Topic · 14 guides
AI rules, ethics and compliance
The rules that now apply to lawyers who use AI: ABA Formal Opinion 512 and the state bar opinions in the US, the SRA in England and Wales, and the court decisions on fabricated citations that show where the line is.
Each guide says which rule it relies on and when that rule was last checked.
Start here
- ABA 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.
- The SRA's misuse of AI warning notice: what small firms must do
The SRA presents its 17 August 2026 AI notice as guidance on existing duties. Its client-data safeguards give small firms a vendor check.
- AI 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.
All compliance guides
- 14 October 2026 · 6 min readThe SRA's misuse of AI warning notice: what small firms must do
The SRA presents its 17 August 2026 AI notice as guidance on existing duties. Its client-data safeguards give small firms a vendor check.
- 29 September 2026 · 6 min readYour expert used AI. What to ask before you serve the report
A federal court excluded an expert for fake citations in August and the case died with prejudice. The exclusion lands on your client, not the expert.
- 24 September 2026 · 6 min readDoes SB 574 ban lawyers from using AI? What California's new law actually requires
SB 574 doesn't ban AI in law practice. Newsom signed it on September 30, folding AI duties into two existing California statutes.
- 15 September 2026 · 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.
- 10 September 2026 · 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.
- 3 September 2026 · 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.
- 11 August 2026 · 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.
- 6 August 2026 · 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.
- 30 July 2026 · 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.
- 9 July 2026 · 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.
- 7 July 2026 · 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.
- 2 July 2026 · 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.
- 1 July 2026 · 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.
- 27 June 2026 · 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.
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