Clallam County Releases Superior Court Clerk’s Office AI Chats

Clallam County released artificial intelligence records showing employees in the Superior Court Clerk’s Office asking Microsoft Copilot to draft promotion justifications, summarize an email and help locate missing email signatures.

The release came in response to my public-records request. It includes records from three accounts: Clerk Nikki Botnen, Lisa MacDonald and Tamara Clarkson.

The Herald is making the files available for readers to examine the prompts, generated responses and follow-up instructions themselves.

The most extensive exchanges concern personnel writing. On May 7, Botnen asked Copilot to “format a customizable letter to HR on promotion justification for an employee.”

The software supplied a template with sections on performance, leadership, the employee’s contribution to the organization and readiness for a higher position. It included placeholders for names and examples that could be filled in.

Botnen then asked it to copy the material into her form, expand the section about the employee’s value to the organization and explain a sentence about how a promotion would improve the department’s effectiveness.

After Copilot offered a longer explanation, she asked for simpler, more concise wording. Its revised sentence read: “This promotion recognizes her contributions and allows her to use her strengths in a way that will improve our department’s overall efficiency.”

In another exchange that day, Botnen supplied an introductory paragraph recommending an employee for promotion to Court Clerk II and asked for a rewrite emphasizing that the employee had excelled in a short time. Copilot offered several alternatives. Further prompts sought wording about expectations during the employee’s first year and a revised section title.

MacDonald’s account contained a Sept. 28 request: “Summarize this email.”

The generated response described an email about the Oct. 6 docket and an attached motion-calendar confirmation. It also offered to summarize the attachment or identify particular cases and hearing types.

Clarkson’s records include an early exploration of the tool. In July 2025, she asked what tasks she could use it for, then explained that she was considering how it might help during her workday. Copilot suggested drafting and editing emails, summarizing messages, scheduling and other tasks.

On June 25, 2026, Clarkson asked, “WHERE DID MY SIGNATURES GO”. Copilot responded with links it described as an email-signature template and other signature-related documents, along with instructions for recovering an Outlook signature.

In a short July 21 exchange about a court recess, Copilot offered to help prepare an announcement, minute entry or other wording.

The Herald’s September 28 public records request sought AI prompts and outputs originating from clerk’s-office employees from Jan. 1, 2023, through the request date. It covered ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and other AI or large language model applications.

The county delivered three account archives on October 16. The three account archives contain 21 HTML files representing six conversations, including separate copies of some AI responses.