Draft a memo from the matter's documents

The partner wants a first-draft memo on one issue by the end of the day: whether Project Alpha triggers the change of control clauses in Beta Holding A/S's supply agreements, say. JuristIQ drafts it from the matter's documents, with a citation on each passage, so you can check it line by line and finish it in Word.

Two questions shape the request. Who reads the memo, and what decision does it support? And which documents should it rest on?

Give JuristIQ the material

1. Set the sidebar to the matter and open JuristIQ from AI, then click New chat. A chat started from the matter can search all of its documents; ask JuristIQ about the matter's documents covers this step by step.

2. If the memo should rest on particular documents, attach them: in the plus menu under the question box, choose Connections and tick them, or Upload files for documents that are not in the matter yet. Tick the timeline or board too if the memo needs dates or the status of the deal.

Ask for the memo

1. Put the whole brief in one message: the question, the reader, the length and the structure. For example:

   Draft a memo to the partner on whether the acquisition of Beta Holding A/S triggers the change of control clauses in its supply agreements. For each agreement, give the clause, what it requires (consent, notice or a right to terminate) and any deadline. Two pages at most, with a short conclusion first.

2. Press Enter to send. JuristIQ searches and reads the documents before it writes, and the steps it takes appear above the draft.

3. If JuristIQ needs something before it continues, it asks in a card above the question box. Pick an option or type your own answer; with several questions, click Next to go through them and Send answers at the end. If it asks for a document, drop the file on the card or type what you know in the box, and click Send. Click I have nothing to attach to let it carry on without one.

Check and revise in the same chat

1. Check every cited passage before you rely on the draft. Hover a citation number to see which part of the memo rests on it, and click it to open the document at the quoted text. Check JuristIQ's answer against its sources goes through this in full.

   

2. Ask for changes in the same chat, one instruction at a time: "Add the notice period in clause 14 of the Gamma agreement", "Move the conclusion to the top", "Cut section 3 to one paragraph". JuristIQ keeps the documents and the earlier draft in view.

3. Keep going as long as you need. When the conversation grows long, its earlier messages are condensed so the chat can continue, and a Conversation compacted line marks where that happened. When you are happy, ask for the final version of the whole memo in one answer.

Finish it in Word

1. Point at JuristIQ's final version of the memo and click the copy icon under it (Copy to Clipboard). Paste it into the firm's memo template in Word: the headings, lists and bold come with it, and the citation markers are left out.

   

2. To keep the whole conversation instead, click Download Chat to Word in the chat's toolbar. The Word document holds the whole conversation under the chat's title: your requests and JuristIQ's answers, in order. The download is plain text, so headings and bold are not carried over.

   

3. Either way the citation numbers stay behind in the chat, so keep it open beside the Word document while you finish: the citations are there for the next check.

Tips from practice

• Name the output in the prompt. "A memo to the partner, conclusion first, two pages" gets a memo. "What do the agreements say about change of control?" gets an answer.
• Save a good brief. When a memo prompt works, save it to the Prompt Bank so the next associate starts from it: see save prompts the team reuses.
• One issue per chat. A chat about one question keeps the sources focused and the Word download short.
• It is still your memo. Read every passage it cites before it reaches the partner, and anything without a citation twice.

Before you start, see ask JuristIQ about the matter's documents. To build the checking habit, read check JuristIQ's answer against its sources.