How Legal Professionals are Using AI

Recently, I used AI for an assignment requiring Consumer Law & Advocacy students to write a detailed demand letter. (a professional letter detailing a dispute with someone or a company, asserting legal rights, and laying out a demand for recourse) In the past, this task took students a few hours to write a great letter. Predicting that lawyers, paralegals, and consumer advocates would soon use AI to complete this type of work, I demonstrated to students how to create a demand letter using AI. Using ChatGPT 3.5, these are the chronological prompts I used to create a fictitious demand letter:

- Write demand letter landlord in Atlanta won't fix air conditioning?

- Add six dates over a ten day period that tenant called or emailed landlord

- Now put those dates in the body of the demand letter

- Add in May 4: I got three estimates from a repair company attached to this letter

- Did not do it / I then hit the Regenerate button which got it done

- Use real names John Smith is the tenant Jill Jones is the landlord

- It did it!

- Now add a statement at the end if I do not hear back by May 12 hire third party under repair and deduct law

Demand Letter Generated by AI

John Smith / Address

May 11, 2023

(via email and hand-delivered to leasing office)

Jill Jones / Address

Dear Ms. Jones:

I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with the current condition of the air conditioning system in my apartment located at 123 Main St. As you are aware, the air conditioning system has been malfunctioning for several weeks now and despite numerous requests for repair, no action has been taken.

As evidence of my attempts to communicate with you regarding this matter, I would like to reference the following dates when I, John Smith, contacted you to report the air conditioning malfunction:

1.?????? May 1, 2023: I called you to report air conditioning malfunction.

2.????? May 3, 2023: I sent an email to you requesting repair of air conditioning system.

3.????? May 4, 2023: I obtained three repair estimates from a professional company, which are attached to this letter.

4.????? May 5, 2023: I called you to follow up on repair request.

5.????? May 7, 2023: I sent a second email to you requesting immediate action to fix the air conditioning system.

6.????? May 8, 2023: I called you again to inquire about repair timeline.

7.????? May 10, 2023: I sent a third email to you demanding immediate repair of the air conditioning system.

I would like to remind you that as my landlord, it is your responsibility to ensure that the apartment is in a habitable condition and that all necessary repairs are promptly addressed. The lack of action on your part has made it extremely uncomfortable for me to live in the apartment, especially during the hot summer months.

I have taken the initiative to obtain three estimates from a professional repair company for the repair of the air conditioning system, which are attached to this letter. I demand that you, Ms. Jones, immediately take action to fix the air conditioning system in my apartment and provide me with a timeline for when the repairs will be completed. If the repairs are not completed within a reasonable time frame, I will have no other choice but to take legal action to enforce my rights as a tenant.

If I do not hear back from you by May 12, 2023, I will be forced to hire a third-party repair company and deduct the cost of the repair from my rent under the "repair and deduct" law in Georgia.

I would appreciate your prompt attention to this matter. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

John Smith

Note: All I added was the date of the letter and "via email and hand-delivered;" AI did the rest.

Takeaway: We are only scratching the surface of time-saving possibilities presented by AI.

Excerpt: Innovative College Teaching

Thank you Master Teachers Dr. Evaristo Doria Gregory Henley Leila Lawlor Laura Meyers, Ph.D., Dr. Isabelle Monlouis Benita Moore Carol Springer Sargent John P. Thielman, Esq., Paul Ulrich Diana S. Barber Jody Blanke Yelena Abalmazova Chan and Marta Szabo White. Georgia State University - J. Mack Robinson College of Business Georgia State University RiskMgt & InsurDept. GSU Clayton State University Georgia State University College of Arts & Sciences Georgia State University's College of Education & Human Development Georgia State University Research The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute at Georgia State University Washington and Lee University School of Law Mercer University Stetson-Hatcher School of Business NCFDD Georgia Intellectual Property Alliance