Safe Setup Guide: Microsoft Copilot for Legal Work
How to use Microsoft 365 Copilot for legal work in England and Wales: the difference between the work and consumer versions, the admin settings to confirm, what Copilot can reach, and how to check output
Privacy & Professional Conduct Notice
This guide helps you configure Microsoft Copilot safely, but you remain responsible for complying with the SRA Standards and Regulations. Never input confidential client information without proper safeguards.
Overview
Microsoft sells Copilot in two forms that handle your data very differently:
- Copilot for work, used with a work account inside your firm's Microsoft 365 tenant. Microsoft says prompts, responses and the data Copilot reaches are not used to train foundation models.
- Consumer Copilot, used with a personal Microsoft account. Microsoft says it uses conversations to train its AI models unless the user has opted out.
For legal work, use Copilot only with your work account. This guide is for firms that already use Microsoft 365.
A note on names. Microsoft's documentation says Microsoft 365 Copilot is now named Microsoft Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat is now named Microsoft Copilot Chat. Its UK pricing pages still used "Microsoft 365 Copilot" on 29 September 2026. This guide uses "Copilot for work" for the version covered by your firm's Microsoft 365 agreement.
Every vendor fact below was checked against Microsoft's own pages on 29 September 2026. The pages are listed under "Sources checked" at the end of this guide. Settings and prices change, so follow the links before you rely on them.
Setup time: about 10 minutes, once your administrator has assigned a licence Suitable for: firms using Microsoft 365
Plans and prices
Microsoft's UK pricing pages give prices in pounds, per user per month, excluding VAT, as shown on 29 September 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | £13.80 paid yearly | An add-on to an existing Microsoft 365 plan. The page showed this as reduced from £16.10 |
| Microsoft 365 Business Standard with Copilot | £18.10 paid yearly | Up to 300 users |
| Microsoft 365 Business Premium with Copilot | £24.60 paid yearly | Up to 300 users |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (enterprise) | £23.10 paid yearly, or £24.26 paid monthly | Annual commitment |
Check on Microsoft's page which Microsoft 365 plans the add-on can be attached to.
What Microsoft says about your data
| Consumer Copilot (personal account) | Copilot for work | |
|---|---|---|
| Used to train models | Yes, unless you opt out | No |
| Contract | Not covered by your firm's Microsoft 365 agreement | Microsoft's Data Protection Addendum and Product Terms, with Microsoft acting as a data processor |
| Reaches your firm's files and email | Not connected to your firm's tenant | Yes, where the user has at least view permission |
| Retention | Uploaded files kept for up to 18 months | Administrators can set retention policies in Microsoft Purview |
| Deleting history | Users can delete conversations | Users can delete their Copilot activity history in the My Account portal |
| Human review for abuse monitoring | Not stated on the pages checked | Microsoft says Copilot services have opted out of it |
Three points that are easy to miss:
- Processing can leave the UK. Microsoft says calls to the model are routed to the closest data centres in the region but can go to other regions when capacity is short, and that customers outside the EU may have their queries processed in the US, the EU or other regions. The EU Data Boundary is a commitment to EU customers.
- Web search goes to Bing on different terms. When web search is on, Copilot turns part of your prompt into a short search query and sends it to Bing. Microsoft says the query is sent with user and tenant identifiers removed, that these queries are not covered by the Data Protection Addendum, and that for them it acts as an independent data controller. Administrators can control web search.
- Other vendors' models. Microsoft offers Anthropic and OpenAI models inside Copilot. It says administrators decide whether to use them, that additional terms may apply, and that Anthropic models are currently excluded from the EU Data Boundary.
Where data is stored. Microsoft says Copilot follows the data residency commitments in its Product Terms. A tenant's default geography is set from the country given when the tenant was created, and cannot be changed afterwards. The United Kingdom is one of the local region geographies Microsoft lists. Ask your administrator what your tenant's geography is.
Step 1: Check which Copilot you are using
- Confirm with your administrator that you have been assigned a Copilot licence.
- Sign in with your work account, not a personal Microsoft account.
- Use Copilot from inside the Microsoft 365 apps or while signed in to your work account.
Do not use Copilot with a personal Microsoft account for client work.
Step 2: Confirm the admin settings
Your Microsoft 365 administrator controls the settings that matter. Ask them to confirm:
- Who has a licence.
- The tenant's data geography.
- Whether web search is on for Copilot, and if so whether that is acceptable for client work.
- Whether models from other vendors are turned on.
- Whether agents are allowed, and which. Microsoft says each agent has its own privacy statement and terms of use.
- The retention policy for Copilot interactions.
- Whether sensitivity labels and data loss prevention policies are in use.
Do not use Copilot for client work until your administrator has confirmed these.
Step 3: Understand what Copilot can reach
Microsoft says Copilot only surfaces organisational data to which the individual user has at least view permission. That covers documents, emails, calendar, chats, meetings and contacts.
This is the main risk for a law firm. Copilot does not create new access, but it makes existing access far easier to use. If a matter site in SharePoint is open to the whole firm, Copilot will draw on it for anyone who asks a related question, including people on the other side of an information barrier.
Before turning Copilot on:
- review who has access to matter sites, shared mailboxes and Teams channels
- close any site that is shared more widely than the matter requires
- check that information barriers are reflected in permissions, not only in policy
Sensitivity labels. Microsoft says that where a sensitivity label applies encryption, Copilot honours the usage rights granted to the user, and the user needs both the VIEW and EXTRACT rights for Copilot to return the content. Ask your administrator how your firm's labels are configured.
