Prepare a plea-advice letter the client can use before a guilty plea
Key facts
- Human involvement
- RedLawyer-led
- How AI is used
- List the charges the lawyer identifies, the statutory maximums the lawyer has taken from the statute, and the Rule 11 topics the court must cover. Write no sentence of the advice letter and no plea agreement.
- What the lawyer must review
- You write the advice. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b) requires the court, before accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, to address the defendant personally in open court. The court must advise the defendant of the rights being waived and of any maximum possible penalty, including imprisonment, fine and term of supervised release, and must determine that the plea is voluntary and did not result from force, threats, or promises apart from a plea agreement. Your letter has to be consistent with that colloquy. You do not predict a sentence from a guideline range you have not opened in the current manual. Model Rule 1.1 and Formal Opinion 512 apply to the letter.
- Written for / version
- United States versionUS
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Supporting preparation only. Potential support includes organising research leads and identifying points for review. Confirm the tool’s capability and permitted scope. The tool writes nothing into the document. Substantive advice, judgement and any restricted content remain with the responsible human. |
| Lawyer | Perform the substantive analysis and decisions. Independently check any permitted supporting work and approve the exact output for its intended use. |
Checklist
- Review operative clauses in the complete document, including definitions, cross-references, schedules and inconsistencies with the instructions.
- Verify the applicable jurisdiction and the version of each relevant law, rule or instrument in force at the material time.
- Confirm the output against the client’s instructions and the complete relevant source material, including omissions or contradictions.
- Resolve exceptions and record the responsible lawyer’s approval of the exact output and intended use.
Forms and precedents for this task
| Form or precedent | Kind | AI use | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal client interview checklist (United States) | Checklist | AI use Yellow | An unsigned internal question list for a first interview in a US criminal case, covering the client's account, documents, and what the client has already told the police. |
Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one. All precedents.