Law Council of Australia

Policy Agenda

Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the legal profession—and the future of legal services more broadly—is an area of significant ongoing interest to the Law Council of Australia and is a key focus of its Futures Committee.

This online portal is designed to provide a centralised source of information to support legal professionals in understanding and responding to the opportunities, limitations, and risks presented by the use of AI, including Generative AI (GenAI). This webpage compiles guidance, commentary, and tools from the Law Council’s Constituent Bodies, and other relevant bodies across Australia.

These resources are intended to assist legal practitioners in navigating the ethical, regulatory, and practical implications of using AI in legal practice. However, given the rapid pace of technological advancements and evolving responses (including court protocols), some materials may become outdated over time. Practitioners are encouraged to independently confirm the most current developments and guidance in their jurisdiction, and to exercise caution when using AI tools, noting that improper use may carry ethical, professional, and legal risks. 

Constituent Body Resources

A variety of resources, initiatives, and tools have been developed, or are in development, by the Law Council’s Constituent Bodies.

Many of these resources are relevant to practitioners in Australia, regardless of what jurisdiction they practise in. Please see the table below for further information.

The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) is committed to supporting the legal profession on the use and implementation of AI in legal practice. AI resources and initiatives that the LIV has developed (and is continuing to develop) can be found on the LIV’s AI Hub and include:

  • The LIV’s ‘AI Fact Sheet’ outlining the basics of using AI and GenAI in legal practice (in development);
  • The LIV’s ‘Ethical and Responsible Use of AI’ Guidance Note (in development);
  • The formation of the LIV’s ‘AI Action Group’;
  • CPD events and webinars, and numerous articles featured in the Law Institute Journal, on the topics of AI and GenAI; and
  • The LIV’s Young Lawyers Technology Masterclass program and related technology series discussing the skills and mindset law students and junior lawyers may need when using AI and GenAI.

The Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory (LSACT) has made a range of resources and information on AI available to legal practitioners.

In March 2025, the LSACT hosted a Continuing Professional Development event that explored the role of AI in legal practice. These sessions will be made available in the LSACT’s on-demand webinar library, including:

  • AI Essentials for Sole Practitioners, Small Firms, and Legal Practices;
  • Legal-Specific AI Tools; and
  • Responsible Practice in 2025: Ethics, Risks, and Managing AI Challenges.

The 2024 Annual Blackburn Lecture, titled ‘Do Lawyers Have a Future? Legal Practice in the Age of AI’, delivered by Anne Trimmer AO, was published in the Spring 2024 edition of Ethos, the LSACT’s quarterly journal. The lecture is available to download here and offers valuable insights into the evolving role of AI in the legal profession.

In 2024, the Law Society of New South Wales (LSNSW) convened a Taskforce of legal and technology experts to assist the state’s 40,000 solicitors in navigating AI. While the work of the Taskforce formally concluded in December 2024, the LSNSW maintains a commitment to keeping the profession up-to-date, noting that this area is dynamic and evolving.

The LSNSW has established a dedicated ‘AI for Legal Professionals’ portal. Resources on the portal include:

In addition to running multiple Continuing Professional Development seminars on AI, the Law Society of Western Australia is currently developing several draft resources on this topic. Once finalised, these documents will be published on this portal.

In July 2023, the New South Wales Bar Association (NSW Bar) published Guidelines on ‘Issues Arising from the Use of AI Language Models (including ChatGPT) in Legal Practice’, which acknowledge the ethical and practical challenges posed by AI language models, and are intended to assist barristers in New South Wales to understand their duties under the Legal Profession Uniform Conduct (Barristers) Rules 2015 (NSW). The NSW Bar intends to update the Guidelines this year.

The NSW Bar’s Media, Information Law and Technology Committee produced the Autumn 2024 Technology Edition of BarNews, which featured a variety of articles relating to AI and cybersecurity, including:

  • Artificial intelligence, chatbots, and the Bar; and
  • Inside the black box: the regulation of AI.

The NSW Bar has hosted multiple Continuing Professional Development seminars on AI and its impact on the legal profession. Recordings of these seminars are available for members to view online. Examples of recent relevant seminars include:

  • ‘AI, Robots and the Law’ – examining the growing use of AI across various industries and the legal and ethical challenges it poses for legal professionals;
  • ‘Artificial Intelligence, Technology and Human Rights – What’s All the Fuss?’ – discussing how new technologies, including AI and the use of big data, can be powerful tools for strengthening legal rights, particularly human rights.

The Queensland Law Society (QLS) AI in Legal Practice Consulting Committee was established in 2024 and oversees multiple subject-focused advisory groups to inform guidance for the profession on the use of AI in legal practice and its impact on legal business.

The QLS has published an AI webpage that contains a range of resources, articles, and guidance for practitioners, including:

Other Resources

Get in touch

If you are aware of a helpful resource relating to AI and the legal profession—whether from your law society or bar association, an academic body, or other relevant organisation—please contact us at mail@lawcouncil.au.

Last Updated on 09/05/2025

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