How Legal Teams Should Work With News Content in AI Tools
AI tools often refuse to reproduce paywalled or copyrighted articles. That's by design. You still have several compliant ways to get analysis, quotes, and insights for client work-without tripping over rights or internal policy.
Here's a practical playbook you can hand to associates and ops today.
What AI can and can't return (and why it matters)
- Summaries: Ask for concise or detailed summaries of an article you reference. The tool can analyze what you paste or what you describe.
- Short excerpts: Expect strict limits (e.g., ~90 characters). That's a built-in safeguard against reproducing full text.
- Verbatim text: The AI can quote the exact text if you paste the article yourself. Once you supply it, it's user-provided, but you still bear the rights risk.
- Topic lists and search help: You can request likely key topics or search strategies without copying the source.
Bottom line: If you need precise quotes beyond a short excerpt, obtain the text lawfully, paste it, and document your rights basis.
Fair use basics for practitioners
Fair use is fact-specific. Purpose, nature, amount, and market effect still rule the analysis. Keep quotes short, add commentary, and avoid harming the market for the original work.
- Statute: 17 U.S.C. § 107
- Overview: U.S. Copyright Office on Fair Use
Compliant workflows you can adopt now
- Source the text lawfully: Licensed databases, publisher permissions, client-provided copies, public domain, or government materials.
- Paste only what you're allowed to use: Full text if licensed; otherwise, use summaries and short quotes.
- Ask for analysis, not reproduction: Focus the AI on issues, implications, timelines, and enforcement angles.
- Keep an audit trail: Save the citation/URL, license status, date accessed, and what you pasted.
Prompts that keep you inside the lines
- "Summarize the key legal issues, agencies involved, effective dates, and likely compliance impact for [topic]. Keep it under 300 words and note any open questions."
- "Given this pasted article, provide a bullet-point risk memo for in-house counsel. Separate facts, analysis, and open items."
- "List statutory or regulatory citations mentioned or implied, with likely sections to review next."
- "Suggest precise search queries and primary sources to validate these claims."
Quoting without headaches
- Prefer paraphrases plus citation over long quotes.
- If you must quote, use brief excerpts and add commentary/critique.
- For longer extracts, confirm license or permission. Then paste the text and instruct the AI to extract only what you specify.
Pre-publication checks (use this like a mini checklist)
- Do we have rights to the text we pasted?
- Are quotes short, necessary, and accompanied by analysis?
- Did we maintain citations and links to the original source?
- Could our use substitute for the original article? If yes, rethink.
- Did we log the source, date, license, and output?
Efficient search strategies for attorneys
- Combine terms: "food delivery law disclosure requirements 2025 site:.gov"
- Use operators: exact phrases in quotes, minus irrelevant terms, site filters by domain (.gov, .org, news outlets)
- Find primary: statute name + section + "PDF" + site:.gov
- Trace secondary to primary: pull the cited bill number, docket, or rulemaking ID and go straight to the source.
Templates you can copy
Client note (permissions):
- "We plan to quote [X] lines from [Publisher, Date]. Please confirm we have rights via [License/Subscription/Permission]. If not, we will use paraphrase + citation."
Internal prompt (analysis-only):
- "Do not reproduce article text beyond brief quotes. Provide a structured legal analysis: facts, issues, applicable law, timelines, enforcement bodies, compliance tasks, and open risks."
When you need the exact text
- Confirm license or get permission.
- Paste the full article yourself (user-provided).
- Give precise extraction instructions (e.g., "Return only the sections mentioning penalties and effective dates").
- Store the permission trail with the work product.
Lightweight policy language for your handbook
- Do not ask AI tools to reproduce paywalled or copyrighted articles.
- Use summaries and brief quotes unless we hold rights.
- When rights exist, paste the text yourself and document the basis.
- Retain citations, attribution, and a copy of the source.
- Route edge cases to Legal before publication.
What to request from the AI for legal value
- Issue spotting tied to specific statutes and regulators
- Compliance checklists with effective dates and enforcement triggers
- Risk matrices (likelihood × impact) and mitigation steps
- Comparison memos across jurisdictions
Training and upskilling for your team
If your department is formalizing AI policy and workflows, structured training helps enforce consistent, compliant use across matters.
Takeaway: Treat AI like a fast analyst, not a copier. Keep quotes short, obtain rights when needed, and focus on analysis, timelines, and enforcement. That's how you move work forward without creating a copyright problem you'll have to clean up later.
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