Course Overview
Audience: Attorneys, paralegals, and legal staff at small law firms who are beginning their journey with Microsoft Copilot.
Purpose: Provide a practical, hands-on introduction to Microsoft Copilot within the Microsoft 365 environment, covering core capabilities, effective prompting, security architecture, ethical obligations, and daily workflow integration.
What You Will Learn
- What Microsoft Copilot is and how it integrates with Word, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, and Excel.
- How to write effective prompts using the five-element framework for high-quality, relevant results.
- The security architecture that protects client data within your firm’s Microsoft 365 tenant.
- Your professional responsibility obligations when using AI tools in legal practice.
- How to validate AI-generated content using the six-step mandatory checklist.
- A practical three-month roadmap for integrating Copilot into your daily workflows.
How to Use This Course
- Complete each section in order, as concepts build on one another.
- Participate in the hands-on exercises to reinforce learning.
- Use the Student Handbook as a companion reference during and after the course.
- Apply the validation checklist to every piece of AI-generated content you use in practice.
- The Course Coach is available for questions and additional learning topics.
Professional Responsibility Note: AI adoption in law firms must align with your duties of competence, confidentiality, supervision, and client communication. ABA Formal Opinion 512 provides useful framing for understanding these obligations in the context of generative AI tools.