Practice area

Criminal Law

Maintain direct control over instructions, evidence and decisions affecting a person’s liberty. Independently check legal authorities, procedural dates and every fact used in advice, advocacy or court documents.

Key facts

Tasks covered: 42
Tasks with a step-by-step checklist: 19
Local differences: 3 jurisdictions where this area changes

Jurisdiction

Court AI practice notes AI rules tracker by Australian court and body

Tasks

GreenLawyer reviewYellowClose supervisionRedLawyer-led

Tasks in Criminal Law
Task	How AI is used	Human involvement	What the lawyer must review
Prepare a missing-brief and exhibit request listChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South Wales	Compare references in a permitted brief with the supplied inventory and draft a list of apparently absent material.	YellowClose supervision	Read the relevant statements Decide what additional material to request and why
Map a charge to the evidence requiring legal reviewChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South Wales	Populate a preliminary table using offence elements supplied and verified by the lawyer, with exact references to the permitted brief.	RedLawyer-led	Determine the law, admissibility and evidential sufficiency Give the advice to the client yourself
Check a client’s bail-conditions summaryChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South Wales	Draft plain-language headings from the complete current bail documents, keeping each operative condition traceable to the source.	RedLawyer-led	Explain the actual conditions and consequences to the client Check practical conflicts across orders
Prepare the defended-hearing attendance checklistChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South Wales	Organise a lawyer-approved witness list and court timetable into an attendance and arrangements checklist using permitted information.	GreenLawyer review	Confirm witness requirements and court directions Confirm interpreter or accessibility arrangements
Draft plea, sentence or bail submissions from the briefStart this task See suggested levels	From the permitted brief, the facts sheet, the antecedents and the client's instructions, the tool tables which prosecution facts the client accepts and which are disputed with page cites to the source, and lists the sentencing or bail authorities the lawyer nominated beside the passages the lawyer marked. It writes no part of the submissions handed up or filed: no outline, no headings, no suggested paragraphs on objective seriousness, remorse or proposed conditions.	RedLawyer-led	The lawyer drafts the submissions and checks their own draft against the table: every fact asserted is one the client has instructed and the brief supports, every concession on the facts or the criminal history is one the client has authorised, and each authority, section and maximum penalty is read in the original before it is cited. The lawyer also checks the table has not dropped a fact the prosecution relies on or a prior the antecedents disclose.
Draft a US criminal filing with candor checks and no public-tool evidence dumpChecklist Start this task See suggested levels	Turn the lawyer’s issue list into a draft structure with citation placeholders.	RedLawyer-led	Name the sovereign: state or federal Apply Model Rule 3.3 (candor) Keep the brief of evidence out of public tools Verify every authority
Prepare a mitigation pack: character material and a facts-check listStart this task See suggested levels	Index the character references, employer letters, treatment and psychological reports and course certificates the lawyer has collected, and table the client's instructions against the police facts sheet so the facts-check list shows each passage of the facts the client disputes and each mitigating circumstance with no document behind it yet. The tool writes no part of anything a referee signs or the court reads as evidence on sentence: no draft or template request for a character reference, no suggested wording for a referee to adopt, and no part of any statutory declaration in the pack — the lawyer writes to the referees and settles what is tendered.	RedLawyer-led	Check that every reference and report in the index is signed, dated, addressed to the court and given by a referee who has been told what the client has pleaded to, and that nothing in the pack asserts more than the client's instructions and the reports support. Because the lawyer now writes the requests to referees, read your own letters for any words you have put in the referee's mouth, and settle every disputed passage on the facts-check list with the prosecutor, or seek a disputed-facts hearing, before the plea is entered.
Prepare a bail application pack from the charge and the proposed conditionsStart this task See suggested levels	Organise the grounds and the conditions the lawyer has drafted into a bail pack index. Set each ground and condition beside the charge sheet entry, the bail history and the instruction it rests on. Check the lawyer's draft outline against the instructions and the charge sheet for assertions nothing supports. List the surety, address, employment and residence documents still outstanding. Check the assembled pack against the court's current bail form and filing requirements. The lawyer writes the application outline and settles every condition, and any supporting affidavit is taken from the deponent in the deponent's own words.	RedLawyer-led	Which statutory bail test applies — show cause, or unacceptable risk — is a legal question for the lawyer, and the lawyer writes the outline and settles every condition. Confirm the current bail statute and the court's current bail form and filing requirements before filing. Check whether a further application is barred — a defective first application usually cannot be run again. Confirm that each fact asserted about address, employment and surety comes from confirmed instructions, and that the client and any surety can comply. Confirm that any person giving security or a character acknowledgment has had written notice of the condition before signing. Any supporting affidavit is the deponent's own account in the deponent's own words. Checking the conditions summary is a separate step.
Summarise the police brief and list proof issuesStart this task See suggested levels	From the permitted brief, produce a witness-and-exhibit map, a chronology and a list of apparent proof gaps and inconsistencies.	YellowClose supervision	Check against the brief, which governs; this is not the missing-material request Do not load restricted brief material into a public tool
Draft agreed facts, a plea document or a request to particulariseStart this task See suggested levels	From the charge and the brief, draft proposed agreed facts, a plea-indication note or a request for particulars, with a list of facts the client does not accept.	RedLawyer-led	Do not draft charging documents for the defence Read every line of agreed facts; they bind the client Make particulars requests yourself
