How the GitHub legal team used Copilot CLI to streamline their workflows

GitHub’s legal team, composed of lawyers and program managers, used Copilot CLI to address repetitive workflows such as contract reviews and legal questions. By describing their needs in plain language and connecting to repositories, they built tools without writing code. The approach shifted perceptions from 'I could never code' to 'I just built something,' fostering a culture of tool-building across the team.

Ngandu Kasuku, Principal Product Counsel, created a contract drafting tool called terms-ai using Copilot CLI. The tool organized drafting resources, workflows, and a style guide in a repository, reducing copying and pasting. It leveraged plain language principles and a library of past agreements to draft consistent, approved contracts, cutting review and drafting time by roughly half while maintaining internal access controls.

Jesse Geraci, Online Safety Counsel, built a workflow tool using plain-language instruction sets and policy references, integrating external data sources. The tool evolved into a desktop app for legal workflows, including contract review, NDA triage, and compliance checks. Legal teams could customize workflows in readable Markdown, keeping human review central while improving consistency and scalability.

The team’s experience demonstrates that non-technical professionals can automate repetitive tasks using Copilot CLI. By defining methodologies and standards in plain language, they operationalized knowledge without becoming full-time developers. The approach highlights the potential for similar tool-building across various roles to streamline workflows.