AI policy for UK law firms

What the guidance says

• The SRA says AI has no separate legal personality, so solicitors who use AI to deliver legal services remain accountable for the work and its outputs, however that work was prepared. SRA
• The SRA has warned about court documents with false citations produced by AI hallucinations, and about firms not fully dealing with the risk to client confidentiality when they use paid or free AI tools. SRA
• The SRA expects, as a minimum, the firm's Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) to be responsible for regulatory compliance when new technology comes in. Its compliance tips list risk and impact assessments, policies and procedures, training, and monitoring. SRA
• The Law Society's checklist for smaller firms covers why you're using each tool, the vendor's data handling, whether the tool trains on what you put in, telling clients how you use AI, and checking every output for accuracy. The Law Society
• Where an AI tool processes personal data, the ICO's guidance on AI and data protection covers accountability and governance, including what to consider in a data protection impact assessment. The ICO says this guidance is under review after the Data (Use and Access) Act. ICO

What to put in your policy

Most of these points map onto the questions our template asks:

• Which AI tools staff may use, and whether each one keeps what you type inside the firm or uses it to train its model.
• What must stay out of each tool, such as client-confidential material and personal data.
• Whether AI output ever reaches a client without a human check, and who does that check.
• Who owns the policy, and how often the firm reviews it.

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