Work Smarter, Not Harder: Top 5 AI Prompts Every Legal Professional in Des Moines Should Use in 2025

Des Moines legal teams juggling increasing discovery volumes and tight client budgets should prioritize building precise AI prompts today: the Everlaw 2025 Ediscovery Innovation Report shows generative AI users can reclaim up to 260 hours a year (≈32.5 working days) and that cloud-based e‑discovery adopters are far more likely to use GenAI, making prompt-engineering a local competitive edge that can cut review costs and free time for strategy or alternative fee models; for practical training, the AI Essentials for Work: practical AI skills for the workplace (15-week bootcamp) teaches prompt writing and applied workflows in a 15‑week curriculum to get nontechnical lawyers productive with prompts quickly.

“The standard playbook is to bill time in six minute increments, and GenAI is flipping the script.”

Prompts were chosen by scoring candidates against evidence-based criteria drawn from the Everlaw 2025 Ediscovery Innovation Report and Everlaw product guidance: measurable time savings (the report shows generative AI can reclaim up to 260 hours/year per user), compatibility with cloud and retrieval‑augmented workflows (cloud users are roughly 3x more likely to adopt GenAI), verifiability (preference for prompts that force source citations or RAG-style checks), and downstream billing and ethical risk (90% of respondents expect billing practices to change within two years).

A shortlist of prompts that consistently delivered quick wins for review, research, and drafting - then underwent a practical test harness using Everlaw's verification approach - produced the final Top 5 that balance defensibility and speed for Des Moines firms facing tight budgets and rising discovery volumes.

For details on the survey sample and the verification features that informed prompt selection, see the Everlaw report and the Deep Dive overview.

“The standard playbook is to bill time in six minute increments, and GenAI is flipping the script.”

Spellbook's “Spellbook Prompt” workflow makes contract drafting for Des Moines firms practical and defensible: use Custom Review and the Smart Clause Drafting library to tell the tool exactly what to check - be specific, name the document type and party position, include synonyms, and ask it to cross‑reference sections (see Spellbook's tips for prompt writing Tips for Writing Effective Prompts in Spellbook); a local-ready example prompt is: “Examine all ‘non‑compete' and ‘non‑solicitation' clauses for enforceability under Iowa law and flag any overbroad language with suggested redlines.” Because Spellbook runs inside Word, pulls from a clause library, and now uses GPT‑5 for surgical edits and nuanced issue‑spotting, transactional teams can produce negotiation‑ready clauses faster (one client reported NDA drafting time cut by ~20%) while keeping jurisdictional checks front and center - so Des Moines counsel keep control of legal risk without slowing turnaround (AI prompt templates for lawyers).

“Spellbook probably helps me bill an extra hour a day. Maybe more.” - Todd Strang

ChatGPT can compress dense Iowa contracts into clear, client‑ready summaries and extract clause inventories that make negotiation priorities - rent, term, renewal windows, indemnities, and termination triggers - immediately actionable for Des Moines counsel; start with a targeted summarization prompt (call out the business terms to surface) and follow with a clause‑extraction prompt that returns labeled clauses for a redline-ready checklist, then verify legal points against Iowa jurisdictional rules and firm privacy policies to avoid hallucinations or confidentiality risks (see ChatGPT prompt examples at Callidus and the Iowa Bar's Vetting AI guidance for attorneys); practical use of this two‑step approach turns long drafts into concise decision tools for partners and clients, speeding triage and focusing billable review on real risks rather than boilerplate language (also see Sirion's guide to ChatGPT for lawyers for prompt tips and limitations).

“Summarize the key points in this commercial lease agreement for a non-lawyer. Focus on rent, term, renewal options, and ...”

Microsoft Copilot can turn slow, manual legal research into focused briefings for Iowa matters by grounding answers in a firm's Microsoft 365 data and surfacing relevant case law, statutes, and document summaries - useful for Des Moines litigators and in‑house counsel who need quick, jurisdiction‑specific rundowns without jumping between apps.

