Use Gemini in Google Docs to turn a legal analysis into an executive summary

What This Does

You wrote a long legal analysis. The executive who needs to act on it wants the bottom line on one page. Gemini in Docs can draft that summary from your memo, and the Refine menu can shorten selected text. The draft is a starting point. Your memo is the authority, and the summary has to say what it says.

Before You Start

• Gemini in Docs requires an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan, according to Google's support page for writing and editing with Gemini in Docs. Plans and features are described at gemini.google.com. If you do not see a Gemini button in a document, ask your Workspace admin.
• Use only your company's Workspace account. A memo with legal advice, investigation findings or deal terms can be privileged or confidential. Check with your IT team and your company's policy on whether Gemini may be used on privileged material, and what the data settings are for your account (retention, who can see Gemini history). Follow your state bar's guidance as well.
• Work on a copy of the memo, so that Gemini's suggestions never touch the original. Make the copy before you begin. If the memo names individual employees, replace the names with roles in the copy.

Steps

1. Open the copy and start Gemini

Open the copy of the memo in Google Docs. Click Gemini, which Google's page says opens a prompt box at the bottom bar. You do not need to select any text first.

2. Ask for the summary

Type a prompt with your reader and limits in it:

"Write an executive summary of this memo for the [title of executive], who needs to decide whether to [decision]. Maximum 200 words. Start with the recommendation. Then give the two or three reasons that matter most, the main risk, and what we need from them. Use only what is in this memo. Keep every qualifier, such as 'likely', 'unclear' and 'depends on'. Do not add facts."

Google's page says Gemini shows suggestions directly in the document. You can click Accept suggestion for one change, Accept all, or Reject all.

3. Or shorten one section at a time

For a different route, select a paragraph and use the floating bar. Click Refine and choose Shorten or Summarize, as Google's page describes. The page lists Rephrase, Shorten, Elaborate, Bulletize and Summarize among the options. Review the suggested change before you accept it.

4. Check every conclusion

Put the summary next to the memo. For each sentence in the summary, find where the memo says it. Check three things:

• Each conclusion matches the memo's conclusion, in direction and strength.
• Nothing is added. Delete any fact, reason or recommendation the memo does not contain.
• No hedge has been dropped. If the memo says "probably" or "subject to confirming [fact]", the summary must say it too.

5. Add what the executive needs, then send

Add the decision requested and the date it is needed by. Mark the document the way your company's policy says for privileged communications before you share it.

Real Example

Scenario: A six-page memo analyzes whether the company can terminate a supply agreement with Northwind Supply for a missed delivery milestone. You conclude that termination is possible but carries a real dispute risk, and the answer depends on whether notice was given under the contract's cure procedure.

What you do: Ask Gemini for a 200-word summary with the recommendation first and all qualifiers kept.

What you get: A draft that says "The company may terminate." Your memo says the right depends on the cure notice. You change the sentence back to "The company may be able to terminate, if the cure notice requirements were met. We are confirming that now." The rest of the draft matches.

Tips

• Keep an up-front bottom-line sentence in your memo. Gemini summarizes a memo with a clear conclusion more reliably.
• If the first draft is too long, ask for a shorter version and re-run the check. Do not trim it by hand without checking the qualifiers.
• Save the prompt that worked as a note in your own files for next time.

Tool interfaces change. If a button has moved, look for the Gemini button or Refine option in the same area of the document.