Question 1

What is Lawpal AI?

Accepted Answer

Lawpal AI is a legal workspace built for Nigerian law. One account gives you two products that work together:

- Counsel — an AI legal assistant. Ask a question, research the law with citations, draft a document, review a contract clause by clause, or reason through a problem, all in one conversation.
- Chambers — practice management. Matters and their court record, the diary, tasks, documents, billing, clients and reports, for a solo practitioner or a whole firm.

Chambers feeds Counsel: when you ask Counsel about a matter, it already knows the court record, the next hearing and what's outstanding. Add-ins that bring Counsel into Word, Gmail and Zoho are on the way.

Question 2

Who is Lawpal AI for?

Accepted Answer

Lawyers in practice — solo practitioners, associates, partners and whole firms — and anyone who works with Nigerian law: in-house counsel, law students, researchers and members of the public who need a clear, sourced explanation.

Counsel is useful on its own from day one. Chambers is for running a practice: matters, court dates, a team and billing.

Question 3

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

1. Create an account from Get started on the homepage — with your email and a password, or with Google.
2. If you used email, open the verification link we send you (check spam if it hasn't arrived after a few minutes).
3. You land on the home screen. Choose Counsel to ask your first question, or Chambers to set up your practice.

The free plan lets you start straight away. The guides at Resources → How to walk through every part of the app.

Question 4

Is Lawpal AI free?

Accepted Answer

You can start free. The free plan (Legal Explorer) gives you 200 credits every month to use across Counsel and Chambers, with no time limit. Paid plans give you more credits. Firms subscribe together and share one credit pool.

The Pricing page always shows the current plans, prices and credit allowances.

Question 5

Can I rely on Lawpal AI instead of a lawyer?

Accepted Answer

No — use it the way you'd use a capable junior. Counsel grounds its answers in Nigerian case law, statutes and legal texts, shows you its sources and tells you what it did, but it can still be wrong or miss recent changes in the law.

Check the authorities it cites, read every draft before it's signed or filed, and get advice from a qualified lawyer for decisions that matter. Lawpal AI does not give legal advice and is not a substitute for one.

Question 6

What do I need to use it? Does it work on my phone?

Accepted Answer

Any modern browser — Chrome, Safari, Edge or Firefox — on a computer, tablet or phone. There's nothing to install.

On a phone you can add Lawpal AI to your home screen (Share → Add to Home Screen on iPhone, or Install app in Chrome on Android) so it opens like an app. Chambers' Today screen keeps the day's court list on your device, so you can still see it and record what happened in court with a weak connection.

Question 7

Is there a dark mode?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Use the sun/moon button at the top right of the app to switch between light and dark. Your choice is remembered on that device.

Question 8

How do I find my way around the app?

Accepted Answer

- The sidebar on the left switches between Counsel, Chambers and Add-ins, starts a new task and lists your past tasks (filter by All, Counsel or Chambers, or search them). On a tablet or small laptop it folds into a slim row of icons; tap the top icon to open it.
- The bell at the top right shows your notifications.
- Your initial at the top right opens your account: plan and credits, security, settings, and for firm admins the team.
- Inside Chambers, the tabs across the top lead to each section; on smaller screens the ones that don't fit are under More.

Question 9

What can Counsel do?

Accepted Answer

Four kinds of work, in one conversation:

- Research — finds and explains the law: cases, statutes and principles, with citations you can check.
- Drafting — writes agreements, letters, court processes and more, in a draft you can edit and download.
- Review — reads a document you upload and reports clause by clause: risks, missing terms and the law behind each point, with suggested rewording you can accept.
- Legal reasoning — thinks a problem through with you: applying the law to facts, weighing options, explaining.

Question 10

Do I need to choose research, drafting or review?

Accepted Answer

No. Leave the mode on Automatic and just say what you need — Counsel works out whether you want research, a draft, a review or an explanation.

If you want to be sure, pick the mode yourself from the button in the message box (Automatic, Research, Drafting, Review, Legal reasoning). The choice applies to the conversation you're in and resets for a new one.

Question 11

Where does Counsel's legal information come from?

Accepted Answer

From Lawpal AI's library of Nigerian law — reported cases, statutes and subsidiary legislation, and legal texts — searched for each question, alongside the documents you give it. Answers cite the authorities they rely on, and the legal basis behind a review finding is drawn only from authorities in that library.

Counsel focuses on Nigerian law. It can discuss other jurisdictions in general terms but won't be grounded in their sources.

Question 12

What are the steps and the timer shown while Counsel is working?

