Checklist · Criminal Law
Criminal client interview checklist (United States)
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.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- United States
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the 2 authorities it cites, for United States.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use at a US criminal-defense interview. Keep it in the file. Do not have the client sign it, and do not use it as an affidavit, a witness statement, a character reference, or a plea.
Used for these tasks
- Summarise the police brief and list proof issues
- Draft a plea-advice letter from the brief and instructions
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
A tool may sort the lawyer's notes under the question headings after the interview.
AI may
- Place each note under the question it answers
- List questions with no note
- Copy the charge caption from the charging document into the header
AI must not
- Must not write a narrative in the client's voice for anyone outside the firm
- Must not add a signature line, a jurat, or a declaration
- Must not turn the notes into a plea, a bail affidavit, or a character reference
- Must not send the notes to the prosecution
The lawyer checks
- The checklist is unsigned
- The client's words are separated from the lawyer's observations
- Anything the client says was told to the police is flagged for comparison with Rule 16 disclosure in a federal case
- The lawyer decides what, if anything, is later put in a letter or a filing
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is available after you log in. It is free. When you log in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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- Client’s written instructions to plead guilty, with record of advice and acknowledgment of the facts
- Commonwealth prosecution disclosure tracker (CDPP statement)
- Letter of advice on the brief of evidence and plea options
- Disclosure and unused-material tracker (United States)
- Representations to the DPP seeking charge resolution or withdrawal
- Commonwealth confiscation role map: AFP taskforce and the CDPP
- Letter to the prosecution requesting service of the brief of evidence and missing material (NSW Local Court)
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- Queensland Supreme Court criminal expert report: generative AI items
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- Queensland Supreme Court and District Court: check references in a submission
- Application under s 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW)
- Protocol: AI-assisted review of the prosecution brief and digital evidence
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All precedents for Criminal Law · Tasks and AI use in this area