Why we never let AI write the first draft

AI can help lawyers think better — or it can do their thinking for them. At Ross Holmes Lawyers, we've made a deliberate choice about which one we'll accept. Here's why it matters to you.

There's a moment that happens in almost every law firm that has started using AI. Someone types a request into the tool, and in seconds — sometimes less — back comes a confident, well-structured draft. A will. A trust deed. An advice letter. It reads like something a careful lawyer would write. The blank page problem, that old enemy of productivity, appears to have been solved.

We want to explain why we think that moment is actually the most dangerous one in the whole process — and what we do instead.

The trap hidden inside the shortcut

There's solid psychology behind what happens next. Research by Kahneman and Tversky showed that once people are presented with an initial answer — any answer, even a random one — it anchors their thinking. Everything that follows becomes editing, not independent judgment. The anchor holds even when you know it might be wrong.

There's a related concept called the Einstellung effect, identified by psychologist Abraham Luchins. Once you find a solution that works, you become functionally blind to better ones. The first viable path doesn't just compete with alternatives — it blocks you from seeing them at all.

"An AI first draft sounds like something a lawyer would write. Plausible. Well-organised. And that's precisely what makes it dangerous — the anchor holds even when you know it might be wrong."

For most tasks, this is a minor inconvenience. You might end up with a slightly suboptimal email. For legal advice, the stakes are considerably higher.

What legal thinking actually looks like

Good legal advice is not a first-pass answer. It is the product of holding several possible answers in tension, stress-testing each against the facts, and only then committing to the one that best serves the client.

A senior lawyer reviewing a junior's memo isn't looking for better writing. They're looking for the argument the memo didn't consider. The clause that seems protective but creates a problem three years down the track. That peripheral vision — the ability to see what isn't in the document — is the whole game.

When you begin with an AI-generated draft, you skip the period of genuine ambiguity that makes that peripheral vision possible. You've committed to a theory before you've finished thinking.

What this means for your legal matters

Think about what this means in practice. If you're setting up a will, there are fundamentally different ways to structure it — different trustee arrangements, different asset protection strategies, different implications for your family's situation. The right answer depends on choices that are specific to you, and those choices should be made before any document is drafted, not discovered by editing a draft that already made them.

The risk in plain language

If AI writes the first draft of your legal document, it has already made the consequential decisions — which approach to take, which risks to prioritise, which provisions to include. You may review and sign a document that reflects an AI's default assumptions rather than your actual circumstances and wishes.

That's not a theoretical risk. It's a structural one, built into how the technology works.

What we do instead

We use Claude — Anthropic's AI — extensively in our practice. We think it's genuinely powerful. But we have a firm protocol about how it enters any drafting process.

Before Claude writes a single line of any substantive document or advice, we require it to do something different first: map the strategic options.

Step 1 — Map the options

Claude identifies at least three genuinely different approaches — not just variations on one theme.

Step 2 — Test each one

For each option, Claude presents the strongest argument in its favour and its most serious weakness.

Step 3 — Ross Holmes Lawyers chooses

Only after the right direction is selected — informed by your specific circumstances — does drafting begin.

The single most important line in our instructions to Claude is: "Do not write a draft. I want to choose the direction before we start building." That rule keeps the judgment where it belongs — with the lawyer, informed by your situation.

Why this matters more in law than anywhere else

Legal documents have consequences that persist for decades. A trust deed signed today may govern what happens to your family's assets when your grandchildren are adults. A will drafted on assumptions that weren't quite right about your circumstances can cause exactly the disputes it was meant to prevent.

The value of legal advice has never been the words in the document. It has always been the thinking that preceded them. AI is powerful precisely because it can produce convincing words very quickly. That power becomes a risk the moment it is used to skip the thinking.

Our commitment to you

When Ross Holmes Lawyers uses AI, it's to think more thoroughly — not faster. Claude helps us see more options and test more arguments before we advise you. It does not write your documents. Your lawyer does, after the thinking is done.

A note of caution on using AI directly for legal advice

There's a separate and growing concern about people using AI to get legal advice without involving a lawyer at all. We understand the appeal — it's fast, free, and, for genuinely simple questions, a useful starting point.

The problem is that AI cannot tell you what it doesn't know. It will give you a confident answer whether or not that answer accounts for your specific circumstances, the latest New Zealand case law, or the interaction between several areas of law that happen to apply to your situation. It has no professional obligation to you and cannot be held accountable if it's wrong.

For anything that matters — property, trusts, wills, family arrangements, business structures — please talk to a lawyer. The cost of getting advice is almost always less than the cost of undoing advice that turned out to be wrong.

Ross Holmes Virtual Lawyers Limited
We specialise in estate planning, trusts, property, and business law. We use technology — including AI — to serve clients more thoughtfully, not less carefully. We have used AI in our website to enable you to get an instant online quote, complete our client onboarding forms, and provide your information to us from the comfort of your home. You can still meet with us in person. Whatever suits you best.

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