Accepted Answer

While Counsel works you see what it's actually doing — understanding the question, searching cases, reading your document, drafting — with a running timer. When the answer arrives the steps fold into a line above it ("5 steps"); open it to see the sources it used.

Question 13

Which files can I give Counsel?

Accepted Answer

Use Attach in the message box. Counsel reads PDF, Word (.doc, .docx), plain text, PowerPoint, Excel and JPEG images.

Scanned documents and photos of pages are read with text recognition. Very large scans are compressed in your browser before they upload, so they go up faster and use less storage. Reading scanned pages costs a small number of credits per page.

Question 14

Can I speak instead of typing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Tap Voice in the message box, speak, and your words appear as text you can check before sending. Your browser will ask once for permission to use the microphone.

Question 15

Where do drafts, reviews and research results appear?

Accepted Answer

In the pane beside the conversation. When a reply produces a draft, a review or research results, a button under it — "View in Draft pane", "View in Review pane", "View in Research pane" — opens the pane. You can also open it with the arrow at the top of the conversation. On a phone the pane opens as its own tab.

Question 16

Can I change my question or ask for a different answer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Use the pencil under any of your messages to edit it and send it again — Counsel answers the new version. Use Retry under the latest reply to get a fresh answer to the same question. Copy, Like and Dislike sit under every reply; likes and dislikes help us improve Counsel.

Question 17

Where are my past conversations?

Accepted Answer

In the sidebar under Task history, grouped by date. Search them by title, or filter to Counsel or Chambers. Use the menu beside a task to rename or delete it. Deleting a conversation removes it everywhere at once — including any draft, review or research it produced — and can't be undone.

Your history is the same on every device you sign in on.

Question 18

What happens when a conversation gets very long?

Accepted Answer

Each task holds a lot, but not everything. As a task gets long, replies show a small note: "This task is getting long." If it fills up completely, Counsel doesn't answer there — a notice says the task is full.

Either way, Continue in a new task opens a fresh task that starts with a summary of the old one (the parties, what's been established, what was produced and the next steps) and sends your waiting message there. The old task stays in your history with a link to the new one, and the sidebar marks the new one "Continued from…". Documents from the old task are listed by name — attach one again if Counsel needs to read it in full.

Question 19

Can Counsel use what's in my Chambers matters?

Accepted Answer

Yes — that's what Ask Counsel in Chambers is for. Open it from any Chambers screen (or from a matter) and Counsel answers from your records: the matter's court record, upcoming hearings, tasks, documents and billing, for one matter or your whole practice.

It only ever sees what you're allowed to see in Chambers. See the Chambers section for more.

Question 20

What can Counsel draft?

Accepted Answer

Most documents a Nigerian practice produces: agreements (sale, lease and tenancy, employment, services, share sale, loans, NDAs), letters (demand letters, replies, opinions), court processes (writs, originating summonses, motions, affidavits, written addresses), corporate documents (resolutions, minutes) and more.

The more you tell it — parties, key terms, the court, what you want to achieve — the closer the first draft.

Question 21

How does drafting work?

Accepted Answer

Describe the document and attach anything it should draw on. You watch it being written in the conversation; the finished draft opens in the Draft pane, where you can edit it like a normal document. Then ask for changes in the conversation ("make the termination clause mutual"), or edit it directly. Download it as Word or PDF from the Draft pane.

Question 22

Is a draft ready to sign or file as it is?

Accepted Answer

Treat it as a strong first draft. Read it in full, check names, figures, dates and the court's details, and confirm it fits your client's position and current rules of court before it's signed or filed.

Question 23

Can Counsel redraft a document it has reviewed?

Accepted Answer

Yes. After a review you can accept its suggested changes one by one inside the review (see Document review), or ask Counsel to reproduce the whole document with the redrafts applied — that comes out as a new draft in the Draft pane.

Question 24

How do I get a document reviewed?

Accepted Answer

Attach the document and say what you want, for example "Review this lease for my client, the tenant." Saying whose side you're on helps — the review then flags what's risky for that party.

The findings appear in the Review pane batch by batch, so you can start reading before the whole document is done. Long documents take a few minutes.

Question 25

What does a review give me?

Accepted Answer

The document laid out as it is, with each issue highlighted, and a list of findings. Each finding has:

- a level — high, medium or low risk, or favourable;
- what the problem is and why it matters;
- a recommendation, and suggested wording where a change would fix it;
- for legal points, the legal basis — the statute, principle or case it rests on.

There's also a summary of the whole document and its most important issues.

