The problem
When an employer changes terms, the employee client arrives with an old contract, a new one and a 60-page handbook, and the solicitor has to find every change: notice, pay, hours, place of work, restrictive covenants, which policies are contractual. If the practice does 6 of these reviews a month at 3 hours each, that's 18 hours of side-by-side reading.
What the AI does
Claude compares long documents loaded together in one chat: up to 20 files, with PDFs of up to 1,000 pages. The solicitor uploads the old and new contracts and both handbooks and asks for a table of every difference, with the clause number in each version and the exact wording, plus a list of terms that refer to documents not supplied. The solicitor checks each row against the documents, reads the key clauses in full and then writes the advice. Contracts carry names and pay, so the practice uses the Team plan, which doesn't train on business data by default. Advice comes from the solicitor, who stays responsible for it under the SRA rules.
A worked example
A two-solicitor employment practice in Manchester reviews about 6 sets of changed terms a month for employees being consulted on new contracts. Both solicitors use Claude Team to build the comparison table, then check it and write the advice.
Before
3 hours to compare each set of documents by hand: 18 hours a month
After
About 1.5 hours each, including checking every difference: 9 hours a month
What it's worth
About $539£405€482A$778C$761 a month in solicitor time saved, against about $40£30€36A$58C$56 to $51£38€45A$73C$71 for two Claude Team seats. 1.5 hours saved on each of 6 reviews is 9 hours, at an assumed $60£45€54A$86C$85 an hour.
How to set it up
- Have the COLP and data protection lead approve Claude Team, then set it up for both solicitors: $20 (about $20£15€18A$29C$28) per user a month billed annually, or $25 (about $25£19€23A$36C$36) billed monthly, minimum 2 users.
- Ask the client for every document: both contracts, both handbooks and any letters about the change, as text-searchable PDFs.
- Upload them in one chat and ask for a table of differences with clause numbers from each version, the exact wording, and a list of terms that point to documents not supplied.
- Check each row against the documents and read the notice, pay and restrictive covenant clauses in full yourself.
- Write the advice in the case system; keep the table as a working note on the file.
- If the change could lead to a tribunal claim, record the time limit in the case system first, with a second person checking it.
What goes wrong
- Claude can miss a change hidden in a definition or a cross-reference, such as a new meaning for 'place of work'. Read the key clauses in full, not only the table.
- A term saying policies apply 'as amended from time to time' can bring in a document the client hasn't provided. Ask for it before advising.
- Free and Pro are personal plans where training is opt-out, so client contracts belong on Team. If the client's letters mention health or a disability, that is special-category data: follow the practice's UK GDPR policy before uploading.
- Claude doesn't track tribunal time limits. The date lives in the case system, and diary reminders can fail silently, so check them regularly.