The joint statement issued in December by the three state based peak legal bodies arrives at a particularly poignant time, with many firms across the country leaning curiously into the usage of AI, with the uptake tipped to begin cresting in 2025 with the release of new more powerful models, alongside a number of local grown legal specific SaaS offerings which are emerging which tout the use of AI to assist with legal work.
The timing of the release of the statement follows one unfortunate Australian based lawyer finding out about the hallucinatory tendencies of AI during 2024. In this example, the lawyer in question used AI to generate full case citations for cases to support a proposition he submitted to the Court. And generate it did, a list of completed made up cases. The lawyer in question was referred to the Victorian Legal Services Board, with justice Humphries of the Family Court noting that the unreserved apology provided for the error, and the stress it caused made it unlikely that a repeat would occur, it was in the public interest to have the matter investigated.
The overriding message in the statement is a reminder to all legal practitioners and their staff that the use of AI does not in any way abrogate their obligations under the various rules and regulations which govern the profession, in particular the duties to maintain confidentiality, render independent advice, deliver legal services in a competent, honest and diligent manner and charge costs which are proportionate.
While the Victorian County Court and the Victorian Supreme Court have issued AI related guidelines on AI usage for litigants, the Uniform Legal Profession Law has to date not been amended in any manner specifically to deal with the complexities that AI usage in the law presents.
This author suspects that lawmakers have been sharpening their drafting pencils for some time in anticipation of some substantive changes to the law in this regard. Indeed, if anything suggests as much, it is the Victorian Law Reform Commission releasing a consultation paper to guide community discussion on the appropriateness of the current legal framework for dealing with the novel challenges that AI presents.
Without doubt, 2025 will be an enormous year for the interaction between the legal profession and AI.
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