AI for Trial Advocacy

AI is a tool, not a lawyer.

AI for Trial Advocacy gives trial lawyers a structured, practical workflow for using artificial intelligence in trial preparation. Written by a practicing public defender, it is designed for lawyers with real cases, real deadlines, and no time for hype.

The book shows how to move from an unstructured case file to an organized AI-assisted preparation system while keeping the lawyer in control. It begins with the ethical and professional-responsibility issues lawyers must address before using AI with case information, including confidentiality, client information, platform review, verification, and professional judgment. From there, it develops a repeatable workflow for organizing discovery, building Structured Case Files, assigning focused tasks, and turning analysis into courtroom-ready work product.

You will learn how to:

• Build Structured Case Files that give AI the context it needs
• Organize timelines, witnesses, evidence, legal elements, disputes, theory, and theme
• Structure AI task assignments so the work stays focused on the materials you provide
• Use AI to test weaknesses, inconsistencies, competing narratives, and case strategy
• Prepare cross-examinations and direct examinations through a step-by-step workflow
• Develop opening statements, closing arguments, and motions with AI as a starting point
• Run case simulations to pressure-test the work before trial
• Verify AI-generated work before it reaches a courtroom
• Protect client confidentiality and meet professional responsibility obligations

The book includes reusable AI task assignments, files to create, practice tools, and companion resources designed to support the workflow in actual trial preparation. It also addresses what AI cannot do: exercise professional judgment, verify its own accuracy, decide strategy, or take responsibility for the result.

Every step keeps the lawyer in charge and the judgment where it belongs. The goal is not to automate advocacy. It is to use AI to organize information, generate options, test ideas, and improve preparation while preserving the lawyer's responsibility for every decision.

Written from the defense table, but designed for trial lawyers across criminal and civil practice.

AI generates options. You make the decisions.

Daniel M. H. King is a Public Defender in South Carolina.