Regulatory Analysis
When a new regulation is enacted, a client enters a regulated industry, or you need to assess compliance risk.
When a new rule lands or a client moves into a regulated space, the threshold questions are deceptively hard: Does this regulation even apply to us? What exactly must we do, by when, and what happens if we miss it? Regulations bury coverage thresholds, phase-in schedules, exemptions, and overlapping requirements across hundreds of pages, and the cost of misreading scope is real exposure to civil, administrative, or criminal penalties.
Claude is a strong tool for translating a regulation into an actionable compliance picture. Give it the regulation, the client's industry, size, and current practices, and it returns a summary of requirements, a scope determination, the specific obligations and deadlines, applicable penalties, exemptions and safe harbors, interactions with related rules, and a prioritized compliance checklist. It turns a dense rule into a structured memo your compliance plan can build on.
Treat that memo as a first-pass assessment for the attorney to test, not a compliance opinion. Claude can misjudge a coverage threshold, overlook a state analog that imposes stricter duties, or rely on a superseded version of the rule, and it can fabricate citations. Confirm scope, deadlines, and every requirement against the official regulation and current guidance before advising. The output is an attorney-supervised draft to verify, not legal advice.
The Prompt
Assess whether the regulation below applies to my client and what it requires. <regulation> [PASTE THE OPERATIVE REGULATORY TEXT, INCLUDING DEFINITIONS AND ANY EXEMPTIONS] </regulation> Citation: [CITATION] Whose side: [CLIENT / REGULATED ENTITY / COMPLAINANT] As of: [DATE] Industry: [CLIENT'S INDUSTRY] Company size: [APPROXIMATE EMPLOYEES AND REVENUE] Current practices: [DESCRIBE RELEVANT CURRENT OPERATIONS] Provide: 1. Summary of the regulation's requirements 2. Scope: does this client fall within coverage? Quote the coverage language and any thresholds. 3. Specific obligations (reporting, recordkeeping, disclosures, operational changes) 4. Compliance deadlines and phase-in periods stated in the text 5. Penalties stated in the text (civil, criminal, administrative) 6. Exemptions or safe harbors that may apply 7. Possible interaction with other federal or state rules on the same topic, flagged for me to confirm 8. A prioritized compliance checklist for the client 9. Open questions requiring further analysis Quote the operative regulatory text from <regulation> for each conclusion. Separately flag anything that depends on agency guidance or interpretation that I should confirm is still current. If something I need is missing or ambiguous, say so instead of assuming. Do not invent facts, citations, or quotations; mark anything you are unsure of [VERIFY]. This is a draft for attorney review.
Example Output
A compliance memo identifying applicable requirements, assessing the client's current state, and providing a prioritized action plan.
Illustrative example — names, figures, and facts are fictional.
REGULATORY ANALYSIS MEMO (DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW) Regulation: [STATE] Automatic Renewal Rule, [CITATION] (fictional example) Whose side: Regulated entity | As of: [DATE] Client: Mid-market e-commerce retailer, ~180 employees, ~$60M revenue. 1. REQUIREMENTS SUMMARY: Requires clear pre-checkout disclosure of recurring-charge terms and an online cancellation method. Quoted text: "[QUOTE FROM PASTED RULE]" 2. SCOPE / COVERAGE: The rule applies to sellers offering automatic renewal to consumers in [STATE]. The client's subscription box appears to be covered. The pasted text contains no size-based exemption. 3. SPECIFIC OBLIGATIONS - Disclose price, frequency, and renewal terms before payment; - Obtain affirmative consent to the renewal terms; - Provide an online cancellation method; - Retain consent records for [PERIOD STATED IN RULE]. 4. DEADLINES: Effective [DATE STATED IN RULE]. [VERIFY] 5. PENALTIES: [PENALTY PROVISION, QUOTED FROM RULE]; potential injunctive relief. 6. EXEMPTIONS / SAFE HARBORS: None identified in the pasted text. 7. INTERACTION: Other states where the client has customers may have their own automatic-renewal laws. Confirm the client's top states. [VERIFY] 8. PRIORITIZED CHECKLIST: (1) Audit the checkout flow; (2) build online cancellation; (3) implement consent logging; (4) train the customer-service team. 9. OPEN QUESTIONS: Whether the mobile-app flow is separately covered; whether agency guidance on "clear and conspicuous" disclosure is still current. CONFIRM BEFORE ADVISING: The rule has not been stayed, vacated, or amended since publication.
Tips
- •Confirm the rule has not been stayed, vacated, or amended since publication; check the agency's site and recent litigation.
- •Include the client's industry and size: many regulations have size-based thresholds or exemptions.
- •Check for state-level analogs that may impose stricter requirements.
- •Since Loper Bright (2024), courts no longer defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes under Chevron; weigh agency guidance accordingly.
- •Treat the output as a draft for attorney review; verify every citation, quotation, date and figure against the source before relying on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the regulatory analysis prompt most useful?
Use it when a new regulation is enacted, when a client enters a regulated industry, or when you need a fast assessment of compliance risk. It is best for producing a structured first-pass memo that determines scope, maps obligations and deadlines, and generates a prioritized action plan you then verify and refine into formal advice.
Can the client rely on this analysis as a compliance opinion?
No. AI can misjudge coverage thresholds, miss stricter state analogs, rely on outdated rule text, or invent citations. Confirm scope, deadlines, and each obligation against the official regulation and current agency guidance, and check for state-level requirements, before issuing advice. The memo is an internal analytical draft, not a verified compliance opinion.
How do I get the most accurate regulatory analysis?
Include the client's industry, employee count, and revenue, since many rules turn on size thresholds and exemptions. Paste the regulation, describe current practices, and ask about enforcement trends rather than just the text. Then independently verify the scope determination, which is where errors do the most damage.
What are the accuracy and ethics obligations here?
ABA Formal Opinion 512 and the duty of competence require you to understand the tool's limits and verify its output. Regulatory advice carries direct penalty exposure for the client, so a wrong scope or deadline is consequential. Independent confirmation against the official rule and current guidance is part of competently using AI for this work.
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