‘AI Is Not A Legal Entity’ Says Law Society

The Law Society of England & Wales has sent out a practice note to remind everyone that ‘AI is not a legal entity’ and so lawyers ‘cannot transfer professional responsibility’ to an LLM or legal AI tool. They also stressed that ‘AI is no substitute for junior lawyers’, among other things.

The warnings – which don’t carry any legal authority as the Law Society is a representative body and is not an official regulator of the profession – are part of a major piece of work that outlines multiple voluntary guidelines for legal AI use.

While most lawyers will be happy to accept that they cannot treat AI as a legal entity to which responsibility can be delegated, (even when using agents), the point that AI cannot be a substitute for the work of junior lawyers is a far more complex issue.

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Some work that junior lawyers do can indeed be replaced with AI tools – albeit with the right checks put in place before that work goes to the clients.

Perhaps the more accurate phrasing would be ‘AI cannot always substitute for the work of junior lawyers, but give it a try because things are advancing very rapidly. You might be surprised at what it can do!’ And especially so as more mundane workflows feel the full impact of agentic AI.

Although, the Law Society, which is in effect ‘the union’ for lawyers on this side of the Pond, is rather unlikely to send out that particular message.

Other wise words include, (plus AL’s view in italics)

• No AI tool is automatically safe. [True.]
• AI-generated work should receive appropriate human oversight. [Yes. But, please define ‘appropriate’. ]
• Both solicitors and clients should disclose the use of AI. [ Hmm, AL is not sure about this one…..these days it’s perhaps better for lawyers to disclose when they are not using AI, given that LLMs are now part of dozens of different tasks that lawyers perform every day, from legal research, to formatting a document, to checking against a playbook or precedent, and so on. ]

Law Society president, Brett Dixon, commented: ‘The new Law Society guidance clearly states that professional responsibility cannot be transferred to any AI system.

‘Solicitors and law firms should choose their AI tools carefully and always check that legal work meets their professional standards. Over-reliance on AI systems may result in a catastrophic gap of future legal skills and knowledge.

‘AI has enormous potential, but innovation cannot come at the expense of professional integrity or client protection. Solicitors do not need to be technology experts, but they do need to understand the risks.

‘Our new AI practice note gives the profession greater confidence to embrace AI responsibly. At the heart of legal services will always be the solicitor and the people we serve.’

So, there you go. Of course, perhaps the most important aspect that is not highlighted by the Law Society – at least in their main messaging – is why lawyers and clients should be using AI.

The key reason is all about economics and efficiency. Clients want to use AI to speed up laborious processes and also reduce costs where it makes sense to do so. Law firms have a slightly more complex relationship with AI, but efficiency and cutting costs where this can happen without hurting profits are also central.

P.S. the point about the skills gap is a valid concern. But, AL’s view is that the answer to AI challenges in legal training is more AI use, i.e. simulators. It’s hard for a law firm to run work manually that clients don’t want to pay for, in order to train a junior lawyer. Training is vital – yes, 100% – but, there has to be a better way of doing it today.

The full advisory is here.

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Legal Innovators UK Conference – London – Nov 4 + 5 – Express Tickets 

Legal Innovators UK, on November 4 and 5 in London at the Minster Building, is right around the corner and Express Registration is now open so you can zoom straight to your tickets.

Day One will focus on law firms, and Day Two is for the inhouse world. Both days will also very much be about our great speakers exploring the cutting edge of legal technology; where we have got to with AI; and how all of this changes how you run your firm, practice group, or inhouse legal team.

To pick up your tickets, please follow the link below. Complimentary passes are for those working inside law firms and within corporate legal teams.

And there are many reasons to attend, from networking with literally hundreds of your peers, to hearing from those at the cutting edge of legal innovation – both at major law firms and corporates – to of course seeing all the latest capabilities that the leading legal tech companies have developed. See you there!