Is this legal advice?
No. These notes are general information about using AI in legal work in Australia. They are not advice on a matter, a client or a court.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality before you paste into an AI tool
Name the tool and the plan, and do not paste client material into a tool whose terms you cannot explain.
- Name the tool and the plan
A free public chatbot and a firm tenant are not the same product. Write down which one you are about to use.
- Read what happens to the text
Find out whether the plan uses the text to train a model, who at the supplier can see it, and where it is stored. If you cannot answer that, do not paste client material.
- Remove what the task does not need
Strip names, file numbers and unique facts when the task can be done on a de-identified example. Many checks can.
- Do not paste what you are not free to disclose
That includes privileged advice the client has not been told about, and another party’s material you are not free to put into that tool.
- Treat the prompt as a record
Decide whether the prompt belongs on the matter file, who can read it, and how long it is kept.
Sources
- Law Society of New South Wales: A solicitor’s guide to responsible use of artificial intelligence (January 2026)
- Queensland Law Society Guidance Statement No 37: Artificial intelligence in legal practice
- Law Society of New South Wales: digital document guidelines (October 2025)
- Law Society of Western Australia: responsible and ethical use of AI
Questions
Who can read a note I save?
Only the account that saved it. A note on this public page is different: anyone can read it. Your own notes are not published.
What should I leave out of a saved note?
Leave out a client’s name, a file number and other personal information unless you mean to store it on this account.