Prompting CoCounsel
Learn to prompt CoCounsel effectively.
Overview
Good human legal assistants can make supervising lawyers forget just how complicated legal work can be. With experience, a legal assistant can know what to do in certain situations without even being told, or they will be able to fill in gaps when they receive unclear instructions.
CoCounsel is a very intelligent, very fast-working GenAI legal assistant that learns very quickly, but CoCounsel has a much smaller context of focus. Whereas a human assistant can draw on years of experience to complete instant tasks, CoCounsel can only focus on a few thousand words at a time.
For this reason, you should be clear about exactly what you want and avoid ambiguity. Specifically, your prompts should convey your
intent
(the purpose for the task), your context
(the background information you provide about the task), and your instruction
(the explicit action you want CoCounsel to take).note
The parts of the prompt
Intent | I'm seeking to discredit an expert witness. |
Context | The documents I uploaded contain all prior testimony of the expert I'm seeking to discredit. My case involves medical malpractice. I am representing the plaintiff, who suffered serious complications during routine surgery. |
Instruction | Please review each document to identify all mentions of medical procedures, surgery, or my client's complications.
Follow-up : Please use the results from reviewing these documents to draft a memo that identifies any implicit or explicit contradictions or inconsistencies. |
The combined prompt
I'm seeking to discredit an expert witness. The documents I uploaded contain all prior testimony of the expert I'm seeking to discredit. My case involves medical malpractice. I am representing the plaintiff, who suffered serious complications during routine surgery. Please review each document to identify all mentions of medical procedures, surgery, or my client's complications.
The follow-up
Please use the results from reviewing these documents to draft a memo that identifies any implicit or explicit contradictions or inconsistencies.
Best practices
Provide context
Consider the value of a prompt with and without context.
Without context | With context |
I need to understand the rights of Personal Representatives in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. | I am representing the beneficiary of a trust established by the decedent’s will. The beneficiary is the stepson of the decedent. The Personal Representative for the Estate is also the Trustee of the Trust. I need to understand the rights of Personal Representatives in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. |
Assign a persona
Give CoCounsel a specific identity. When you use this option, you are assigning CoCounsel the perspective of a specific person. This is a document review example.
Without an assigned persona | With an assigned persona |
Does the document contain any examples of malpractice? | You are an expert in medical malpractice claims where a surgeon’s actions caused a lifelong disability. Does the document contain any examples of malpractice? |
warning
May not work as well with Search a Database.
Provide a rule
Provide rules, like definitions or examples, that CoCounsel should follow. This is a database research example.
Without a rule | With a rule |
Will extreme events that disrupt a supply chain automatically terminate an agreement? | Extreme events are catastrophic and unforeseen. Examples include sudden police or military actions, and natural weather events like wildfires, floods, tornados, earthquakes, and other events traditionally defined as acts of god. Will extreme events that disrupt a supply chain automatically terminate an agreement? |
Provide choices
Provide choices for CoCounsel to select while responding to your request. This is a database research example.
Without choices | With choices |
What kind of fiduciary is named in this document? | What kind of fiduciary is named in this document? (A) a Personal Representative or Executor/trix, (B) a Trustee, (C) a Conservator? |
Write layered requests
CoCounsel can handle complex requests with multiple layers. This is a correspondence drafting example where a letter is being refined.
Without conditions or layers | With conditions or lawyers |
Edit the letter so it has a more formal tone. | Generally, edit the letter so it has a more formal tone. Specifically, indicate that our position in paragraph 2 is supported by case law precedent; remove current paragraph 3; and convert the list in current paragraph 4 from a comma-separated list to bullets. |
Use open, closed, or leading requests
Use open, closed, or leading requests to approach the same information. This is a legal research example.
Open | Closed | Leading |
Describe the strict scrutiny standard of review. | Is the standard of review in this case strict scrutiny? | Why is the standard of review in this case strict scrutiny? |
Meta-prompting (aka, asking CoCounsel for assistance with prompting)
CoCounsel can help craft prompts. Describe the information you need, and then consider CoCounsel's suggestion as you write your request. This is a database research example.
I need help writing a prompt to search a database of my successful Motions for Summary Judgement in slip and fall cases. The goal is to find the best argument that a defendant corporation can make against a plaintiff who suffered a broken bone as a result of ice and snow that was not cleared from a sidewalk in front of a Wisconsin grocery store. |
Include a preferred format for chat-based work
CoCounsel can consider preferred formatting while drafting in the chat.
Without preferred formatting | With preferred formatting |
In the chat, please write a formal letter to Harold that explains substantive due process. | In the chat, please write a formal letter to Harold that explains substantive due process. Please use bullet points for the explanation. |
Please write the preamble of the US Constitution in English, Spanish and Latin. | Please write the preamble of the US Constitution in English, Spanish and Latin. Please use a table to show the translations side-by-side. |