TL;DR

The Law Society published a 58-page practice note on AI on 21 October, advising solicitors to give clients “appropriate information” about how they use the technology. It says responsibility for legal work stays with the solicitor whether or not AI was involved, and that firms can ask clients to say when material they hand over was produced by AI.

What the note says

The guidance is aimed at helping firms bring AI into practice while meeting their professional duties. The note stresses accountability: solicitors answer for their work to clients, the court and third parties regardless of the tools used to produce it.

It also warns against a common shortcut. In the note’s words: “An AI system cannot reliably validate the accuracy of its results on its own. Relying on AI to verify AI outputs will not satisfy your professional obligations.”

Free chatbots are not the only concern. The note says paid AI products deserve scrutiny too, and, as the Gazette summarises it, firms need to weigh how the system is accessed, its terms, how data is stored and shared, where the provider operates, how likely the tool is to mislead, and whether it holds the information needed for the relevant jurisdiction.

The Society’s warning on skills

Brett Dixon, the Law Society’s president, said: “Professional responsibility cannot be transferred to any AI system.” He added that “overreliance on AI systems may result in a catastrophic gap of future legal skills and knowledge”, and that solicitors “do not need to be technology experts, but they do need to understand the risks.”

Akber Datoo, who co-chairs the Society’s technology committee, described the note as a way to gather information in one place and help solicitors put general principles into practice.

Looking forward

The note follows the Society’s foresight report on AI agents in the justice system earlier this month, and sits alongside our report on Uswitch’s survey about AI and solicitors. The two-way disclosure point matters here: a firm receiving AI-generated material from a client can ask the client to say so. In our view, for small firms without in-house technologists, the list of questions to put to AI vendors is the most practical part. It also gives clients a reasonable set of questions to put to their own solicitors about which tools are handling their matters and where their data goes.