Step 4: Where Copilot appears
| App | Used for | Care needed |
|---|---|---|
| Word | Drafts and summaries | Output needs checking like any other draft |
| Outlook | Drafting email and summarising threads | It works on your mailbox, including privileged email |
| Teams | Meetings and chats | A meeting summary is a record of what was said. Decide before the meeting whether one should be made |
| Copilot Chat | Chat connected to your work data and the web | It can draw on everything you can open |
Your professional duties
This section summarises published rules and guidance. It is not legal advice, and it has not yet been reviewed by a solicitor.
- Confidentiality. Paragraph 6.3 of the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs, RFLs and RSLs requires you to keep the affairs of current and former clients confidential unless disclosure is required or permitted by law or the client consents.
- Conflicts and confidential information. Paragraph 6.5 restricts acting where your firm holds confidential information for another client that is material to the matter, unless effective measures have been taken which result in there being no real risk of disclosure, or the client whose information it is has given informed consent. Copilot's reach across the firm's files is relevant to whether those measures are effective.
- Competence. Paragraph 3.2 requires the service you provide to be competent, and paragraph 3.3 requires you to keep your professional knowledge and skills up to date.
- Supervision. Under paragraph 3.5, where you supervise or manage others you remain accountable for the work carried out through them.
- Not misleading anyone. Paragraph 1.4 says you do not mislead or attempt to mislead your clients, the court or others.
- Responsibility for output. The SRA's Risk Outlook report on AI (20 November 2023) says you "remain responsible and accountable for the outputs from AI you are using".
- Law Society guidance. "Generative AI – the essentials" advises carrying out due diligence on the supplier, and being able to say where data is processed, who processes it, how and where it is stored, and who has access to it. It also warns that tools built on top of generative AI platforms may share metadata with the underlying technology provider.
- Data protection. Where a prompt contains personal data, the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 are relevant. The Information Commissioner's Office says a restricted transfer of personal data outside the UK must be covered by UK adequacy regulations, appropriate safeguards or an exception.
Follow your firm's own AI and information security policy where it is stricter than this guide.
What not to put into Copilot
With consumer Copilot, do not enter anything about a client or a matter.
With Copilot for work, the documents are already inside your firm's tenant. What you add is the prompt. Until your firm has decided otherwise, and particularly while web search is on, keep these out of prompts:
- client names, or facts that would identify a client or matter
- privileged communications or advice
- personal data about anyone, including health information and financial details
- the terms of a confidential settlement
Examples of prompts that carry no client information:
- "Draft a template client care letter for a litigation matter"
- "Create a due diligence checklist for a share purchase"
Checking output
Microsoft says the responses generative AI produces are not guaranteed to be 100% factual, and that users should use their judgement when reviewing output before sending it to others. Before relying on anything Copilot produces:
- Cases: find every case in a law report or on a service such as Westlaw UK, Lexis+ UK, BAILII or The National Archives' Find Case Law, and read it
- Legislation: check the text and whether it is in force, for example on legislation.gov.uk
- Jurisdiction: confirm the law is that of England and Wales, not Scotland, Northern Ireland or another country
- Summaries: read the email thread or document yourself before acting on a summary of it
- Sources: check which of your firm's documents Copilot drew on, and whether they belong to this matter
- Currency: confirm the authority has not been overruled, amended or repealed
The Law Society's guidance says that for documents going to court you must review final versions to make sure all citations are verified, and that the court expects to impose severe sanctions for the misuse of AI in legal research or court documents other than in exceptional circumstances.
If something goes wrong
If Copilot shows you material from a matter you should not have access to, or client information goes into consumer Copilot:
- Stop, and do not use what you were shown.
- Tell the person your firm's policy names, usually the compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) or the data protection lead, and your IT team so the permissions can be corrected.
- Record what happened and when.
The ICO says a notifiable personal data breach must be reported to it without undue delay and not later than 72 hours after you become aware of it. Whether an incident is notifiable is for your firm to assess. Paragraph 7.11 of the SRA Code requires you to be honest and open with clients if things go wrong.
Quick checklist
Before first use
- Copilot licence assigned to your work account
- Administrator has confirmed geography, web search, other vendors' models, agents and retention
- Access reviewed on matter sites, shared mailboxes and Teams channels
- Your firm's AI policy read
Every time
- Signed in with the work account
- No client information in a prompt unless your firm has approved it
- Every authority and summary checked against its source
- Meeting summaries only where a record is appropriate
Sources checked
All read on 29 September 2026.
Microsoft
- Data, Privacy, and Security for Microsoft Copilot
- Enterprise data protection in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Copilot Chat (last updated 18 August 2026)
- Data Residency for Microsoft 365 Copilot (last updated 3 September 2026)
- Overview and definitions: Microsoft 365 data residency
- Microsoft Purview data security and compliance protections for generative AI apps
- Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot (consumer)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot plans and pricing (UK)
- Microsoft 365 Copilot for enterprise (UK)
Rules and guidance
- SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs, RFLs and RSLs (version in effect from 11 April 2025)
- SRA Risk Outlook report: the use of artificial intelligence in the legal market (20 November 2023)
- Law Society: Generative AI – the essentials (page dated 1 October 2025)
- ICO: International transfers guide
- ICO: Personal data breaches guide
Need help?
If you have a question about this guide, or find that a setting has moved, contact hello@counsel.directory.
Review status: this guide has not yet been reviewed by a solicitor.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information about configuring a software product. It is not legal advice and it is not advice on your professional obligations. You remain responsible for complying with the SRA Standards and Regulations, data protection law and your firm's policies. Check with your firm's compliance and IT teams before using a new tool for client work.