Avianca and People v. Crabill: fabricated citations went unchecked; lawyers are gatekeepers (p. 2-3).

The line about the tool itself. Read terms and conditions; for vendors confirm an enforceable confidentiality duty, breach notice, and ability to purge client data (p. 4, p. 6 and n. 23). (p. 4 (Rule 1.1 and 1.3 section) and p. 6 (Rule 1.6 section, n. 23))

One line from it: "don't enter confidential information when you are using a non-private system" (p. 5, Rule 1.6 section).

The settings that answer it

  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. Set retention on purpose instead of taking the default. On the checklist
  4. Turn on single sign-on so a lawyer who leaves loses access the same day. On the checklist
  5. Decide on connectors, apps and agents before staff add them. On the checklist
  6. Put the vendor's written terms on training, retention, subprocessors and breach notice in the file. On the checklist
  7. Write the one-page staff instruction and a note for each new hire. On the checklist
  8. Keep a verification step before anything is filed. That is a procedure, not a setting, and no vendor sells it. On the checklist
  9. 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. Mass. SJC Rule 3:07, Rules of Professional Conduct Rule 1.1, Comment [8]; approved 2015-03-27, effective 2015-07-01

In motion: SJC Interim Guidelines for Use of Generative AI are labeled interim and subject to revision; they cover court personnel, not lawyers. 2025-11-12 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.

Email [email protected]

Who wrote this

Nick Kaufman

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.