Artificial Intelligence Is Not the Divorce Attorney You Want

Artificial intelligence aims to please, and I understand the temptation to use it in place of your lawyer, given the expense of legal advice. However, it may be hurting you more than helping you. In a recent case in Virginia, data fed into OpenAI was deemed to have lost all attorney-client privilege, so you need to be incredibly careful about which platforms you use and what data you give AI access to in your case. You should also discuss a strategy with your attorney before allowing AI access to your private information.

Here is a guide on when and how to effectively use AI in your divorce matter:

Don’t Use AI for Advice

If you have read anything about AI, you should know that it aims to please you. That means the advice it gives may be tailored toward what you want to hear. Attorneys provide guidance based on case law, the court and judges you will appear before, likely scenarios, and years of real-life experience. A good attorney will tell you things you don’t want to hear. They will challenge you on what you want, what you don’t want, how important certain items are to you, and the potential outcomes and solutions. Relying on AI to determine what you think you are entitled to can lead to unrealistic expectations, poor negotiations, and bad case outcomes.

Do Use AI for Brainstorming

What AI can do, however, is help generate potential scenarios. For instance, if you want to keep a specific asset but must give up other things, it can help create spreadsheets outlining possible financial options. It can also help generate questions for meetings with your attorney and assist in brainstorming custody schedules.

Don’t Use AI to Generate Documents

AI can use 10,000 words to say very little—you’ve probably noticed that. By design, that extra verbosity increases output. However, much of that language has no legal meaning, may not be enforceable, and is often overly wordy. It frequently lacks the precision needed to accomplish your goals and can cost you thousands of dollars to fix. Your lawyer will likely spend more time reviewing and editing a poor document—or worse, trying to repair the damage—than they would drafting a strong one from scratch. Our most expensive cases are often those where we are fixing mistakes clients made on their own.

Do Use AI to Organize Your Case

Attorneys often need timelines of events, monthly budgets outlining your true expenses, and spreadsheets detailing your assets and liabilities. These are good areas where AI can help summarize large amounts of data and organize information. Your attorney will still need the underlying documents, and you should be very careful to double-check everything, as errors and “hallucinations” can occur. You can also use AI tools to help gather information for your attorney in some cases, such as compiling emails from a specific person or collecting financial statements from an account. AI note-taking services can help you remember what was discussed with your attorney, but again, proceed with caution to preserve the confidentiality of your information and communications.

Don’t Use AI to Manipulate or Control Your Ex

AI will often reinforce your perspective. It may suggest that you should “win” every conflict or portray the other party negatively. It can generate lengthy parenting plans that are overly controlling—we’ve seen nearly identical versions in multiple cases, and they are not effective. These plans often take normal parenting differences—even beneficial ones—and frame them as problems to be controlled. That approach is not what courts look for in a joint legal custodian and can harm your case in the long run.

Do Use AI to Tone Down Heated Communications

One appropriate use of AI is to help make your communications with your co-parent less heated. Try drafting what you want to say, then ask AI to rephrase it in a simple, polite, and professional tone while preserving the key information. Use that as your template. One heated message often leads to another, creating a cycle of frustration and distrust that accomplishes nothing productive.

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