Your Office Is Already Using AI. On January 1, That Becomes Every Attorney's Responsibility.
Copilot is in Word, Outlook and Teams. Gemini reads Gmail and Drive. The phone has its own. Nobody at your firm turned any of it on.
If your eyes glaze over before you get halfway down this page: you need me. But take a moment to look. On January 1 the consequences are real, and if your office has more than one attorney, you are now responsible for each other.
WHAT CHANGES ON JANUARY 1 | SB 574 | B&P CODE § 6068.1 | CCP § 128.7
Three things every attorney has to be able to say are true in the office. The statute controls; the responsible attorney reads it and decides what it requires.
Client information stays out of AI that is not set up to protect it. Access restricted. The office knows where what it types goes, and for how long. (§ 6068.1(a)(3)(A))
Every citation is verified by a person, or the court can sanction the signer. Not the tool. The attorney who signs. (§ 6068.1(a)(3)(B); Code Civ. Proc. § 128.7(b)(2)(A))
A firm answers together. A written policy is how you show you supervised. Without one, every attorney is relying on everyone else's good judgment, undocumented. (Code Civ. Proc. § 128.7(c)(1); Rules of Professional Conduct 5.1 and 5.3)
HOW IT STARTS
One Price Up Front. The Rest in Writing.
Step
Terms
What it means
Justice Access
25 percent off
Eligible appointed-counsel and public-interest organizations, on the setup and the device add-ons.
SB 574 & AI Readiness Review
$350
Paid first look at your office's AI use. Credited in full if the setup starts within 14 days.
Written quote
After the review
Built from the count: users, computers, phones and tablets, the platform, and any cleanup the personal accounts need. The quote states my hours and your weeks. Valid 30 days.
Payment
Half on signing
The balance before final handoff. The review credit applies first.
● Why there is no price list: every office is different in the number of users, computers and phones, the platform, and how much cleanup the personal accounts need. The quote counts them and states the hours.
● Why Microsoft 365 takes longer: the AI is in Windows, Office, Teams, Outlook and Edge, not in one place, and Microsoft's settings take up to 48 hours to reach the apps, so every Microsoft quote includes a return visit to verify every device.
● The hours are my working hours; the weeks are the calendar. The full breakdown, hour by hour and device by device, is on What the Setup Involves.
VdVLaw also designs and teaches CLE classes for California attorneys. AI-setup clients receive 15% off a private CLE engagement booked within six months.
YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW INTEGRATED IT ALREADY IS
Nobody at Your Office Decided to Use AI on Client Matters.
It Arrived With an Update.
A plain Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscription, no AI add-on, nothing installed. You open PowerPoint for a settlement conference: the client's name, the victim's date of birth, the psych eval, the plea offer. You click the Copilot button to tighten slide four. The slide text goes to Microsoft's AI service, and since January 7, 2026, possibly to an Anthropic model, because Microsoft turned that on by default. Nobody at your firm was asked.
Then you file the motion and tell opposing counsel, truthfully as far as you know, that your office does not use AI.
On right now, unless someone turned it off:
Microsoft 365. Copilot is in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Edge and Windows itself. Deleting the Copilot app turns off none of it. Each program has its own switch, and each one has to be set.
Claude Team. Claude in Chrome and Cowork switched on: the extension reads open pages, the agent works in folders.
Google Workspace. Gemini keeps 18 months of history and reads Gmail, Drive and Calendar.
ChatGPT Business. Remembers across chats. Anyone can share a link, and the owner cannot turn that off.
Vendor defaults checked against the vendors' own documentation on October 14, 2026. They change; that is part of the point.
Attorney-directed support from a confidential independent contractor under a signed services agreement and confidentiality undertaking. VdVLaw is not a law firm and provides no legal advice. Setup and testing use harmless sample data.
ONE CASE, FIVE AI WORKFLOWS
The Fix Is Not a Better Chatbot.
The attorney drafts in ChatGPT. The paralegal summarizes the discovery in Copilot. Teams recorded the client meeting. The associate's Gemini has the Drive folder. And in March someone pasted the police report into a personal account to save time.
One matter, five places, five retention rules, no record, and no honest answer when the court asks whether AI was used. The fix is not a better chatbot. It is one workspace, one policy, one record, and a closeout when the matter ends.
WHAT I DO
The Policy Comes First. The Setup Makes It True. The Record Is What You Can Show.
Configure and Verify
Your commercial AI workspace (ChatGPT, Claude, Google or Microsoft 365) set the way the attorney decides, on every included computer and phone, with dated before-and-after screenshots.
Privacy & Account Controls
Memory, retention, sharing, connectors, recording and agent features set and recorded. Personal and firm accounts separated on every included device.
Policy, Client Intake & Staff Training
The firm AI policy, the client intake exhibit, the verification and court-disclosure procedures, and training for every included user, with signed acknowledgments.
Records and Follow-Up
The Configuration Record, the Setup Completion Record, handoff and one follow-up. It documents the work; it does not certify compliance. On January 1 the record is what you can show.
"Not used for model training" is not the same thing as privileged, confidential, protected by a court order, or safe to upload.
Every setup client receives the full toolkit: a classification of the tools in the firm's environment (approved, usable only with strict data isolation, or not safe under any settings), configuration checklists, staff handouts, and a review checklist the firm can use to spot settings drift. Clients on the optional review have it re-checked against current vendor terms.
The supervising attorney decides what the firm adopts.
Three Questions
Do I have to buy a new AI subscription?
Not because SB 574 requires a particular subscription. It doesn't. VdVLaw's standard for client-related work, however, is a commercial or business workspace that provides appropriate contractual data protections, administrator controls, restricted access, and configurable privacy and retention settings. If your existing plan already meets the technical standard, I verify and document it. If it does not, I recommend the appropriate commercial option and you purchase it directly from the vendor.
What does a setup cost?
It depends on the count, so I quote it in writing after the $350 review. A solo with two computers and two phones on ChatGPT or Claude is a few hours of workspace work and about ten hours of policy, training and records. A five-person firm on Microsoft 365 is more than twice that, with three visits. The quote lists every user and device it covers, the hours, and the weeks, so you can see what you are paying for before you sign. Setup and testing use harmless sample data; I never need your client files.
Do you see my client files?
No. Setup and testing use harmless sample data. I configure the technology and document the controls, but I never need access to your actual client files or confidential discovery material to complete the engagement.
More questions →
GET STARTED
SB 574 Is Signed. January 1 Is Coming.
The goal is not to stop useful technology. It is to know exactly what your firm is already running, set it inside a system counsel can supervise, and have the record to show it. I teach California attorneys about AI as a State Bar single-activity MCLE provider (No. 21034) and I have set up firms for SB 574 already. Attorneys, firms, legal departments and public agencies statewide, remote and on-site.
VdVLaw is an attorney-directed legal support and technology-policy service operated by Robert van der Vijver. VdVLaw is not a law firm, Robert van der Vijver is not an attorney, and neither provides legal advice. Services are performed for attorneys, law firms, legal departments, public agencies, and organizations under the direction of the responsible attorney.
The responsible attorney retains all legal and professional-responsibility decisions, including how SB 574 and other applicable authority apply to the firm's practice, client communication, informed consent, privilege, protective orders, regulated information, court disclosure, and whether particular information may be processed through an AI platform. VdVLaw does not certify legal compliance. Contacting VdVLaw does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Platform names and trademarks belong to their respective owners. VdVLaw is independent and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any AI vendor. Vendor plans, pricing, terms, features, and controls may change.
The live vendor terms and signed engagement documents control.