Is it allowed to use AI for client letters and emails in Australia?
Yes, as a draft inside an approved tool, if the solicitor checks the advice before it is sent. Confidentiality and competence are unchanged.
Guide
How to use AI for client letters and emails in Australia
A client letter is advice. An approved tool can draft the shape of it. The solicitor who sends it checks the law, the facts and the tone.
Steps
Keep the file out of a public tool
Do not paste the matter, the client’s name or the draft advice into a personal chatbot. Queensland Guidance Statement No. 37 asks whether the provider’s terms say how confidential material is stored and reused. If the firm has not answered that for the account, the account is not approved.
Draft in the firm’s approved tool
Use the tenancy the policy names. Ask for a letter that states the question, the assumptions and the advice, and leave a gap where the authority has to be inserted by hand. The Law Society of New South Wales guide treats an unexplained draft as something the solicitor does not yet understand.
The solicitor checks the advice
Read the letter against the file and against the authority you opened, not against the tool’s confidence. The Uniform Law regulators’ statement leaves competence with the solicitor who sends the letter. A sentence the solicitor cannot explain comes out.
Decide whether to tell the client
The Queensland Law Society warning template is a starting point when the firm tells a client that a tool helped prepare the letter. It is not a sentence to hide in a footer. Record the decision on the file. The disclosure guide on this site walks through that conversation.
Record the checks: Confidentiality tasks · Open the court note for the forum · Read the Harvey profile before you upload a file
On a small screen, scroll the table sideways.
| Tool | Australian data hosting | Profile region | Pricing model | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvey | Offered | yes | Enterprise quote · Pricing | Legal research, Contract drafting, Contract review and redlining, Clause libraries and playbooks, Due-diligence document review, Chronology building, Document summarisation, Knowledge search |
| Archie (Archie AI Assistant) | Not established | unknown | Per seat · Pricing | Document summarisation, Knowledge search, Contract drafting, Contract review and redlining, Clause libraries and playbooks, Legal research, Chronology building, Transcription |
Sources
Confidentiality tasks · Law firm AI policy · Telling clients about AI use · Harvey · All guides
Questions
What tools are used for client letters and emails?
Firms use the drafting tools already on their tenancy. This catalogue includes Harvey and Smokeball Archie. A personal chatbot account is a different product.
Must every letter say that AI was used?
Not as a universal rule. Consider the retainer, the court if the letter will be filed, and the Queensland Law Society warning template when you do tell the client. Record what you decided.