Copilot scenarios include case & precedent analysis, quicker contract review, and regulatory compliance summaries, and its tenant‑based design means outputs draw from what a user already can access (so pre‑deployment testing of access controls is critical to avoid exposing privileged files).

Configure Copilot wisely - don't enable internet grounding unless needed - and require short, auditable prompts plus source checks because courts are already scrutinizing AI‑assisted work: one New York decision examined an expert's use of Microsoft Copilot and flagged the need for disclosure and reliability vetting.

For practical implementation guidance and scenario kits see the Microsoft Copilot legal library and for the court‑level cautionary tale read the Matter of Weber decision; Reed Smith's overview explains why Copilot's tenant model both reduces external training risks and raises governance questions for legal teams.

“Microsoft is not retaining the prompts for Copilot, the responses, they're not using the data to retrain the model.”

Everlaw's cloud‑native platform shortens discovery‑question drafting and e‑discovery workflows that Des Moines teams face every day: the Everlaw 2025 Ediscovery Innovation Report finds leading generative‑AI adopters reclaim up to 260 hours annually (≈32.5 days) and shows cloud deployment is the clear gateway to those gains, while Everlaw's product guidance and case studies - like its DSAR playbook that cut response time by 50% - illustrate practical wins for local litigators and corporate counsel; in plain terms, automated question templates, RAG‑enabled early case assessment summaries, and AI‑assisted prioritization move the bulk of document review off costly partner time (document review still drives over 80% of discovery spend), freeing Iowa firms to trim review bills, shift to value pricing, or spend more time on strategy and client counseling.

See Everlaw's analysis of ediscovery costs and deployment trends for implementation details and tradeoffs: Everlaw Ediscovery Costs in 2025 analysis

“Everlaw can best be described as simple. That doesn't mean the platform doesn't do complex work; rather, it makes complex work simple.”

Build an internal clause‑library prompt that forces risk‑spotting against Iowa law and commonly negotiated vendor terms: instruct the model to extract and label indemnity, insurance, limitation of liability, governing‑law/venue, confidentiality/data‑security, and flow‑down obligations, then cross‑check each against Iowa timing rules (statute of repose: 10 years for residential, 8 years for other projects) and accrual/discovery principles so clauses that try to shorten or reallocate exposure are flagged for partner review - see a representative ContractsCounsel standard vendor agreement example showing typical indemnity, insurance, and governing‑law language for typical indemnity, insurance, and governing‑law language and the Iowa construction defect law update (YourIowaLawyers) discussing repose and limitations rules for the repose/limitations checks the prompt must enforce; also require the prompt to surface any mandatory flow‑down insurance or indemnity obligations and strict procurement controls drawn from the University of Iowa procurement terms (ENGIE) outlining procurement and flow‑down requirements, because catching an overbroad indemnity or a non‑Iowa governing‑law clause before signature can prevent a downstream defense cost fight or unintended waiver of Iowa statutory protections.

Des Moines legal teams should turn 2025 momentum into disciplined action: start with a short, measurable pilot (e.g., RAG‑enabled e‑discovery or clause‑library reviews) that mirrors Everlaw's findings - leading adopters reclaimed up to 260 hours/year - and pair that pilot with clear governance drawn from the 5‑pillar playbook to avoid hallucinations and sanctions under ABA guidance; see the Everlaw 2025 E-Discovery Innovation Report (time-saving benchmarks) at https://www.everlaw.com/2025-ediscovery-innovation-report/ and the Casemark AI Policy Playbook (30/60/90 governance roadmap) at https://www.casemark.com/post/crafting-an-ai-policy-for-your-law-firm-a-step-by-step-guide for the 30/60/90 day governance roadmap.

Train attorneys and staff on prompt writing and verification workflows - nontechnical teams can gain practical prompt skills in the 15-week AI Essentials for Work bootcamp (practical prompt training) at https://url.nucamp.co/aw - and document verification steps so every AI output is traceable to a source.

The practical payoff for Des Moines firms: cut review spend, make fee models predictable, and keep Iowa clients protected while staying ethics‑compliant.

“The standard playbook is to bill time in six minute increments, and GenAI is flipping the script.”