Clause · Confidentiality & client information
Engagement clause: client authority for AI processing of confidential information (rider to the AI engagement clauses)
Confidentiality rider for the engagement letter: the firm's safeguards for AI processing, the client's express, limited or refused authority under ASCR r 9.2.1, and overseas processing. Use with the AI engagement and costs clauses, not instead of them.
- Kind
- Clause. Wording to drop into a longer document.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 17 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked against the cited sources on 17 October 2026.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Add to the AI engagement and costs clauses where an express authority is wanted: sensitive matters, corporate clients with outside counsel guidelines, or overseas processing. Its election replaces the consent box in those clauses. It does not override court orders, client instructions on a document or the firm's policy limits.
How AI may be used
AI may help tailor the clause to the matter type and the firm's current tools. The responsible lawyer explains it to the client, records the client's choice and makes sure the matter team follows it.
AI may
- Insert the firm's current approved tool categories and safeguards into clause 1.
- Draft a plain-language explanation for the client's questions, for the lawyer to check.
- Flag matters where the client chose Alternative B or C so the team's workspace settings match.
AI must not
- Must not record a client's consent; only the client can give it, and the lawyer records it.
- Must not describe safeguards that the firm's contracts do not provide.
- Must not be used to change the clause after the client has signed.
The lawyer checks
- The safeguards described match the vendor contracts for each tool category.
- The client's election is recorded in the matter system and applied to the workspace.
- Overseas processing is described accurately for the tools used on the matter.
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
More in Confidentiality & client information
- AI confidentiality rules for staff (short form of the firm AI policy)
- Staff and contractor AI confidentiality undertaking and acknowledgement
- AI vendor confidentiality and privilege questions (short form of the vendor due-diligence questionnaire)
- AI data incident steps (confidentiality short form of the AI incident response procedure)
All precedents for Confidentiality & client information · Tasks and AI use in this area