Gemini for lawyers: An associate that doesn’t bill by the hour

Lawyers don’t need fluffy promises about “the future of work.” They need to get through piles of documents, make decisions faster, and avoid mistakes that can cost their clients (and reputation) dearly. AI tools like Gemini are here to give it all a serious productivity boost.

No matter if you’re reviewing 5,000 pages of eDiscovery docs, rewriting a dense legal memo into something a CEO can understand, or just trying to keep track of internal case strategy, AI can help. And not in some theoretical way. We’re talking about tools you can start using today.

So let’s get into the real questions:

• What can Gemini (and other AI assistants) actually do for your firm?
• What are the risks (hello, confidentiality)?
• How can you get started without tripping over compliance, ethics, or IT?

Why even bother? Because time is your scarcest asset

In the legal world, time is literally money. AI helps you:

• Get to first drafts faster (contracts, memos, emails)
• Surface insights from massive case files in seconds
• Do better research, faster — and from up-to-date sources
• Translate legalese into plain English for clients
• Reuse your firm’s internal know-how across cases

But what about confidentiality?

This is the #1 concern. And rightly so.

That’s why we only recommend enterprise-grade tools — not whatever chatbot your cousin found online. If you’re using Gemini via Google Workspace or Vertex AI (set up properly), you’re working in a secure environment with:

• Zero data leakage: Your prompts and files stay in your org. Not used for training. Period.

• Full compliance stack: Think SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA readiness.

• Indemnification: Google offers IP and copyright protection for Gemini Enterprise customers (a big deal for firms publishing content or client-facing materials).

Want your team to use Gemini safely and smartly? Check out our tailored Gemini for Google Workspace training program. Designed for professional teams, built with security and practicality in mind.

What is Gemini? 

Like ChatGPT, Gemini is a conversational AI-powered chatbot that responds to user-generated text prompts with text-based answers. Gemini uses information from the web to generate solutions.

Gemini can interpret and respond to various types of content, including text, video, audio, and code, allowing it to perform a wide range of tasks. As a suite of generative AI models, Gemini offers a range of different products and services designed to assist with different types of tasks.

Currently, Gemini is available from the web and also as part of Google Workspace in more than 40 languages.

How do you use Gemini?

If you meet certain requirements (such as having Google Workspace Account), using Gemini is simple.

Visit gemini.google.com and sign in with your Google account. Then, click “Chat with Gemini” to get started. The more detailed and conversational your prompts are, the more likely you are to get useful results.

Get your prompts right or waste your time

Prompting isn’t magic. It’s a skill. Bad prompts = bad output. If you want to actually benefit from AI assistants, your team needs to learn how to talk to them properly.

Free Resource: Download our Prompting Guide for Gemini in Google Workspace
Full of real-life examples, written for professionals (not prompt engineers), and legally safe to use at work.

Five things AI can already do in your firm

1. Make document review more efficient — upload entire case files or data rooms and ask smart questions like:

   • “What are the contradictions in these witness statements?”

   • “Build a timeline of events from these 200 documents.”

2. Legal research, but better

   • “Summarize the differences in ‘fair use’ interpretation in the 2nd vs 9th Circuit.”

   • "What are 3 counterarguments we might face on this fact pattern?”

3. First drafts of contracts — provide a term sheet or notes. Get a solid NDA, MSA clause comparison, or risk review — fast. You still review it, of course. But you start 10 steps ahead.

4. Simplify comms for clients

   • “Turn this ruling into a client update in plain English.”

   • “What do I need to tell our client about this change in law?”

5. Tap into your own knowledge — with Google tools like Vertex AI Search, you can query your own case histories:

   • “What strategy did we use in the ACME v Beta dispute?”

   • “Did we already draft a clause like this in a past deal?”

Start small, stay smart

You don’t need to “AI everything” tomorrow. Start with:

• One pilot (e.g. AI-assisted doc review on a specific case)

• One policy (what’s OK to use, what needs review, how to fact-check)

• One partner (like us) to make sure it’s set up securely

Gemini has been incredibly valuable for us as its differentiated capabilities have been core to making our everyday work more effective. Features such as Deep Research to develop in-depth analytical reports on topics, native multimodal understanding and NotebookLM for being able to derive insights from vast troves of information have changed our ways of working for the better. – Gopal Srinivasan, Principal, Deloitte

You’re not being replaced, you’re being upgraded

Generative AI and AI assistants won’t replace good lawyers (probably not this year). But  law firms that ignore it will be replaced by those who don’t. The tools are real, the risks are manageable, and the opportunity is massive — if you do it right.

Let’s make AI work for you — we’ll help you solve your problem with up-to-date technology.

Ready to get your team up to speed with AI in a way that’s compliant, secure, and actually useful?