Why legal
Law firms hold some of the most sensitive information any organisation keeps: privileged advice, transaction terms before they are public, disputes before they are settled. Lawyers are also among the people AI helps most — long documents, precise drafting, careful comparison.
Solicitors in England and Wales owe clients a duty of confidentiality, and the SRA expects firms to have effective systems for protecting client information. Pasting a draft share purchase agreement into a general-purpose chatbot sits awkwardly with that. Banning AI does not remove the pressure to use it. The practical answer is to give AI a governed route to exactly the matter information a task needs.
Matters, walls and privilege
Kroy scopes AI access to matters. An AI acting for an associate sees the matters that associate is staffed on — and nothing from a matter behind an ethical wall, even if the document sits in the same SharePoint site.
Privileged material can be labelled and kept out of particular Skills, Channels and client projections. Kroy records every document an AI read, for which person and for which matter, so a supervising partner or the firm’s risk team can see exactly what left the document store.
Where AI helps, and where Kroy draws the line
| Area | AI can | Kroy boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Contract review | Compare a draft against the firm’s precedent and playbook | Only for matters the user is staffed on |
| Due diligence | Summarise data room documents and flag issues | No access across ethical walls |
| Drafting | Prepare first drafts and mark-ups | Drafts stay drafts until a lawyer approves |
| Matter handoff | Summarise status, open points and deadlines | Handoff notes stay inside the matter |
| Research notes | Organise and summarise research the team has gathered | Advice is reviewed before it reaches a client |
| Client communications | Draft updates and replies | Drafts, not sends |
| Billing and time | Summarise time entries for review | Rates and write-offs stay with partners |
| Conflicts and onboarding | Assemble the new matter pack | Conflict and AML decisions stay with people |
Sharing with clients
Give a client a projection of their matter — agreed documents, open requests, key dates — and let them use it directly or through their own AI. The firm’s internal notes, drafts in progress and privileged analysis never leave the firm unless someone decides they should.
In a transaction, a client document room can let the client and other advisers see the documents they are meant to see, each through their own AI if they wish, with every access recorded.
AI policy first
Most firms need to decide their AI rules before they enforce them: which tools are approved, what may be shared, who supervises. PolicyHQ helps a firm write an AI policy, a quick guide for fee earners and an access matrix.
Define the rules with PolicyHQ. Put them into practice with Kroy.
London
London’s legal market is dense, international and fast-moving — firms work across borders and with clients who increasingly use AI themselves. Kroy is being built with London professional firms in mind, and the same controls apply to firms anywhere in the UK.
Frequently asked questions
Does the AI see every matter in the firm? No. It sees what the person it acts for may see, narrowed further by the Skill in use. Ethical walls are applied to AI requests in the same way as to people.
Can the AI send documents to the other side? Only if your policy allows it. The default is that AI prepares drafts and a lawyer sends them.
Does using Kroy satisfy our regulatory obligations? Kroy is a tool that helps a firm enforce and evidence its own controls. It is not legal or regulatory advice, and each firm remains responsible for its own compliance.
Do our document management credentials go to the AI provider? No. Kroy holds the connections and returns only the results of authorised requests.
Can a client use their own AI with our shared documents? Yes, through Guest Access. The client sees only the projection the firm has shared, and the firm can revoke it at any time.