Course Overview

Generative AI assistants produce text from two things: the patterns they learned in training and whatever the lawyer puts in the prompt. The first cannot be controlled. The second can, and the difference between a one-line question and a well-constructed prompt is the difference between output that must be rebuilt and output that can be verified and used. This course teaches a single repeatable method, the Five-Element Prompt (Goal, Context, Source, Expectations, Constraints), and applies it to the tasks lawyers actually delegate to AI: summarizing transcripts, extracting contract terms, drafting demand letters and client emails, spotting issues, and anticipating opposing counsel.

Participants learn the techniques that change output quality (roles, examples, delimiters, iteration, decomposition, grounding, and long-document handling), build a library of tested legal prompt patterns, and pair every pattern with the Six-Step Validation Checklist. The final section covers guardrails: what may never be entered into a consumer tool, how to anonymize, how prompt injection hides in documents and email, and how a firm builds and maintains a prompt library under its supervisory duties.

The course is designed for Florida CLE accreditation in the technology category. It is written for attorneys and legal staff at small and mid-size firms, and it assumes basic familiarity with how a language model produces text. Participants leave with a method they can apply on Monday morning, a prompt library, and a clear understanding of where prompting ends and professional verification begins.

What You Will Learn

• Explain why the content and structure of a prompt determine the quality of generative AI output, and distinguish a prompt from a search query.
• Apply the Five-Element Prompt (Goal, Context, Source, Expectations, Constraints) to common legal tasks and map it to the published prompting guidance of Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and OpenAI.
• Implement role assignment, examples, delimiters, and output templates to control the structure, voice, and format of AI output.
• Evaluate a weak prompt and improve it through iteration, decomposition, grounding in supplied source material, and sound handling of long documents.
• Apply tested prompt patterns for summarizing, extracting, drafting, analyzing, and client communication, each paired with the Six-Step Validation Checklist.
• Recognize which prompt inputs may never be entered into a consumer AI tool, and apply anonymization and the informed-consent principles of Florida Bar Ethics Opinion 24-1 and ABA Formal Opinion 512.
• Identify prompt injection in untrusted documents and design a firm prompt library with naming, versioning, review, and staff training.

Who Should Take This Course

• Attorneys at small and mid-size firms who already use or plan to use a generative AI assistant
• Paralegals, legal assistants, and legal operations staff who draft prompts for attorney review
• Firm administrators responsible for AI training and prompt standards

Course Outline

1. Section 1: Foundations of Prompting
   • Lesson 1.1: Why Prompts Matter
   • Lesson 1.2: The Five-Element Prompt
   • Lesson 1.3: Roles, Examples, and Structure
   • Quiz 1: Foundations of Prompting
2. Section 2: Techniques That Change the Output
   • Lesson 2.1: Iterate and Converse
   • Lesson 2.2: Decompose the Work
   • Lesson 2.3: Ground It
   • Lesson 2.4: Long Documents and Context Hygiene
   • Quiz 2: Techniques That Change the Output
3. Section 3: Legal Task Patterns
   • Lesson 3.1: Summarize and Extract
   • Lesson 3.2: Draft and Redraft
   • Lesson 3.3: Analyze
   • Lesson 3.4: Client Communication and Plain Language
   • Quiz 3: Legal Task Patterns
4. Section 4: Guardrails
   • Lesson 4.1: Confidentiality-Safe Prompting
   • Lesson 4.2: Prompt Injection and Untrusted Content
   • Lesson 4.3: Building the Firm Prompt Library
   • Quiz 4: Guardrails
5. LGTAI201 Final Exam (20 questions, 80 percent to pass)

Course Details

• Level: Intermediate
• Instruction: 86 narrated minutes (1 hour 26 minutes), plus quizzes and a final exam
• Prerequisites: LGTAI101 AI Fundamentals for Legal Professionals, or equivalent familiarity with how generative AI produces text
• Format: Self-paced online course with narrated lessons, interactive exercises, section quizzes, and a graded final exam

Materials Included

• Student handbook (PDF)
• Quick reference card: the Five-Element Prompt and the Six-Step Validation Checklist (PDF)
• Legal prompt library with verification notes (PDF)

Continuing Legal Education

This course is designed for Florida CLE accreditation (anticipated request: 1.5 General, 1.5 Technology). CLE accreditation is pending; no credit is approved until The Florida Bar issues a course number.

How to Use This Course

• Complete the sections in order; each builds on the last.
• Work through every interactive exercise before taking the section quiz.
• Pass each quiz and the final exam with a score of 80 percent or higher to earn your certificate of completion.
• Keep the student handbook and quick reference card for use in practice.

Current as of October 2026. Product names, vendor policies, rules, and court decisions discussed in this course change; the course is reviewed on an annual cycle.