A weekly brief · Est. 2026
AI, carefully,
for lawyers.
The Redline helps solo and small-firm lawyers in the UK and US use AI tools without breaching client confidentiality. One short, honest issue each week, what's worth using, what to stay away from, and where the regulatory line sits.
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Confidentiality first
Every tool we cover is evaluated against the duty of confidentiality before we look at the features.
Two jurisdictions
Written for both UK practice (SRA / Bar Standards Board) and US practice (state bar rules and ABA Model Rule 1.6).
Small-firm reality
No enterprise-only stack. We test what a solo or 2–15 lawyer firm can actually buy and deploy this quarter.
The archive
Recent issues
Issue 025 · Confidentiality
7 min readAre your AI prompts discoverable? What the 2026 rulings actually protect
Two courts said in June that AI chat logs are work product. The protection turns on who typed the prompt, and the exceptions swallow a lot of it.
Issue 024 · Confidentiality
7 min readCan lawyers use AI notetakers? What the NYC Bar's 2026 opinions actually say
Every guide this year says get consent and proceed. The City Bar's newest ethics opinion says the default should be not to record at all.
Issue 023 · Compliance
7 min readCan a lawyer be disbarred for using AI? What the 2026 cases actually punished
The first strike off landed in September 2026. Next to the Ninth Circuit and Nebraska orders, the escalator is the same: the second document.
Issue 022 · Compliance
7 min readDoes any state require AI CLE? What the 2026 rules actually say
No US jurisdiction mandates an AI-specific credit. Five require a technology credit an AI course can fill, and the dates and categories differ.
Issue 021 · Operations
7 min readDoes your malpractice insurance cover AI mistakes? What the 2026 exclusions actually hit
The ISO exclusions everyone is forwarding attach to your general liability policy, not your professional liability cover. The real gap sits elsewhere.
Issue 020 · Compliance
7 min readAgentic AI for lawyers in 2026: the risk is the document you did not write
An agent acts on material drafted by people with an interest in your case. In August 2026 a Connecticut judge caught the first US attack built on exactly that.
Issue 019 · Operations
8 min readCan you bill a client for AI time? What ABA Opinion 512 actually permits
You can bill the minutes you spent prompting and checking. The subscription is overhead, and your flat fee may have quietly become unreasonable.
Issue 018 · Operations
8 min readHarvey AI review: what Harvey's own benchmark tells a small firm
Skip the feature lists. Harvey publishes a benchmark of its own agents, and the numbers in it answer the buying question better than any review does.
Issue 017 · Compliance
8 min readAre AI legal research tools safe in 2026? What the Sixth Circuit just held
Every case in the brief was real. The quotations inside them were not. The Sixth Circuit's April 2026 opinion changes what a cite-check must catch.
Issue 016 · Compliance
7 min readWhat is a DPA and why every lawyer using AI needs one
Free and Plus accounts don't come with one. If you're putting client data into AI without a signed DPA, you're already in breach.
Issue 015 · Confidentiality
8 min readHow to anonymise a document before using AI (step by step for lawyers)
Swapping out names isn't enough. Here's the process that actually holds up, including the step almost every guide skips: metadata and fact-pattern identification.
Issue 014 · Confidentiality
8 min readDoes using AI waive legal privilege? What United States v. Heppner actually decided
A federal judge ruled a defendant's AI chats weren't privileged. The reason wasn't the AI. It's who directed the use, and that distinction changes what you tell clients.
Issue 013 · Compliance
7 min readYour firm's AI policy problem isn't the tools, it's the missing training
69% of lawyers now use AI at work. 54% of firms have given them zero training on how. That gap, not the tools themselves, is what actually creates malpractice exposure.
Issue 012 · Confidentiality
7 min readDoes ChatGPT Free's opt-out actually stop training on your prompts?
Yes, the toggle works. It just doesn't do what most lawyers assume it does. Here's what OpenAI's own settings actually control, and what they don't.
Issue 011 · Confidentiality
8 min readIs Microsoft Copilot safe for law firms?
The AI isn't the risk. Your SharePoint permissions are. Here's what actually determines whether Copilot is safe for client work, and why the free version is a different product entirely.
Issue 010 · Operations
9 min readThe best AI contract review tools for small firms (2026, tested)
Most "best AI contract review tools" lists are written for enterprise legal departments. Here's what actually makes sense for a one to five lawyer practice, priced honestly.
Issue 009 · Compliance
8 min readThe EU AI Act and your law firm: what August 2026 actually requires
The high-risk deadline for legal AI just moved to December 2027. Here's exactly what August 2, 2026 still requires, and who it actually applies to.
Issue 008 · Compliance
8 min readAI hallucinations in legal work: sanctions, cases, and how to avoid them
Courts sanctioned lawyers more than $145,000 in Q1 2026 alone for fabricated AI citations. Here's what the worst cases actually show, and the one habit that stops it.
Issue 007 · Compliance
7 min readABA Opinion 512 explained: what solo lawyers actually need to do
Formal Opinion 512 reads like guidance for firms with a compliance team. Here's what it actually requires when you're on your own.
Issue 006 · Compliance
7 min readWhen do lawyers have to tell clients they're using AI?
No blanket duty exists, but billing, confidentiality, and court rules each create their own triggers. Here's exactly when disclosure is required and when it isn't.
Issue 005 · Compliance
8 min readHow to write an AI policy for a small law firm (with template)
57% of small law firms have no written AI policy. Here's what yours needs to cover, how to write it in an afternoon, and a free template mapped to ABA Opinion 512 and SRA obligations.
Issue 004 · Operations
5 min readAI for client intake: where it's safe, and where it isn't
Client intake and admin are the safest, highest-return place for a small firm to start with AI. Here's the line between safe process work and risky matter content.
Issue 003 · Confidentiality
5 min readWhat does the SRA actually say about lawyers using AI?
The SRA hasn't banned AI, and it hasn't blessed it either. Here's what the regulator actually expects from solicitors using AI tools, and the four questions that keep you compliant.
Issue 002 · Confidentiality
6 min readIs it safe to use ChatGPT for legal work in 2026?
ChatGPT Free and Plus train on your inputs by default. Here's what's actually safe for lawyers, what isn't, and how to use AI without breaching client confidentiality.
Issue 001 · Confidentiality
7 min readWhat 'do not train on my data' actually means in 2026
A side-by-side of what ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini retain when you use the consumer vs. enterprise plans, and where the contractual cliffs are.
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