AI for barristers and lawyers in Australia

Australian courts and regulators now expect practitioners to understand the AI tools they use. The professional obligations have not changed: candour to the court, competence, confidentiality and independence. What has changed is how easily a tool can produce something that breaches them.

The guidance to read first

Rules are being updated. Read the current version on the court's website rather than relying on a summary, including this one.

• Supreme Court of New South Wales, Practice Note SC Gen 23, on the use of generative AI, including limits on its use for affidavits, witness statements and expert reports.
• Supreme Court of Victoria, guidelines for litigants on the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
• Statements from your bar association and legal services regulator on AI and professional conduct.
• Your own court's practice notes, which may require disclosure of AI use.

What to check every time

• Authorities: every case and statute cited must be opened and read in an official source.
• Facts: every factual statement must be traceable to a document in the file.
• Confidentiality: know where the tool sends client material, and whether that is acceptable for the matter.
• Evidence rules: some courts restrict AI in preparing evidence itself. Do not let a tool draft a witness's words.

Where LIA fits

LIA is a legal AI desk for evidence and case analysis. It is built for reading a record, not for writing submissions on your behalf. It keeps evidence, inference and gap apart, with Show working on every answer, so you can see what the file establishes and what it does not.

Use conversations to test a question, and matters with an evidence ledger for the file you must stand behind. Evidence can come from upload, Google Drive or Dropbox. LIA is not legal advice, and human judgment remains the authority.

New accounts get 150 free credits, with no card required to start.

Where it does not fit

• Finding authorities you have not checked. LIA marks a gap rather than inventing a case, but you must still verify law in an official source.
• Drafting affidavit or witness evidence where your court restricts AI use.
• Any file you are not permitted to put on a third-party service.