For Immigration Attorneys ·
What you'll accomplish
A published policy update lands, and you need to know what it says and which of your open matters you should look at again. Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM) answers from the sources you give it and attaches a citation to each statement. That makes it a fast first-read aid. It does not tell you what the update means for a case. You open every citation, read the passage, and decide for yourself.
What you'll need
Data caution. The first source is a public document. Keep it that way. Client names, A-numbers, receipt numbers, passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses, immigration and criminal history, case facts and employer data stay in your firm's approved systems. The practice notes in this guide use matter codes only, such as "IM-26-031". Asylum, trafficking, abuse and criminal history details never go into a consumer AI tool. Google's product page says uploaded sources stay private unless you share a notebook and that the product does not train models on uploaded data. Read the current terms and your account's data settings yourself, and confirm your firm approved the tool for anything beyond public documents under your confidentiality duties and your state bar's rules on AI use.
document-1-policy-update.txt.What you should see: One file on your computer containing only public material. Troubleshooting: If the page is long, save only the update itself and not the whole site. Google's product page lists PDFs, text and markdown files, web URLs and pasted text among the source types, and it states a per-source size limit.
Document 2 is your own list of open matters, by code, with the matter type and what is waiting on the file. No client details. Save the invented list below as document-2-practice-notes.txt to practice.
Practice notes (invented).
IM-26-031: family-based petition, evidence packet in draft.
IM-26-038: family-based petition, one document missing from the client.
IM-26-044: notice received, response plan in progress.
IM-26-052: employment-based petition, waiting on employer letter.
What you should see: Two files, one public and one with matter codes only.
What you should see: An empty notebook with an area for sources and an area for chat. Troubleshooting: Menu labels may change. Look for the control that adds sources.
What you should see: Two sources listed by name.
Paste the prompt in the next section into the notebook chat. Each statement in the answer should carry a numbered citation tied to a passage in a source.
Click each citation. The notebook shows the passage it relied on. Read the passage, not only the note.
Use each in the notebook, with the two sources loaded.