AI in Legal Research: Promise, Pitfalls and Professional Ethics

Generative AI has rapidly become part of the legal research toolkit. From summarising case law to drafting initial pleadings and analysing contracts, AI tools promise time savings and efficiency gains. However, they also raise professional and ethical questions around accuracy, confidentiality and the maintenance of competent practice. This article explores the opportunities, the risks and practical safeguards for solicitors.

The practical benefits of AI

AI can help solicitors by:

• Summarising large volumes of case law with highlighted relevance
• Drafting templates, initial letters and routine submissions
• Assisting with legal research by suggesting authorities and cross-references
• Accelerating due diligence by flagging anomalous clauses in contracts

These tools free up fee earners to focus on strategy, client relations and advocacy — work that requires human judgment and contextual knowledge.

Accuracy and the risk of hallucination

AI outputs may include confident-sounding but incorrect statements — a phenomenon called "hallucination." For solicitors, the consequences can be serious if unverified AI content is relied upon in court or in client advice.

Practical rule: always verify AI-generated statements against primary sources. Treat AI as an assistant that surfaces leads, not as an authoritative source.

Confidentiality and data protection

Uploading client documents or privileged communications to third-party AI services may breach confidentiality duties. Many public AI models retain inputs to continue training unless contractual protections and dedicated private instances are in place.

Safeguards include:

• Using on-premise or dedicated private cloud instances for sensitive tasks
• Ensuring contractual DPAs with AI vendors
• Redacting or anonymising documents before submission when possible

Supervision, competence and regulatory expectations

Professional regulators expect solicitors to remain competent and supervise junior staff. That expectation extends to the use of AI tools. Key considerations:

• Understand the tool’s limitations and how it was trained
• Provide training for staff using AI tools
• Document reliance on AI and the verification steps taken

Failure to supervise or rely on unverified AI outputs could lead to complaints or disciplinary action.

Bias, fairness and explainability

AI models reflect biases present in training data. In areas such as sentencing or family law, biased outputs can perpetuate unfairness. Solicitors must critically assess AI recommendations and ensure decisions affecting clients are justified on independent legal reasoning.

Practical workflows for safe AI use

1. Define the task: restrict AI use to non-core or preliminary tasks unless safeguards exist.
2. Use private or regulated AI services for client data and ensure DPAs are in place.
3. Always verify AI outputs against primary legal sources and document checks.
4. Maintain a human-in-the-loop for final decisions and client advice.
5. Audit AI usage regularly and maintain logs for regulatory scrutiny.

Client transparency

Clients should be informed if AI tools are used in their matter and the limits of such tools. Transparency builds trust and aligns with ethical obligations to provide clear and candid advice.

Case study

A mid-sized firm used an AI summarisation tool to triage 1,200 employment tribunal claims. The AI reduced initial screening time by 60%, flagging high-risk claims for senior review. The firm required human verification of precedent citations and maintained a private model instance to ensure client data remained protected.

Regulatory horizon

Regulators are issuing guidance on AI. Expect requirements around risk assessments, vendor due diligence and record-keeping. Firms should monitor guidance from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and equivalent bodies.

Conclusion

AI offers real productivity advantages for legal research and triage, but it does not replace the lawyer’s duty of competence, confidentiality and professional judgment. With clear policies, private deployments and human oversight, solicitors can harness AI while safeguarding clients and upholding ethical standards.