Question 26

How do I accept, reject or change a suggestion?

Accepted Answer

Open a finding. For each suggested change you can Accept it, Reject it, Edit the wording before accepting, or Ask AI to revise it with your instruction ("make this mutual"). Undo is there if you change your mind.

On a big screen, full-screen review mode shows the list, the page and the finding side by side.

Question 27

Where do accepted changes go?

Accepted Answer

Into the review's Revised document tab (in the Review pane). It starts as your document and every change you accept lands in it. With Show changes on, new wording is in green and the wording it replaced stays beside it, struck through in red; deleted clauses stay in place, struck through. Turn Show changes off to see the clean copy.

You can also edit the revised document directly; it saves as you go. Re-review runs a fresh review of the document as it now stands.

Question 28

What can I download after a review?

Accepted Answer

From the Review pane's download menu:

- Full mark-up — every suggestion as a Word tracked change and every finding as a Word comment. The one to send to the other side.
- Accepted changes — only the changes you accepted, as tracked changes, with every finding as a comment.
- Clean copy — the revised document with no markings, as Word or PDF.

Tracked changes and comments carry your name, not Lawpal AI's. If you uploaded a Word file, the changes are written into your own file, so its fonts, numbering, headers and footers are kept. They open with all their changes and comments in Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Question 29

Should I check a review myself?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A review is a fast, thorough first read — it's good at spotting one-sided terms, gaps and inconsistencies — but read the document yourself before advising on it, and check the legal basis it gives for any point you rely on.

Question 30

What is Chambers?

Accepted Answer

Chambers runs the practice. Its sections:

- Overview — the practice at a glance: active matters, court this fortnight, deadlines, open tasks, money owed and collected, and what needs attention.
- Today — the day's court list and what's due.
- Matters — every case and its court record.
- Diary — hearings, deadlines and meetings, with clashes flagged.
- Tasks — who's doing what, by when, with reminders.
- Library — precedents and the firm's documents.
- Billing — time, invoices and payments.
- Clients — the people and companies you act for.
- Reports — ready-to-send reports, generated from your records.
- Activity — who did what, and when.
- Settings — importing and exporting your data, notifications and your team's access.

What you see depends on your access in a firm.

Question 31

Can I use Chambers on my own?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Everyone gets a personal Chambers workspace. Every plan includes it, the free one too: Legal Explorer's 200 monthly credits cover Counsel and Chambers. A firm's Chambers is shared by its whole team, with each person's access set by the firm.

If you join a firm later, your personal workspace stays yours.

Question 32

What's in a matter?

Accepted Answer

Each matter has five tabs:

- Overview — parties, court and suit number, status (open, on hold, closed), the team on it, next hearing, limitation date and recent activity.
- Court — the court record: what happened at each sitting and the next date, plus deadlines and filings. Record court update adds a sitting in a few taps.
- Tasks — the work to do on it.
- Documents — its files, including sending a document for e-signature.
- Billing — time recorded and invoices for it.

Ask Counsel on a matter opens a conversation that already knows all of this.

Question 33

How does the diary work?

Accepted Answer

The diary holds court dates, deadlines, meetings and reminders — yours, or everyone's. View it by month, week, agenda or year. When you add an entry that clashes with another commitment for the same person, Chambers flags it straight away. Hearings recorded on a matter appear in the diary on their own.

Question 34

How do tasks and reminders work?

Accepted Answer

Create a task, link it to a matter if you like, set a priority and a due date and assign it to someone (or leave it unassigned). Reminders reach each person the way they've chosen — email, SMS or WhatsApp — and can repeat daily, weekly or monthly. SMS and WhatsApp reminders cost a small number of credits each.

Question 35

Can I use Chambers in court with a poor connection?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Today keeps the day's court list on your device. Record what happened in court with one tap; if you're offline, it's saved on the device and sent as soon as you're back online.

Question 36

How does billing work in Chambers?

Accepted Answer

Record time against a matter as you work (or from a quick time sheet), then raise an invoice from the matter's Billing tab — from the time recorded, or as a flat fee. Billing shows what's owed, what's overdue and what's come in. Generating an invoice costs a small number of credits.

Question 37

Can I get documents signed electronically?

Accepted Answer

Yes. From a matter's Documents tab, send a PDF for signature: add each signer's name and email, a message and how long the link should last. Each signer gets a secure link by email and signs in their browser — no account needed. You can follow each request's progress on the matter. Each request costs a few credits.

Question 38

What reports can Chambers produce?

