This is an initiative with Law Institute of Victoria, law societies of SA, WA, ACT, NT, Tasmania
The Queensland Law Society has announced the launch of the AI selection and use checklist for legal practitioners, a collaboration with interstate law societies and the first-of-its-kind multi‑state resource on the emerging issue of artificial intelligence (AI) in legal workplaces.
The law society said the new resource seeks to help legal practitioners navigate the risk assessment process for looking into AI tools supplied by third parties. The process focuses on the following questions:
The law society noted that the tool aims to help law practices, particularly small and mid‑sized firms:
Specifically, the checklist seeks to help legal practitioners:
According to the tool, before utilising AI in a legal context, a legal practice should ideally retain a third-party expert consultancy and form a specialist project team, apart from undergoing a basic risk assessment.
The resource acknowledged the potential complexity of arrangements between AI companies and providers adding AI functionality to their own software, which could introduce layers of risk and data sharing beyond those arising from using the core product.
For this joint initiative, the law society collaborated with the Law Institute of Victoria and the law societies of South Australia, Western Australia, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Northern Territory, and Tasmania.
Alongside the new checklist, the law society announced the release of “Warning to Clients – Use of AI Tools,” a companion document aimed at assisting practitioners in explaining the risks associated with clients using public or paid AI tools in legal matters.
The law society noted that the companion resource covers issues relating to privilege, privacy, and accuracy, as well as includes a simple guide with dos and don’ts.
