Paralegals approve standard work within the playbook; anything that commits the organisation legally or touches privilege goes to a lawyer. A legal operations approver authority matrix writes that line down, action by action, for everything an AI agent prepares, from NDA mark-ups and matter intake to outside counsel invoices and legal hold notices.
What does legal operations need to approve?
Legal operations runs the machinery around legal advice: intake, contracts, matters, spend and records. Agents are useful there because the work is high in volume and follows playbooks. An agent can triage NDAs against the playbook and propose a mark-up at depth 2, open matters in the matter system at depth 3 once intake is complete, and check outside counsel invoices against agreed rates.
The boundary is legal judgement. An agent may apply a playbook; it may not decide that a non-standard clause is acceptable, give advice to the business, or clear a conflict of interest. Those approvals sit with lawyers. Paralegals approve within the playbook. The matrix records which is which, and at what value or risk level the approval moves up.
How do you fill it in?
- Action: what the agent prepares.
- Depth: 1 read, 2 draft, 3 complete within bounds.
- Approver: paralegal, legal operations manager, or lawyer.
- Scope: the playbook, value or risk level within which the approver may act.
- Escalate when: the condition that moves the approval up.
- Privilege check: whether the action creates or shares privileged material.
- Certificate: what the approver must hold, if approval rights depend on certification.
The template
| Legal ops action | Agent depth | Approver | Scope | Escalate when | Privilege check | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Send NDA mark-up | ||||||
| Open a matter | ||||||
| Clear a conflict check | ||||||
| Route contract for signature | ||||||
| Approve outside counsel invoice | ||||||
| Issue a legal hold notice | ||||||
| Answer a business question | ||||||
| Release documents to a third party |
A worked example
A hypothetical in-house legal team at a retailer: four paralegals, a legal operations manager, three lawyers and a general counsel. Values are illustrative.
| Action | Depth | Approver | Scope | Escalate when | Privilege check | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NDA mark-up | 2 | Paralegal | Standard mutual NDA, playbook positions only | Any non-playbook clause, lawyer | No | Operator |
| Open matter | 3 | None, sampled | Complete intake form | Litigation, lawyer | Yes, matter marked privileged | n/a |
| Conflict clearance | 2 | Lawyer | All | Any hit, general counsel | No | Operator |
| Route for signature | 2 | Legal ops manager | Contracts approved by a lawyer | Signatory outside delegation, general counsel | No | Operator |
| Counsel invoice | 2 | Legal ops manager | Up to 20,000 within agreed rates | Over 20,000 or off-rate, general counsel | Yes, narrative may be privileged | Operator |
| Legal hold notice | 2 | Lawyer | All | Regulator involved, general counsel | Yes | Operator |
| Business question | Refused and routed | Lawyer | All | n/a | Yes | n/a |
| Third-party release | 2 | Lawyer | All | Always, second lawyer | Yes | Operator |
Business questions are refused by the agent and routed to a lawyer. If a manager asks the intake agent whether they can terminate a supplier, the correct verdict is a refusal with a note, not an answer. A paralegal who sees the agent answer such a question should report it as a scope failure.
Matter opening at depth 3 is the only action the agent completes alone, because it is administrative and reversible. Matters marked as litigation still need a lawyer's approval, because opening one can trigger preservation duties.
Invoices carry a privilege check because billing narratives often describe advice. The agent may compare hours and rates, but the approver ensures narratives are not shared outside the legal team.
Similar structures for money-moving actions appear in the approver authority matrix for the payments operations team. Thresholds are set in the approver rule for the legal operations team, and cover in the reviewer rota for the legal operations team. Market rules for paralegals differ, as the brief on training paralegals in legal services in France shows.
Where the Academy fits
Pryme Intelligence Academy's Operator track trains paralegals and legal operations managers to review agent drafts, with module tests set in legal services. A legal team can adopt the practice of giving NDA approval rights only to paralegals holding a current certificate. The broader skills map is AI agent skills by role.
Questions people ask
Can a paralegal approve an NDA without a lawyer?
Within a tight playbook, yes. Any clause outside the playbook goes to a lawyer, and the agent should flag it rather than propose a compromise of its own.
Should the agent route contracts for signature?
It can prepare the routing, but the legal operations manager approves it, checking that a lawyer has approved the contract and the signatory has authority.
What if the playbook changes?
Update the agent's source the same day and re-sample its NDA mark-ups. Approvers should know the playbook version the agent used for each draft.