Accepted Answer

Six kinds, from your own records:

- Case status — a client-ready update on one matter, one client's matters or all active matters, written as counsel would brief the client or set out as tables.
- Court diary — every hearing coming up: who's appearing, where and for what.
- Litigation review — the practice at a glance: activity, adjournments, risks and actions.
- Billing & receivables — time, invoices, what's owed and for how long.
- Team workload — each lawyer's matters, court dates, tasks and hours.
- Ask for a report — describe what you need and Chambers writes it.

Download as PDF (on your letterhead) or Word, save it, or schedule it to arrive weekly or monthly. Reports written by Counsel use credits for the AI work; plain reports cost a small flat amount.

Question 39

Can I bring in records I keep in Excel?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Chambers → Settings → Import reads your spreadsheet whatever its layout — every sheet, any column names. It works out what each sheet and column holds (matters, clients, court dates, tasks…), shows you what it will bring in before anything changes, then imports. Nothing is lost: details that don't fit a field are kept on the record. Existing records are only filled in, never overwritten, and you can undo an import.

Importing costs a few credits plus a small amount per 20 rows.

Question 40

Can I export my data?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Chambers → Settings → Export downloads all your Chambers data. Exporting is always available, even if a subscription has lapsed.

Question 41

How does Ask Counsel work inside Chambers?

Accepted Answer

Open Ask Counsel from any Chambers screen. At the top, choose what it's about: your whole practice or one matter. Counsel answers from those records — fresh for every question — and anything that becomes a draft, review or research opens in a workspace beside the conversation. Each scope keeps its own conversations, listed under the clock icon.

Counsel only uses what you're allowed to see. A firm can let someone ask about one matter at a time but not the whole practice.

Question 42

What are the suggestion chips and “Suggest wording”?

Accepted Answer

Many Chambers forms — recording a court day, time entries, tasks, diary entries — offer ready phrases you can tap to fill in, instead of typing. Suggest wording asks AI for three phrasings that fit what you've entered; it costs 1 credit.

Question 43

How do we set up a firm account?

Accepted Answer

Firm accounts are set up by Lawpal AI with you. Get in touch through the Enterprise enquiry page (or the Firm plan on the Pricing page); we agree the seats and plan, create the firm and send the firm's administrator login.

The firm login manages the firm: its plan, credits, team and settings.

Question 44

How do I invite my team?

Accepted Answer

Profile → Team → Invite people. Add each person's email (or several at once), choose what they can do, and optionally give them work to start on — matters or tasks — before they've even joined. Each person gets an email with their own link; reminders go out on day 2 and day 5 if they haven't joined. You can follow every invitation's status on the Team page.

People who already have a Lawpal AI account join with their password or a sign-in link sent to their own email.

Question 45

Can colleagues with our firm email join without an invite?

Accepted Answer

Yes, if your firm turns it on. Someone who signs up with an email at your firm's domain is offered to join your firm; the firm stays in control of who's let in.

Question 46

How do we control what each person can see and do?

Accepted Answer

Every member's access is set per area — matters, the diary, tasks, documents, billing, clients, reports, the team, Counsel and more — as "can see" and "can do". Start from a ready template — Partner, Senior associate, Associate, Litigation clerk, Paralegal, Secretary, Accountant or Viewer — and adjust.

Set it from Profile → Team, or Chambers → Settings → Team & access if you've been given that job. Administrators can do everything. Viewers can look but not change anything. Nobody can change their own access, and only administrators can make someone an administrator.

Question 47

Can we limit how many credits each member uses?

Accepted Answer

Yes. An administrator can set a monthly AI allowance for any member from Profile → Team. When a member runs low they can ask for more from their credits page — the administrator is notified and can grant it.

Question 48

What if we need more seats?

Accepted Answer

Administrators can buy seats from Profile → Team (up to the self-serve limit shown there); for more, contact us. Each seat adds to the firm's credits.

Question 49

How do I leave a firm?

Accepted Answer

Profile → Settings → Membership → Leave firm. You lose access to the firm's Chambers and its shared credits; your own account and personal workspace stay.

Question 50

I'm a firm member — can I change the firm's plan?

Accepted Answer

No. The firm's plan, renewal and credit purchases are handled by its administrators. You can see your own allowance and what you've used under Profile → My credits, and ask your administrator for more there.

Question 51

What plans are there?

Accepted Answer

- Legal Explorer — free: 200 credits a month for Counsel and Chambers, renewing every month.
- Associate and Partner — paid individual plans with larger monthly allowances; Chambers included.
- Firm — for a team: everyone shares the firm's credits, with Chambers for the whole firm.

