Key facts
| API surface | OpenAI-compatible /v1/chat/completions; keep your existing SDK |
| Grounding | Embeddings and RAG are live for matter, precedent and clause search |
| Models | 30+ models behind one API, from free tiers to frontier |
| Deployment | Plugsky cloud, your VPC, on-prem or air-gapped |
| Access control | Scoped API keys, rotation and usage analytics; enterprise SSO and RBAC options |
| Auditability | Request and response logging with usage analytics |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly self-serve plans; no per-token billing on self-serve |
| Free tier | Free plan with plugsky-micro and plugsky-lite; 14-day full-access trial |
TL;DR
- Ground law firm answers in approved internal content with RAG instead of model memory.
- Keep matter or privileged content inside VPC, on-prem or air-gapped deployments where policy requires it.
- Scope retrieval per team, client or site so permissions and confidentiality hold at query time.
- Keep a named human owner for every legal decision.
- Enforce ethical walls as hard retrieval filters.
How it works, step by step
- Inventory the content to make searchable: matter files, precedent banks, clause libraries and research memos.
- Define a data boundary for the pilot that excludes restricted material until controls are proven.
- Choose a deployment target: cloud for public content, VPC, on-prem or air-gapped for restricted data.
- Build an evaluation set with attorneys and knowledge lawyers so answer quality is judged by domain experts.
- Ingest, chunk and embed approved documents, and require citations on every answer.
- Add refusal behavior for questions outside the indexed, approved content.
- Review logged interactions on a schedule and expand only after accuracy and access checks pass.
Original data
Try it yourself
Open the API key security checklist →
Where law firm teams start
Start with internal questions that already have a written answer. High-value first workloads include:
- Matter file search: answer from pleadings, correspondence and notes within the matter.
- Precedent and clause banks: retrieve clauses and positions from approved precedent.
- Research memos: surface prior analysis with citations for attorney review.
- Firm policy and operations: answer HR, IT and compliance questions from internal policy.
Each use case augments staff with cited answers; none replaces responsible attorney judgment.
A private RAG architecture for law firm knowledge
The stack is consistent across industries: ingest approved matter files, precedent banks, clause libraries and research memos, chunk and embed with a multilingual embedding model, store vectors inside your environment, and call chat completions that answer only from retrieved context. Plugsky embeddings and chat completions are OpenAI-compatible, so teams already using OpenAI SDKs change the base URL and keep their code.
Matter and privilege tags are non-negotiable metadata. Filter before retrieval, exclude conflicted matters, and keep an audit trail of who asked what. Use a reranker for long research memos and precedent documents.
Access control, confidentiality and audit
Privilege and ethical walls are the governing constraints. Tag every document with matter and privilege metadata, filter retrieval before it reaches the model, and exclude conflicted matters entirely. Attorneys remain responsible for every conclusion; the assistant only retrieves and summarizes.
The technical controls are consistent: enforce permission-aware retrieval in your own service layer, scope API keys per application, team or tenant, rotate keys, and retain request and response logs on a defined schedule. Regulatory obligations vary by jurisdiction and sector, so map them with counsel rather than assuming one framework covers every deployment; Plugsky supplies the deployment and logging primitives you document.
See AI API security controls for related deployment and control detail.
Rollout and human oversight
Pilot on published firm policy and public precedent before touching matter or privileged content. Build a labelled question set with attorneys and knowledge lawyers, then measure retrieval hit rate, citation correctness and answer accuracy before and after every index or model change. Require citations on every answer, refuse out-of-scope questions, and name a human owner for every legal decision.
Review logged interactions weekly at first, correct the index rather than the prompt when retrieval misses, and expand the corpus only when accuracy and access checks pass.
Honest comparison
| Capability | Plugsky | Public AI assistants | Building in-house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data boundary | Cloud, VPC, on-prem or air-gapped | Vendor cloud only | You control fully |
| Grounding | Embeddings and RAG are live for matter, precedent and clause search | Uncontrolled retrieval | You assemble and operate |
| Access control | Scoped keys, usage analytics, enterprise SSO and RBAC options | Account-level only | Custom identity work |
| Auditability | Request and response logging | Limited | You build logging |
| Pricing | Flat monthly self-serve plans; see live pricing | Per-seat or per-token | GPU plus operations cost |
| Time to pilot | Days | Hours, without residency control | Quarters |
Frequently asked questions
Can law firms keep data private with Plugsky?
Yes. Choose the deployment boundary that matches the data: Plugsky cloud for public content, or your VPC, on-prem and air-gapped options for restricted material. Access is controlled with scoped API keys and usage analytics.
Do we need to fine-tune on our internal documents?
Not for a first release. Fine-tuning is coming soon and is better for style than facts. RAG keeps answers current, permission-aware and traceable to a source, which matters more for internal knowledge.
Which model should we use?
Start free with plugsky-micro and plugsky-lite to validate retrieval, then evaluate mid-tier and frontier models from the 30+ model catalogue on your own question set.
How do we stop wrong or unsupported answers?
Restrict the assistant to approved indexed content, require citations, refuse out-of-scope questions and keep a human decision-maker for every regulated or client-facing outcome.
How is pricing structured?
Self-serve plans are flat monthly with unlimited fair-use usage, and there are no per-token charges on self-serve plans. See the live pricing page for current plans and the free tier.
Can it cross-reference other matters?
Only if your firm explicitly allows it. Ethical walls should be enforced as hard filters at retrieval time, with conflicted matters excluded entirely.
Is the output legal advice?
No. It retrieves and summarizes firm content for attorney review; a qualified lawyer remains responsible for every position and filing.