Table the criminal history against the sentencing issues in this matterStart this task See suggested levels	From the supplied record, table priors, dates, outcomes and how the prosecution is likely to use them, plus gaps (spent convictions, appeals).	RedLawyer-led	Confirm the record with the court or police source Do not treat a generated table as the certified history
Prepare a cross-examination plan from the witness statementStart this task See suggested levels	From the statement and the brief, list topics, prior inconsistent passages with page cites, and facts still needing instructions.	YellowClose supervision	Write the questions yourself Do not give the client a generated plan as a script to follow
Identify appeal grounds from the transcript and draft a grounds outlineStart this task See suggested levels	From the transcript and exhibits, list possible grounds with page cites and a note of what is missing (summing-up, exhibits, reasons).	YellowClose supervision	Decide the merit of an appeal yourself Verify every transcript cite Check time limits; missing one is fatal
Draft a plea-advice letter from the brief and instructionsStart this task See suggested levels	Draft a structured advice letter (elements, evidence, options, likely process) from the brief summary the lawyer has approved.	YellowClose supervision	Give plea advice yourself and check the client understands Do not send a generated letter
Draft instructions to a forensic expert and review the draft reportStart this task See suggested levels	Table the disputed facts, the exhibits and the continuity gaps in the brief of evidence with a page cite beside each, drawing only on the brief material the lawyer may lawfully put into a tool — sensitive evidence that cannot be copied or removed from police custody stays out. The lawyer writes the letter of instruction. On the draft report, set the assumptions, methods and conclusions beside the lawyer's letter and flag every assumption with no source in the brief, every question in the letter the report does not answer, and anything the expert code or the rules for expert reports require that is missing.	RedLawyer-led	The lawyer writes the letter of instruction and owns the assumed facts and the question in it, checking each assumption against the client's instructions and the brief and that the question sits within the expert's field. The expert's duty is to the court. Treat the letter as material the Crown and the court will see once the report is served — serving and relying on the report will ordinarily waive privilege over the instructions, and the code requires the report to state them — so check service and disclosure obligations before using the report.
Build a disclosure and unused-material trackerStart this task See suggested levels	From the disclosure lists and the brief, table served / unused / requested items and draft a chase list.	YellowClose supervision	Apply the disclosure duties for your side; prosecution and defence differ Do not load unused material into a tool without a clearance decision
Draft a charge-negotiation position note for the prosecutorStart this task See suggested levels	From the brief and instructions, draft a without-prejudice note (facts accepted, facts not accepted, proposed charges or basis) for the lawyer to send.	YellowClose supervision	Take offers from client instructions Do not concede facts the client has not accepted
Prepare a proceeds-of-crime or asset-restraint response packStart this task See suggested levels	From the restraining papers and asset list, draft a response pack: property table, third-party interests and a restraint-date chronology, noting the statute to confirm.	YellowClose supervision	Check which confiscation regime applies; federal and state regimes differ Identify innocent third-party interests Verify court filings against the current Act
Prepare a proceeds-of-crime response pack under the Proceeds of Crime Act or the state ActChecklist Start this task See suggested levels	From the restraining papers and asset list, draft a property table, third-party interests and restraint chronology, noting whether the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) or a state Act applies.	YellowClose supervision	Act quickly; restraint is immediate and time-sensitive Cth: Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (Cth) for AFP/CDPP matters Qld: Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act 2002 (Qld); ACT: Confiscation of Criminal Assets Act 2003 (ACT) Vic: Confiscation Act 1997 (Vic); NSW: Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990 (NSW) Check the current threshold for civil vs conviction-based forfeiture Verify any court filing against the current Act Identify innocent third-party interests that must be disclosed
Prepare requested jury directions from the issues in the trialStart this task See suggested levels	From the issues list and the lawyer-selected direction bench book, draft a list of proposed directions and objections to the other side's list, with citations to check.	RedLawyer-led	Remember directions are for the trial judge Verify every citation in the current bench book Skip this task in judge-alone matters
Draft a defended-hearing running sheet from the brief and instructionsStart this task See suggested levels	From the attendance checklist and the brief, draft a running sheet (appearances, objections, witness order, exhibit list, closing points).	YellowClose supervision	Do the advocacy yourself; the sheet is a prompt, not a script Confirm the court's current hearing procedure
Screen character references for AI generation before sentencingChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsAustralian Capital Territory, New South Wales only	Flag references showing generic or machine-like language and list follow-up questions for the referee.	YellowClose supervision	Speak to referees; obtain references in their own words; check disclosure rules (e.g. NSW SC Gen 23 / District Court GPN2).
Prepare a Queensland expert report checklist for Gen AI useChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for QueenslandQueensland only	Check the report addresses any Gen AI use in forming or expressing opinions.	YellowClose supervision	Confirm with the expert and decide on any objection.
Build a sentencing-comparables table from lawyer-selected judgmentsChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Tabulate offence, plea, priors and sentence from cited judgments.	YellowClose supervision	Read every judgment in full; AI-produced citations must be verified per court practice notes.
Prepare a bail application summary for a self-represented accused (legal aid duty)Checklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Turn instructions into a plain-language summary of conditions sought.	YellowClose supervision	Lawyer verifies conditions and criminal history; no AI-generated character references.
