Engagement letter draft prompt: free ChatGPT template
Updated · By Robert Breen
Use this when a client says yes and the engagement letter needs to go out this week: a law firm opening a matter, or an accounting firm moving a client to monthly bookkeeping. The prompt arranges terms you already use (scope, fee, billing, client duties, how either side ends it) into a readable draft and flags anything missing. It decides nothing for you. Engagement letters are contracts, so paste your approved wording where you have it and have an attorney review the draft before anyone signs.
Have a professional review it. This prompt helps you draft, not decide. AI can get the law wrong and doesn’t know your jurisdiction or your facts, so have a licensed attorney review anything legal before you send or sign it.
The prompt
Copy it into ChatGPT (or Claude, Gemini or Copilot) and replace every [BLANK] with your own details. It uses the four parts from Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task and Format.
Role: You are drafting an engagement letter for [FIRM], for a partner to review. Context: The client is [CLIENT]. These approved terms are the only terms the letter may contain: [TERMS]. Wording that must appear exactly: [REQUIRED CLAUSES]. Don't add terms, guarantees, liability limits or legal clauses of your own. Task: Draft sections for: who we work for, services included, services not included, fees and billing, what we need from the client and when, how either side ends the engagement, and signatures. If a section has no matching term, write "Needs partner input" there. Format: Plain English, short paragraphs, section names as headings. After the letter, list every "Needs partner input" gap.
Fill in the blanks
[FIRM]- Your firm's name and what it does.
[CLIENT]- The client's legal or business name and who will sign.
[TERMS]- Scope, exclusions, fee and billing schedule, client duties with dates, start date, and how either side ends it. If a term isn't decided, leave it out and let the gap list catch it.
[REQUIRED CLAUSES]- Sentences your firm always uses word for word, from your template, or "None."
Example, filled in
A made-up example from the free lesson Turn a Client Meeting into Action Items and a Follow-Up Email (Accounting Firms). Millbrook Accounting is the made-up firm in the accounting meeting summary lesson, where the client Cedar Lane Landscaping asked about monthly bookkeeping. Here the client has said yes. Nobody agreed a late-payment term, so the draft should flag it.
Role: You are drafting an engagement letter for Millbrook Accounting, a small accounting firm, for a partner to review. Context: The client is Cedar Lane Landscaping, signed by Grace Whitfield, owner. These approved terms are the only terms the letter may contain: monthly bookkeeping from Nov 1; we categorize transactions, reconcile the business checking and credit card, and send a profit and loss statement and balance sheet by the 15th of the next month. Not included: tax returns, payroll, 1099 filing. Fee $425 a month, invoiced on the 1st, due in 15 days. Client uploads statements by the 5th. Either side may end it with 30 days' written notice. Wording that must appear exactly: "We rely on the records you provide and do not audit or verify them." Don't add terms, guarantees, liability limits or legal clauses of your own. Task: Draft sections for: who we work for, services included, services not included, fees and billing, what we need from the client and when, how either side ends the engagement, and signatures. If a section has no matching term, write "Needs partner input" there. Format: Plain English, short paragraphs, section names as headings. After the letter, list every "Needs partner input" gap.
What a good answer looks like
- Every number and duty matching your terms: $425, the 1st, 15 days, statements by the 5th, 30 days' notice.
- A clear "not included" section, so the client knows tax returns and payroll need their own agreement.
- "Needs partner input" where your terms are silent (here, late payments), instead of an invented late fee.
- Your required sentence copied exactly.
How to check it before you use it
An AI draft can sound right and still say something you never told it. Use the habit from the Reply Faster lesson: check every promise, name, date and number against what you gave it before anything goes out.
- Check every promise: ask for a table matching each sentence to one of your terms. Anything without a source comes out.
- Search for legal language you didn't supply: "indemnify," "limitation of liability," "governing law," "warrant." None belongs unless it came from your approved wording.
- Compare the required clauses word for word with your template.
- Have an attorney or your firm's approval process review the final draft. The AI arranged your terms; it didn't vet them.
Why this prompt works
"The only terms the letter may contain" keeps the draft inside your deal, and a named placeholder gives the model something honest to write when a term is missing. Without it, a model fills the silence with plausible boilerplate, a kind of hallucination that looks official.
Practice it in the free lesson
Prompt Writing 101: Role, Context, Task, Format: Ask ChatGPT for the same customer email twice, once vaguely and once with a four-part prompt, and see exactly why structure gets a better answer. You do every step yourself in a practice copy of ChatGPT, and nothing touches your real accounts.
Also useful: Turn a Client Meeting into Action Items and a Follow-Up Email (Accounting Firms)
Terms used here
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Frequently asked questions
- Can I paste my whole engagement letter template instead?
- Yes, and that's often better. Paste the template as the required wording and ask the AI to fill only the client-specific parts (scope, fee, dates) from your terms, leaving everything else word for word.