For law firms, Toowoomba
Claude for
small
law firms
New matters to open, time to record, and since 1 July 2026, AML/CTF checks on some of your work. A small firm's admin keeps growing.
Some of that's fine to hand to AI with a solicitor checking. Confidential and privileged material needs a lot more care. We'll go through what goes where, and the reasons.
It starts with a free 30-minute call. See a sample Audit.
Is it for you?
Does this sound like your firm?
Your clients are using AI too
They're pasting your letters into free chatbots, and you're wondering what that does to privilege.
You do conveyancing or set up companies and trusts
So the AML/CTF changes reached your firm on 1 July 2026, with a lot more to do when a new client comes in.
You'd use it if you knew the rules
The Law Society says AI use needs the firm's approval, and you'd like to get the conditions right first.
The admin
4 admin jobs in a small law firm
Flagging AML work at intake
When a new matter comes in, the Law Society suggests a step that flags possible AML work. In a small firm that's mostly conveyancing, a company or trust set-up, or money held for a deal.
If your practice software has an intake risk form, AI can read the notes that come in around it and flag the matters that look like that work. A solicitor decides, and the client check records stay out of any tool you haven't vetted.
Time entries from the day
If your system doesn't record time for you, turning a day of calls, emails and file work into entries usually happens at the end of a long day.
AI can draft entries from your diary and sent mail. The solicitor checks each one, and nothing gets rounded up.
Your yearly AML check
If you think your firm is outside the AML/CTF rules, the Law Society says to write down why, date it, tell all your staff, and look at it again regularly, and at least once a year.
AI can draft the dated record and the staff note from your answers. The principal makes the call.
Warning clients about their own AI use
The Law Society's template hand-out tells clients what free AI tools can do to privilege. It suggests giving it at the start, with a spoken warning too, and noting that you did.
AI can help fit the hand-out to the type of matter and keep track of who's had it. The solicitor gives the spoken warning.
Sample Audit
See a sample Audit for a firm like yours
It's the full report for a made-up Toowoomba law firm, four jobs and all, with real products and prices as they were in October 2026. Yours follows the same layout, with your own jobs, and it may look different as I keep improving the Audit.
- Each job sorted into what AI can take on, what it does with a person checking, and what stays with your people
- The products for each job, with their prices
- Your industry's rules and guidance on AI
Your rules
What law firms have to watch with AI
In Queensland, the conduct rules and the Queensland Law Society's guidance set the line, and the courts have their own rules on references in submissions. This isn't legal advice. Your own adviser has the last word.
- Confidential client information stays with the practice and the people it engages on the client's work, unless the client authorises it going out, or the law allows it.
- Any AI use in legal work or on firm systems should happen only with the firm's approval, on conditions it sets. The directors or partners are responsible for it.
- Read the tool's terms first. If they don't answer the confidentiality questions, be very careful about giving it confidential material. The Law Society asks whether the terms fit with keeping material confidential, since that bears on privilege. Leaving party names out of prompts helps.
- Each piece of AI work gets checked by someone who knows that area of law, with close supervision at the start.
- Telling clients in your retainer or engagement letter which AI tools you use may be enough in many cases. The tool's fees are an overhead you can't bill to a client.
- The Supreme Court's Practice Direction 5 of 2025 says the practitioner named on written submissions must check every reference. Citing something that doesn't exist can mean a referral to the Legal Services Commissioner or being asked why they shouldn't pay costs personally. The District Court, Land Court, Planning and Environment Court and QCAT have their own directions on AI too.
- Since 1 July 2026, the AML/CTF rules cover some legal work: conveyancing, setting up or restructuring a company or trust, holding a client's money for a deal, and a few others. Litigation generally isn't covered, and nor are wills, probate or a power of attorney for a person. A firm that does covered work enrols with AUSTRAC within 28 days, and the Privacy Act then applies to that work whatever its turnover.
- If client data's lost, the Law Society says clients should be told as a matter of professional conduct, even when the notifiable data breach scheme doesn't apply.
Where AI should stay out
- The final check of every reference before anything goes to a court. A practitioner reads each one at the source.
- Privileged or confidential material, in any tool whose terms don't keep it confidential.
- Deciding whether a matter is AML-covered work, and the client check itself. That's the firm's call.
- The legal advice itself. A solicitor gives it and stands behind it.
Book a callA free 30-minute call about your firm.
How I'd start
Three ways in
- Workflow Audit: I come to your office and sort every job into what AI can take on, what it does with a person checking, and what stays with your people.
- Claude Set-up and Onboarding: Claude set up properly from day one, with a written AI use policy.
- AI use policy: a written policy on its own, if you're not ready for a set-up.
Hi, I'm Chad.
AI is changing how small businesses work, and it's moving fast. I want to help you understand it well enough to make good decisions: what to hand over, what to check, and what to keep with your people.
I've built my own business on Claude. My social media runs on it, from writing the posts to scheduling them, and it works to rules I've set and maintain. I've got automated workflows right across the business, from mail and contacts to research and planning. Doing it myself is how I've learned what works and what doesn't.
I'm based in Toowoomba, I'll come to you, and you'll deal with me from start to finish.
- Privacy's part of every job.
- When I report on the AI tools your people use, I name the tools and the jobs. I don't say who uses what.
Questions
Things lawyers ask
Could using AI put privilege at risk?
The Law Society's guidance asks whether a tool's terms fit with keeping material confidential, and points out that privilege can't restore confidentiality once it's gone. So the tool's terms matter before anything privileged goes in. Your own adviser has the last word on a given matter.
Is my firm caught by the AML/CTF rules?
It depends on the work you do. If you do even one covered service, you enrol with AUSTRAC and take on its AML/CTF obligations. If you think you're outside, the Law Society says to write down why and review it regularly, and at least once a year.
Do we have to tell clients we use AI?
The Law Society says telling them in the retainer or engagement letter may be enough in many cases. It also has a separate template hand-out warning clients about their own use of AI.
How do I book?
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll talk about your firm and where it makes sense to start.