Safety First: No room for compromise on confidentiality and data protection

For legal professionals, confidentiality is not an option, but an obligation. Clients must be able to rely on their sensitive information being protected at all times – regardless of whether it is processed in law firms, legal departments or in digitized processes. However, with the increasing use of AI in legal work, the question arises: how can the advantages of Legal AI be exploited without taking data protection risks?

While many technologies focus on efficiency and automation, one thing remains central for the legal industry: confidentiality and data security must never be compromised. This means that the use of AI solutions must be accompanied by a carefully thought-out security concept – one that meets the specific requirements of the legal profession.

Confidentiality as the cornerstone of Legal AI

For AI to be used responsibly in the legal field, the highest security standards must be applied. Data leaks, uncontrolled processing or storage of sensitive information are an absolute no-go – and can not only have legal consequences, but also cause irreparable loss of trust.

For these reasons, a strict data protection concept is essential:

• Legal work is based on trust – a client must be sure that their confidential data will not fall into the wrong hands.

• Data leaks can have serious legal consequences – violations of professional secrecy or the GDPR can result in significant consequences.

• Legal AI must be compliant – law firms and companies must ensure that AI does not inadvertently cause data breaches.

This means that the safe use of AI requires clear principles that go beyond the legal minimum.

Three key principles for the safe use of AI in the legal industry

1. No storage or training with client data

An AI tool must never be trained with sensitive client data. In many generic AI systems – for example publicly available AI models – there is a risk that user input is stored or used to further develop the AI.

Why is this a problem? This data could flow into other processes in an uncontrolled manner and there is no guarantee that it will be completely deleted. Sensitive information could be inadvertently reconstructed or “rediscovered” by other users.

It is therefore advisable to pursue a consistent “zero data retention” policy in which all input is deleted after processing and may not be used for AI training.

2. End-to-end encryption

Data should never be processed or transmitted unencrypted.

In practice, this means:

• No access by unauthorized persons – either internally or externally.

• Encrypted storage: If data needs to be stored temporarily, then only in a highly secure, regulated environment.

• Access control: Only authorized users may access relevant data.

Why is this so important? Without full encryption, there is a risk that data can be viewed or intercepted by third parties – whether through technical vulnerabilities or targeted cyberattacks.

3. Secure infrastructure & hosting within the EU

The location issue plays a crucial role in ensuring compliance with data protection regulations. The GDPR strictly regulates the protection of personal data within the EU.

For law firms and companies, this means that cloud or server solutions must be hosted in regulated, highly secure data centers.

Why data security is crucial to the success of AI projects

Data protection is not a formal tick in a compliance checklist, but a basic requirement for the successful use of AI in the legal industry. A lack of transparency or inadequate security measures not only lead to legal problems but also endanger the trust of clients and internal teams.

Conclusion: AI needs trust – and trust begins with data protection

The use of artificial intelligence in legal work opens up enormous opportunities – from increasing efficiency and reducing errors to improving collaboration between legal teams and business. However, the basis for the successful use of legal AI is not just the technology, but trust in it.

Clients must be able to rely on their data remaining protected even in digital work processes. Only if AI-supported tools meet the highest security and data protection standards can they add real value to the legal industry.

Therefore, AI must adapt to legal requirements – not the other way around. Solutions that consider data protection only as an afterthought are unsuitable for the legal field. Instead, data protection, encryption and compliance must be an integral part of every AI application from the outset.

CASUS: AI specifically for lawyers – with the highest data protection standards

CASUS was developed specifically for legal practice and guarantees the highest data protection and security standards.

Our approach is as follows:

• No storage, no training: Our AI models are never trained with customer data, and all inputs and outputs are stored exclusively on CASUS servers in Switzerland after processing.

• Everything is encrypted: we use the latest security standards to ensure that data is only accessible to those who really need it.

• Hosting in Switzerland, AI processing in the EU: this is how we ensure that we meet the strict data protection requirements.

With CASUS, legal professionals can use the advantages of AI without compromising on data protection or professional confidentiality. You can find our specific security concept here.