Monthly or annual billing (annual costs less overall). The Pricing page has current prices and allowances.

Question 52

What are credits and what uses them?

Accepted Answer

Credits are how Lawpal AI is paid for. AI work — Counsel's replies, research, drafts, reviews, reports written by Counsel, wording suggestions and task summaries — is priced from the work it actually takes, so a short question costs little and reviewing a long contract costs more.

A few things have a small fixed price: SMS and WhatsApp reminders, reading scanned pages, e-signature requests, invoices, plain reports, imports and exports, and document storage beyond what your plan includes.

Profile → Plan & credits (or My credits) shows your balance and what you've spent it on.

Question 53

What happens when I run out of credits?

Accepted Answer

Things that cost credits pause until you have more; everything else — reading your conversations, matters, documents and downloads — keeps working, and nothing is lost. You're warned as you get low.

- On an individual plan, upgrade your plan or wait for your allowance to renew.
- In a firm, your administrator can buy more credits; members can ask for more from their credits page.

Question 54

Do unused credits carry over?

Accepted Answer

- Individual plans: your allowance resets each billing period; unused credits don't carry over.
- Firms: if the subscription is renewed while it's active or within its 3 grace days, unused credits carry into the new period. After that they expire.

Question 55

How does a firm buy more credits?

Accepted Answer

Profile → Plan & credits → buy a pack (5,000, 10,000 or 25,000 credits; 5,000 is the smallest purchase), with a discount on the larger packs. You can also turn on automatic top-up: when the balance drops below a level you choose, the card you paid with last is charged for a pack, within a monthly limit you set.

Question 56

How do I pay?

Accepted Answer

Payments go through Paystack, in naira, by card, bank transfer or USSD. Paystack's secure payment window opens over the page; once you've paid, your plan, credits or seats update straight away. Paystack emails your receipt. Lawpal AI never sees or stores your card number.

Question 57

I paid but my plan or credits didn't update.

Accepted Answer

Wait a minute and refresh — confirmation from Paystack usually arrives within seconds but can take a little longer. If it still hasn't updated, open Support, choose Email our team and include the payment reference from Paystack's receipt; we'll sort it out.

Question 58

Can I change or cancel my plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes, from Profile → Subscription. Upgrading takes effect straight away. If you cancel, your plan stays until the end of the period you've paid for, then you move to the free plan — your conversations and records stay.

Question 59

What happens if our firm's subscription lapses?

Accepted Answer

- Grace — 3 days: everything keeps working, credits included. Renew now and unused credits carry over.
- Read-only — 3 days: everything opens but nothing can be changed, Counsel is paused and unused credits expire.
- Locked: only exporting your data works, until you renew. Nothing is deleted.

Administrators get reminders before the renewal date and can request renewal from Profile → Plan & credits.

Question 60

Where do I manage my account?

Accepted Answer

Click your initial at the top right. Your account has:

- Overview — your account (or for administrators, the firm) at a glance;
- Team — firm administrators only: people, access, invitations and seats;
- Plan & credits / My credits / Subscription — your plan and balance;
- Analytics — how the practice is doing, for those allowed to see it;
- Security — password, two-step sign-in and signed-in devices;
- Settings — your details, photo, notifications and (for administrators) the firm's details.

Question 61

How do I turn on two-step sign-in?

Accepted Answer

Profile → Security → Two-step sign-in. Add Lawpal AI to an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Authy…): on the phone that has the app, tap Open in app; otherwise choose "Enter a setup key" in the app and type the key shown. Then enter the 6-digit code the app gives you. From then on you'll enter a code from the app after your password.

If you signed up with Google, set a password first. The firm's own login uses its password; each person at the firm turns on two-step for themselves.

Question 62

Can I see where I'm signed in?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Profile → Security lists the devices signed in to your account. Sign any one of them out, or all the others at once.

Question 63

I forgot my password.

Accepted Answer

On the sign-in page choose Forgot password, enter your email and follow the link we send. If you signed up with Google, sign in with Google instead — or set a password from Profile → Security once you're in.

Question 64

Why am I being told to wait before signing in?

Accepted Answer

After several wrong passwords in a row, sign-in pauses for a short while to stop anyone guessing their way in. It clears on its own. If you've forgotten your password, reset it rather than guessing. "Too many requests" means the same — wait a moment and try again.

Answers to your questions about Lawpal AI

Getting started

Counsel

Drafting

Document review

Chambers

Firms & teams

Plans, credits & payments

Account & security

Notifications

Add-ins

Help & feedback

We're here.