Training Support Staff and PAs to Use AI Safely

In many firms, secretaries and PAs are the people who actually keep matters moving:

• they manage diaries and emails;
• prepare bundles and templates;
• chase signatures and information; and
• quietly fix problems before fee-earners even see them.

If your AI plans ignore support staff, you miss a huge opportunity — and you increase the risk that people will experiment with unsanctioned tools in the shadows.

This article sets out a practical framework for training support staff and PAs to use AI safely in a UK law firm, covering:

• where AI can genuinely help them day to day;
• the guardrails you need in place; and
• how to make supervision and record-keeping straightforward rather than painful.

1. Start with the tasks they actually do

Instead of abstract “AI training”, sit down with a few PAs and secretaries and list:

• the documents they touch most often (attendance notes, letters, standard emails, enclosures lists);
• recurring chores (renaming files, filing emails to the matter, updating chronologies);
• bottlenecks (chasing information, sorting messy instructions from fee-earners).

Good early AI use cases for support staff include:

• Tidying and restructuring: turning rough fee-earner notes into clean, well-structured attendance notes or file notes.
• Summarising email threads: pulling out decisions, deadlines and actions for the fee-earner.
• Populating standard letters: drafting first-pass letters using approved precedents and matter data.
• Chronology support: extracting dates and events from documents to help maintain a single matter timeline.

Training then focuses on these concrete tasks, not on AI theory.

2. Give them a clear, simple rulebook

Support staff are usually very good at following rules — if they are clear and practical.

Your AI guidance for PAs and secretaries should answer, in plain language:

• Which tools are we allowed to use?
  • e.g. “Only the AI features inside OrdoLux and Microsoft 365. No personal accounts or public chatbots.”
• What information can we send to AI?
  • e.g. “Client-confidential material only via approved tools; never paste client data into consumer websites.”
• What must we never do?
  • e.g. “Never invent time entries, attendance notes or dates. Never ask AI to ‘fill in gaps’ about what a client said.”

Keep this to one page for support staff, linked to the firm-wide AI policy. Detailed legal analysis can live elsewhere; they just need the operational rules.

3. Train them on prompts that match firm workflows

Rather than teaching generic prompt tricks, build prompt templates that map to their everyday work, such as:

• “Turn these bullet-point notes into an attendance note with headings: Background, What the client said, Advice given, Next steps. Use neutral, factual language and do not add information that is not in the notes.”
• “Summarise this email thread into: (1) what has been agreed; (2) what is still in dispute; (3) what we have promised to do and by when.”
• “Draft a first-pass appointment confirmation letter based on this template and these details: [insert]. Do not change the firm’s standard clauses.”

You can build these into OrdoLux so that:

• prompts are pre-filled;
• outputs are saved directly to the matter; and
• supervisors can see which prompts were used.

That way, PAs are not freestyling — they are using firm-approved patterns.

4. Make supervision easy and visible

Fee-earners remain responsible for the work on their files. Training should therefore emphasise that:

• AI-assisted notes, letters and summaries are drafts;
• a solicitor must approve anything sent externally; and
• AI use should be logged on the matter, not invisible.

In practice, that means:

• encouraging PAs to save AI-generated drafts in OrdoLux with a simple tag or tick-box (“AI-assisted draft”);
• asking fee-earners to add a quick review note (“Checked, edited and approved – JS, 10:42”);
• including AI use in regular file reviews and supervision conversations.

This gives COLPs, COFAs and insurers a clear audit trail without drowning everyone in bureaucracy.

5. Focus on tone, confidentiality and boundaries

Good training for support staff should spend time on three themes:

1. Tone and style
   • AI can be too informal or too stiff.
   • Show examples of letters “before and after” editing so PAs can see how the firm likes things expressed.
2. Confidentiality
   • Reinforce that client names, facts and documents belong only in approved systems.
   • Explain in simple terms why consumer tools are risky, without scaremongering.
3. Boundaries
   • Make it clear that PAs must not give legal advice, even if AI suggests wording that sounds like advice.
   • Encourage them to flag anything that feels like a judgment call (“Is this an admission?” “Are we conceding something here?”).

The aim is to make AI safer and more boring, not edgy and mysterious.

6. Build confidence through practice, not lectures

Classroom-style training has its place, but support staff often learn best by:

• working through real examples from live or recently closed files;
• trying AI-assisted workflows side by side with old methods; and
• comparing outputs with a supervising solicitor.

Practical exercises might include:

• “Here is a rough fee-earner note — let’s turn it into a clean attendance note with AI, then improve it together.”
• “Here is a long email thread — we’ll generate an AI summary, then mark up what needs correcting.”

Encourage questions and feedback; they will spot edge cases and risks that partners have not considered.

Where OrdoLux fits

OrdoLux is being designed on the assumption that support staff and PAs are power users, not an afterthought:

• AI features live inside the matter file, alongside emails, documents and tasks.
• Approved prompt templates can be shared across the team, so people are not reinventing the wheel.
• AI-assisted notes, letters and summaries are saved with clear labels, making supervision and audit straightforward.

That way, training support staff and PAs to use AI safely is not about handing them another website to juggle, but about enhancing the tools they already live in every day.

This article is general information for practitioners — not legal advice, regulatory guidance or HR advice for your specific firm.

Looking for legal case management software?

OrdoLux is legal case management software for UK solicitors, designed to make matter management, documents, time recording and AI assistance feel like one joined-up system. Learn more on the OrdoLux website.

Further reading

• Driving Legal AI Adoption in a Small Firm: Four Momentum Builders
• AI Policies for Law Firms That People Actually Read