Can a law firm license its precedents and templates to AI? Yes, once clean

Short answer on precedents

Yes, where the firm drafted the precedent or template for its own use and no client's names or facts remain in it: section 11 of the Copyright Act makes the firm first owner of what its staff write at work. A template built from one client's matter needs that client's facts removed, or the client's consent, first.

Source: SRA rules and copyright law on client information and AI training

Why the firm owns its drafting

Copyright in work an employee makes in the course of employment belongs first to the employer under section 11(2) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, unless an agreement says otherwise, so a clause bank written by the firm's lawyers starts as the firm's asset.

Source: SRA rules and copyright law on client information and AI training

Ownership does not lift confidentiality. The SRA's guidance treats any use of a client's information other than for that client's benefit as needing the client's consent, so a precedent marked up from a live deal is a client document until its facts are gone.

Source: SRA, confidentiality of client information

Who takes a firm's own material

micro1 lists templates, operational frameworks, process documentation and internal knowledge bases among what it licenses, asks for 30 or more full-time employees, and says payments typically run from $150K to over $2M. It commits not to resell the data until personal and identifying information has been anonymised.

Source: micro1, monetise your company's operational data

Mode names legal services among the sectors it buys from and says it removes sensitive material and transforms personal identifiers in the agreed copy. License My Data names legal and compliance work and replaces client names consistently.

Source: Law firm data buyers

FileYield names contracts and legal briefs, but its page says it does not remove personal data, so on that route the firm does the cleaning itself.

Source: Law firm data buyers

Before anything is scoped

• Search every precedent for party names, deal values and dates that would identify a matter.
• Separate the firm's standard forms from documents marked up for one client.
• Check supplier and know-how agreements for terms on reuse, and any precedent bought in from a publisher.
• Decide which of the buyers above removes identities itself and which leaves that to you.

A note for the partner who owns know-how

"Our precedent bank may be licensable to AI companies: established firms are being paid for their own templates and procedures, with client material excluded. Could we look at what we hold?"

See also

Lawyers' own paid work is on can my law firm get paid to train AI. Tell us what the firm holds through the enquiry form.