Assistant

Prompting Guide for August by Mode

This guide provides practical prompting patterns for August's core modes so lawyers and staff can get reliable, repeatable results across document review, research, and multi-document analysis.

Assistant (Single-Document and Research Mode)

Core Prompting Principles

Follow these principles when working with Assistant on single documents or research tasks:

  • Be explicit about the task. State whether you want a summary, comparison, drafting support, or issue-spotting.

  • Define the audience and purpose. E.g., "for a senior M&A partner," "for client-facing email," or "for internal research notes."

  • Specify governing law and jurisdiction when relevant.

  • Anchor in uploaded text. When working from documents, tell August exactly which document or section controls.

  • Constrain length and format. Ask for "3–5 bullets," "one paragraph," or "issue list with headings and sub-bullets."

For India-based organizations, ambiguous legal queries may be automatically routed to Indian legal sources. See India Legal Research Routing for details.

Example Prompts for Assistant

Issue-spotting on a contract

You are an M&A associate reviewing the attached Share Purchase Agreement governed by Delaware law. Identify unusual or buyer-unfriendly provisions related to indemnities, caps, baskets, and survival periods. Produce: (1) a bullet-point issues list, (2) clause citations with section numbers, and (3) suggested negotiation asks for each issue.

Client-facing explanation

Draft a concise client email (3–5 short paragraphs) explaining the key risks you identified in the attached APA for a non-legal business audience. Use plain language, avoid legal jargon, and include one short bullet list of 'Decisions Needed from You.'

Drafting support

You are outside counsel to the buyer in a mid-market M&A transaction. Based on the attached SPA and our preferred position described below, propose alternative indemnity language that (1) reduces the cap to 10% of purchase price, (2) shortens the survival period to 12 months, and (3) adds a deductible basket. Provide 2–3 alternative formulations with brief rationales.

Tabular Review (Multi-Document / Data Room Mode)

Use Tabular Review when you need structured comparison across dozens or hundreds of documents. These prompting principles apply when setting up extraction tasks.

Core Prompting Principles

  • Define the population. Specify which folders or document types to include (e.g., "all customer contracts in Folder A").

  • List concrete fields. Name the exact data points you want extracted (e.g., governing law, term, renewal, assignment, change of control, termination for convenience).

  • Specify output structure. Indicate whether you want a table, summary memo, or both.

  • Indicate materiality thresholds. For example, only contracts over a certain value or with certain counterparties.

Example Prompts for Tabular Review

Standard M&A contract sweep

Run Tabular Review on all customer contracts in the 'Customer Contracts' folder. For each contract, extract: (1) counterparty name, (2) contract type, (3) term and renewal, (4) assignment, (5) change of control, (6) termination for convenience, (7) most-favored-nation clauses, and (8) any exclusivity provisions. Output as a table plus an executive summary highlighting material outliers.

Focused risk review

Using Tabular Review, identify all employment agreements with non-compete provisions exceeding 12 months or covering more than two states. Summarize in a short memo and include a table listing employee name, role, non-compete duration, geography, and governing law.

Matter Intelligence Mode

Matter Intelligence surfaces facts, themes, and patterns across the entire corpus of documents in a matter. It is designed for large, complex matters where key information is distributed across pleadings, correspondence, transcripts, productions, and work product.

Core Prompting Principles

  • Anchor to a specific matter. Identify the matter name or ID so August knows what workspace to search.

  • Specify document sources. For example, limit to pleadings, correspondence, productions, or work product folders.

  • Ask for cross-document synthesis. Matter Intelligence is most effective when questions require connections across many files.

  • Request citations and file references. Ask for pinpoint support for each conclusion.

Example Prompts for Matter Intelligence

Chronology building

Within the 'Acme v. Beta' matter, create a chronology of key events related to the termination of the Master Services Agreement between January 2020 and June 2021. Use pleadings, correspondence, and any board minutes in the matter workspace. Provide: (1) a dated timeline with citations to documents, and (2) a short narrative summarizing how the dispute escalated.

Fact pattern extraction

In the 'Project Orion' investigation matter, identify all references to alleged improper payments to third-party distributors. For each instance, list: (1) date, (2) individuals involved, (3) counterparty or distributor, (4) amount if stated, and (5) source document with page or paragraph citation.

Templates, Playbooks, and Re-usable Prompts

Build institutional knowledge by saving and reusing effective prompts:

  • Save high-performing prompts as internal templates. E.g., "Standard SPA Issue-Spotting Prompt."

  • Embed firm playbook positions directly into prompts. E.g., "Apply the firm's M&A indemnity playbook positions below when suggesting alternative language."

  • Create practice-specific prompt libraries for Corporate, Litigation, Finance, Real Estate, Employment, and Regulatory matters.

For more on capturing firm standards, see Playbooks Overview.

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