Verify a list of authorities before handing upChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Check each case exists.	RedLawyer-led	Australian-first penalty for fake citations.
Use specialist AI for criminal law research with verificationChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Research with linked citations then verify.	YellowClose supervision	Lawyer reads authorities.
Check AI rules for character references and affidavits in criminal mattersChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Map practice notes on AI in evidence.	YellowClose supervision	NSW rules limit AI in evidence.
Summarise legislation changes for criminal practiceChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Summarise recent amendments.	GreenLawyer review	Check against legislation register.
Brief a client on not using AI for their own submissionsChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia only	Explain risks.	GreenLawyer review	Lawyer advises.
Review brief of evidence and draft a chronologyStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia onlySource basis: Area-specific AU source in links	Summarise statements into a chronology.	YellowClose supervision	Lawyer verifies; keep in a secure tool.
Check AI-assisted sentencing submissions against authoritiesStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia onlySource basis: Area-specific AU source in links	Verify cited sentencing cases.	YellowClose supervision	Lawyer signs off; see DPP v GR.
Prepare a client explanation of bail conditionsStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for AustraliaAustralia onlySource basis: Area-specific AU source in links	Draft plain-language conditions.	GreenLawyer review	Lawyer checks.
Draft the accused's affidavit for a bail application in the Supreme Court of New South WalesStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Do not generate the affidavit. List the bail facts the accused will cover in their own account.	RedLawyer-led	Take the affidavit from the accused. Disclose that generative AI was not used to generate its content.
Draft a character reference for a sentence hearing in the Supreme Court of New South WalesStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Do not generate the reference. List the topics the referee will cover in their own words.	RedLawyer-led	The reference must reflect the referee. Disclose that generative AI was not used to generate its content.
Draft the complainant's witness statement for a Local Court of New South Wales hearingStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Do not generate the statement. List the topics the complainant will cover in their own words.	RedLawyer-led	The statement stays in the complainant's own account. The Local Court note adopts SC Gen 23.
Prepare a draft Crown Case Statement, index and witness list for a Supreme Court of New South Wales trialStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Prepare a draft Crown Case Statement, index and witness list from the brief.	GreenLawyer review	Check every witness and document against the brief. Paragraph 9B allows this use. It does not allow a generated witness statement.
Draft written submissions on sentence in the Supreme Court of New South WalesStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Draft submissions from the facts and the authorities the lawyer has opened.	YellowClose supervision	Verify in the body that every citation exists, is accurate and is relevant.
Draft written submissions on a plea in the Local Court of New South WalesStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Draft the plea submissions from the facts and the authorities the lawyer has opened.	YellowClose supervision	Verify citations in the body. The Local Court note adopts SC Gen 23.
Draft the accused's affidavit in a criminal proceeding in the Supreme Court of Western AustraliaStart this task See suggested levelsWritten for Western AustraliaWestern Australia only	Do not substitute the accused's words. List the topics the accused will address.	RedLawyer-led	The affidavit stays in the accused's own words. Do not enter suppressed material into a public tool.
Prepare Local Court of NSW criminal documents under the Gen AI practice noteChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for New South WalesNew South Wales only	Check a draft against the Local Court practice note, which adopts SC Gen 23 for every Local Court proceeding from 12 January 2026.	YellowClose supervision	The responsible lawyer confirms the Local Court note applies, that affidavit, witness-statement, character-reference and other evidentiary content was not generated by Gen AI, and that any AI-assisted written submissions verify citations and references to evidence in the body of the document, and that this verification was not done solely with a Gen AI tool.
Verify references in a Queensland Supreme Court or District Court submissionChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for QueenslandQueensland only	List the citations in a draft submission so the named practitioner can check each one against the source.	RedLawyer-led	The individual practitioner named on the submission verifies each reference. Naming the firm is not enough. Practice Direction 5 of 2025 is the Supreme Court's, signed 24 September 2025. Practice Direction 12 of 2025 is the District Court's, signed 25 September 2025. Neither direction bans AI, and neither says it applies in the Magistrates Court.
Use the South Australian courts Gen AI guidelines in a criminal matterChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for South AustraliaSouth Australia only	Draft a chronology or submission outline for a criminal step in a court the guidelines cover, for the lawyer to check.	YellowClose supervision	From 1 January 2026 the guidelines cover steps under the Joint Criminal Rules in the Supreme Court, District Court, Magistrates Court, Youth Court, ERD Court and Court of Disputed Returns. Clause 8 says mere use of Gen AI is unlikely, by itself, to breach the overarching obligations. The lawyer checks accuracy, keeps restricted material out of a system unless satisfied of the confidentiality risk, and can explain the use if a judicial officer asks. A filing need not say that Gen AI was used.
Check the ACT Magistrates Court practice directions list before assuming an AI directionChecklist Start this task See suggested levelsWritten for Australian Capital TerritoryAustralian Capital Territory only	Compare the listed practice directions with the criminal filing checklist.	YellowClose supervision	The practice directions list fetched on 10 October 2026 includes directions through 2026 and a 2024 direction on remote appearances and courtroom technology. None of the listed titles is an AI direction. That check is not a permission to use AI. Practice Direction 3 of 2024 was not opened, so do not treat its title as a finding about generative AI.

