AI for the Defense / Resources
Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association · July 2026

Session walkthrough

Every piece of the session, in the order we use it. Work top to bottom during the session, or jump back to any piece afterward.
The future belongs to a seamless and sustainable co-existence between lawyers and GenAI: the inimitable human intelligence, cognition and reasoning, combined with the speed of AI, can hammer out an unprecedented human-machine synergy for a more efficient legal system.
Michael P. Heiskell Criminal defense attorney, Fort Worth, Texas · then NACDL President · NACDL, June 2024
Session walkthrough: every part of the session in the order it is used.
StepItemDetails
Before you start
1AI Fluency Self-AssessmentWarm-up · ~2 min
Opening
2Deck 0 · OverviewSlides
Segment 1 · Ethical Foundations
3Deck 1 · Ethical FoundationsSlides · ~20 min
4AI in the CourtsReference
5Legal Ethics Scenario RandomizerDiscussion · ~15 min
Segment 2 · Risk-Reducing Practices
6Deck 2 · Risk-Reducing PracticesSlides · ~20 min
7Two Approaches to AIReference
8TCDLAi Prompt Design GuideHandout
9PBL Scenario LabActivity · ~12 min
Segment 3 · Guardrails & Takeaways
10Deck 3 · Guardrails and TakeawaysSlides · ~15 min
11Ethical Guardrail ChecklistHandout
Take it with you
12Legal Prompt LibraryLibrary
13Scenario BankKeep practicing · 50
14AI Fluency LevelsReference
15TCDLALegalAI Bot (BoodleBox) ↗Assistant
16LegalAI Custom GPT (ChatGPT) ↗Assistant
17Build a Claude ProjectBonus tutorial
18Download the bot filesZip
Any use of AI requires caution and humility.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. 2023 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary · read the report