Note includes possible sanctions for legal practitioners citing unverified AI output
The Supreme Court has published a new practice note for court users and judicial guidelines for judicial officers on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in an effort to lead, support, and clarify the appropriate and innovative utilisation of this emerging technology.
In its news release announcing the new documents, the court acknowledged the recent review conducted by the Victorian Law Reform Commission.
Acknowledging AI’s possible benefits for access to justice, the practice note allows the use of these technological tools. However, the practice note holds court users responsible for the content of their court documents, regardless of whether they have utilised AI.
The practice note aims to ensure that court users are aware of:
“AI is an evolving technology, and we will continue to adapt our practice to ensure we remain at the forefront of its use in Courts and by Court users without sacrificing impartiality, privacy, accountability and fairness,” said Richard Niall, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the news release.
In 2024, the Victoria Supreme Court became one of Australia’s first jurisdictions to develop AI guidelines.
The judicial guidelines confirm that judicial officers cannot utilise generative AI for judicial decision-making. The guidelines stress that judicial officers should consider each matter before them, exercise their judgment to reach decisions, and support such decisions with reasons if appropriate.
“We have consistently said that any use of AI will be an aid to, not a replacement of, judicial decision-making, and the new guidelines cement that,” Chief Justice Niall said in the court’s news release.
However, the judicial guidelines permit the use of court-approved AI tools to assist and support judicial officers and court staff members, including to find case materials, produce summaries and chronologies from case materials, aid legal research, and proofread.
“These uses are not a substitute for reading and/or listening to evidence and submissions, or fact finding when that is called for in judicial decision-making,” state the judicial guidelines.
To support judicial officers in the appropriate uses of AI, the Judicial College of Victoria shared that it will hold an online AI skills program exclusively for judicial officers on Wednesday, 16 September 2026.
The college explained that the seminar aims to help judicial officers utilise AI consistently with judicial values and ethics, adapt AI systems to their needs, create queries that maximise output value, and examine the methods for gathering and testing answers.
