TL;DR: SRA AI guidance makes solicitors personally responsible for anything AI produces, including research and court submissions. Two firms have already been referred to the SRA this year after AI-generated citations turned out to be fake. Verification, staff training, documented use and client disclosure are what the SRA expects firms to have in place.
What does the SRA’s AI guidance actually say?
The SRA has not written a rulebook for AI. Its compliance tips, last updated in February 2026, restate the Code of Conduct and apply it to AI tools directly.
You stay responsible for your work, whoever/whatever produced the first draft. Client confidentiality applies regardless of the platform. And you must understand a tool well enough to spot when it has got something wrong.
Who is responsible for AI compliance in your firm?
The SRA expects your Compliance Officer for Legal Practice (COLP) to take ownership of AI governance across the firm.
That means someone specific is accountable for how AI tools are used and checked, with the authority to enforce it.
Why are solicitors being referred to the SRA over AI use?
Pinsent Masons referred itself to the SRA after a junior solicitor used AI to research a point of insolvency law. The tool invented a statutory provision that did not exist, and it made it into a letter to the court. Two senior solicitors had signed that letter off without catching the error. (Source – Law Gazette)
In a separate case, Rodney v Gee’z Micro Bar & Pitstop, His Honour Judge Grimshaw referred two solicitors at AML Legal after a skeleton argument cited authorities that turned out to be fabricated. One document even included the line “your client was a litigant in person,” language the judge noted read like something generated rather than written by a lawyer. (Source – Law Gazette)
Judge Grimshaw called for a “robust approach” from the courts, describing fake AI citations as a growing threat to the justice system. Neither case involved a rogue actor trying to deceive the court. Both involved firms that skipped the verification step.
See what Matt has to say
What should your law firm have in place to meet SRA AI guidance?
Governance does not need to be complicated. It needs to exist and be followed.
Verify every citation before it leaves the building
Any citation or quotation an AI tool produces gets checked against the primary source before it reaches a client or a court. No exceptions for time pressure.
Train staff on what AI can and cannot do
Staff need to understand that a confident, well-formatted answer from an AI tool can still be entirely wrong, these are known as AI hallucinations.
Keep client data out of AI tools
AI tools can store and reuse whatever is typed into them, so confidential client information should never go near one. The confidentiality duty always applies, no matter which tool is involved. What matters most is knowing where shadow AI might be creeping into your firm, and training staff to use only the tools you have approved.
Record AI use in the matter file
If AI contributed to research or drafting, note it. This protects the fee earner and gives the firm a clear audit trail if something is later questioned.
Tell clients when AI is part of the process
The SRA’s guidance is explicit on this point. Clients should be told when AI is involved as a normal part of client care.
How Labyrinth Technology can help
We work with law firms across the UK to put the practical structures behind compliance guidance like this. That means secure systems for how AI tools connect to your data, and IT support that understands why a law firm’s obligations are different from a typical small business.
If you are reviewing how AI is used across your firm, we can help you build the policies and secure systems that sit behind it.
Two firms have already been referred to the SRA this year over uncaught AI citations. The next one is being decided right now, one verification step at a time.