Firm-wide obligations

Firm-wide obligations
Obligation	What it covers
Trust accounting & handling client money	Checks that apply across files.
Costs, billing & litigation funding	Checks that apply across files.
Client-facing & access-to-justice AI tools	Checks that apply across files.
Incoming evidence — deepfakes & synthetic documents	Checks that apply across files.
AI decision systems	Checks that apply across files.
Confidentiality & client information	Checks that apply across files.
AML/CTF — the practice as a reporting entity	Checks that apply across files.

What changes in Australia

What changes in Australia
Topic	What changes
Limits on AI assistance	Character references, affidavits and witness statements must be the witness's own words: NSW SC Gen 23 (3 Feb 2025), Vic SC Gen 25 (14 May 2026). See DPP v Khan [2024] ACTSC 19. File the non-AI declaration. Verify every citation on AustLII, Westlaw or LexisNexis before filing. See Rishi Nathwani KC (VSC, August 2025) and Re Dayal [2024] FedCFamC2F 1166. Never put client details, brief contents, statements, criminal history, suppressed or Harman material in a public or unvetted tool: ASCR r 9, APP 11, NSW SC Gen 23, privilege. Never check a case by asking another AI tool (Vic SC Gen 25). Retrieve it from AustLII, Westlaw or LexisNexis.

What changes in New Zealand

What changes in New Zealand
Topic	What changes
Procedure and offences	Criminal Procedure Act 2011. Offences mainly in the Crimes Act 1961 and other enactments.
Courts	Trials in the District Court or High Court. The Youth Court is listed in the Courts of New Zealand GenAI guidelines.
Not Australian law	No NSW Local Court, no committal under an Australian Act and no Australian jury-directions bench book.
Bail and sentencing	Take bail, sentencing and proceeds of crime from the New Zealand statutes in force.
Limits on AI assistance	Do not file a generated citation, quote or statutory reference until you have opened it in legislation.govt.nz or a trusted case database. Do not enter private, confidential, suppressed or privileged material into a public chatbot. Do not invent police evidence, witnesses or prior convictions.

What changes in United States

Known here as: Criminal law

What changes in United States
Topic	What changes
Dual sovereignty	Federal crimes in federal court under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; state crimes in state court. No single national criminal code.
Candor	Rule 11 works differently in criminal cases, but Model Rule 3.3 and standing orders apply. Fabricated authorities risk discipline and ineffective-assistance claims.
Limits on AI assistance	Do not put the brief of evidence, witness particulars or client admissions into a public generative tool.

Precedents for this area

All precedents for Criminal Law. Signed-in accounts can read the full text.

Related jurisdictions

Australia New Zealand United States