Have an AI agent sort a whole deal data room into themes and issues, summarize each group, and draft the first diligence report for a lawyer to check against the source documents: AI agent prompt
In a deal, lawyers have to work through thousands of pages in a data room under a tight deadline. On Oct 29, 2026 OpenAI described how the law firm Ropes & Gray is building a diligence tool with it: the tool takes a first pass through the data room, inventories and groups related documents by theme and issue so whole relationships are reviewed together, writes summaries and a report in the firm's own format, and lawyers inspect the grouping and the source documents before anything goes to a client. The firm tests drafts against reports written by its lawyers. The prompt below sets up the same first-pass routine for a smaller deal, such as buying a business or taking on an investor.
The prompt
You are helping me with a first-pass due diligence review. I will give you the documents from the data room for [describe the deal, e.g. buying a small business, a seed investment, a commercial lease portfolio]. 1) Make an inventory: list every document with its title, date, parties and type (contract, lease, financial statement, employment, IP, permit, litigation, other). 2) Group related documents by theme and issue, for example a main contract with its amendments and side letters, so each relationship is reviewed as a whole. 3) For each group, write a short summary covering key terms, money owed or due, renewal and termination dates, change-of-control or assignment clauses, exclusivity, and anything unusual. 4) Flag risks as high, medium or low, and for every point cite the document name and page or section it came from. 5) List missing documents I should request, such as a referenced amendment that isn't in the data room. 6) Produce a draft report with these sections: [paste your report format, or use: overview, key contracts, liabilities, employment, IP, open questions]. Do not guess: if a document is unreadable or a term is unclear, say so. Mark the whole report 'Draft for lawyer review, not legal advice'.
How to use it
- Copy the prompt above.
- Replace every [bracket] with your own details (or fill in the blanks on AgentPlaybook Real Estate, which remembers your answers for the next prompt).
- Paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, Google Drive and review the answer before you use it.
Works with: ChatGPT, Claude, Google Drive, Dropbox, Datasite
Real-world example: openai.com/index/ropes-gray-ai-diligence/
Featured in: AI prompts to summarize meetings, notes, documents and reports · AI prompts for writing SOPs, reports, policies and checklists
Before you use it: what to check
Already built into this prompt
- Do not guess: if a document is unreadable or a term is unclear, say so.
Check yourself
- Anything legal, tax or compliance-related is a first draft for a qualified person to check. It is not professional advice, and clause references and deadlines must be checked against the source.
- Remove names, contact details, account numbers and other personal data the task doesn't need before you paste, and check your AI tool's data and training settings.
- Check names, dates, numbers and any claim against your own source material before you use the answer. AI can misread or invent details.
Using an AI agent? Download this prompt as a SKILL.md agent skill with these checks built in, or get the .zip for Claude.ai. How to install skills.
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