AI in practice: new Bar Standards Board rules on use and risk – NetDocuments
The Bar Standards Board issued new guidance on the use of AI by barristers in England and Wales, encouraging adoption while warning that legal professionals remain responsible for confidentiality, accuracy, and oversight.
Around the world, the legal industry has begun adopting AI at pace – and from new government practice notes in Australia to reports from the American Bar Association’s AI Task Force, law firms are being urged to focus on governance and operational adoption.
The Bar Standards Board’s guidance encourages AI adoption, but warns barristers have a duty to understand how AI impacts their practice – regardless of whether they’re using it themselves or not. It is also warning that general purpose AI tools without adequate data protections pose a high risk – reminding practitioners they remain responsible for confidentiality, oversight, governance, and accuracy.
NetDocuments’ Chief Product Officer Dan Hauck said the guidance highlights the risks of using general-purpose AI tools without proper governance or data protections, particularly where firms lose visibility and control over how information is shared and used.
Dan Hauck, Chief Product Officer at NetDocuments says: “The BSB’s guidance makes clear that the question for barristers is no longer whether to engage with AI, but how. Those adopting it without the right governance are taking on risks that may not be visible until something goes wrong.
“The warning about general-purpose AI tools lacking adequate data protections is the crux of it. When AI operates outside governed, matter-aware systems, firms lose confidentiality controls, permission enforcement – and any record of what content was shared with the AI in the first place. Practitioners remain ultimately responsible under this guidance, which means oversight has to be meaningful: not just reviewing what the AI produced, but being able to trace it back to the sources it worked from.”
