Checklist · Criminal Law
Protocol: AI-assisted review of the prosecution brief and digital evidence
Matter-level checklist for using AI to index, transcribe and search a criminal brief: what may never go into an AI tool, the SC Gen 23 conditions for restricted material, tool approval, verification and record-keeping.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- New South Wales
- 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
Use at the start of any defence matter where AI tools will be used on the brief, CCTV, body-worn video, phone extractions or interview recordings. It is not a substitute for the firm's AI policy; apply both.
How AI may be used
This protocol is itself the control. Within it, AI may index, transcribe, search and summarise permitted brief material in an approved tool; every output used in court work is verified against the source by a lawyer.
AI may
- Build chronologies, indexes, witness lists and exhibit maps from permitted brief material (SC Gen 23 para 9B).
- Transcribe and search recordings in an approved tool, as a finding aid only.
- List apparent gaps between the brief and the served inventory for a disclosure request.
AI must not
- Must not copy, photograph or upload sensitive evidence; it can only be viewed under the prosecution's supervision (s 281D).
- Must not put restricted material into any Gen AI program unless the para 9A conditions are met, and never into a consumer tool.
- Must not put the client's instructions or admissions into any consumer or public AI tool.
The lawyer checks
- Every quotation, timestamp and page reference used in cross-examination plans or submissions is checked against the original.
- The tool approval record shows no training on inputs, data location, retention and deletion terms.
- The supervising solicitor has signed off the protocol for this matter (r 37).
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 Criminal Law
- Bail application submissions (NSW release application)
- Letter of advice on the brief of evidence and plea options
- Representations to the DPP seeking charge resolution or withdrawal
- Sentencing submissions and guidance letter for character referees
- Application under s 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 (NSW)
- Checklist: challenging or authenticating suspected AI-generated (deepfake) evidence
All precedents for Criminal Law · Tasks and AI use in this area