Regulator received 42 reports of AI misuse in one year
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a warning to the legal profession after receiving 42 reports of potential AI misuse in the space of a year.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has issued a warning to the legal profession after receiving 42 reports of potential AI misuse in the space of a year.
It received the reports between July 2025 and July 2026, and is conducting investigations into inaccurate legal citations, supervision and confidentiality.
The SRA expresses concern about court documents containing false information as a result of AI misuse, as well as possible failures to monitor client confidentiality when using AI systems. The regulator stresses the need for governance systems, properly arguable representations to the court and upholding the duty to the court, saying that putting false information to the court could be considered contempt.
The warning comes in the wake of several high-profile cases. In May, an insolvency judge admonished Pinsent Masons for misleading the court after a junior solicitor used AI to draft a court letter which contained hallucinations, and again for an explanatory letter which was also flawed.
Meanwhile in November, the Upper Tribunal raised concerns about client confidentiality and the possible impact of AI on legal professional privilege. It said that putting client correspondence into an open source AI tool is placing the information on the internet in the public domain.