The Legal AI Brief

Saqib Khan, Adliora

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The Monday round of the AI news that matters to smaller UK law firms. Saqib Khan, a former law firm owner and fee-paid county court judge, takes each week's developments in legal AI, SRA guidance and the rules that govern solicitors, separates the noise from the parts that touch your practice, and sets out in plain terms what a sensible firm does about them. Written for owners and partners of firms with two to twenty fee earners.

Oct 26

Law Society AI practice note, what solicitors change

The Law Society published its practice note Using artificial intelligence in legal practice on 21 October 2026, fifty eight pages on how a solicitor's existing duties apply when the firm uses AI. It creates no rule, and it reaches the client care letter, which should say how far the firm uses AI, which systems, for which tasks and how client information is protected, the bill, since on time-based fees a firm should not charge for the time a task would have taken had AI not been used, and the supplier file, with five questions the Society expects put to any paid tool before it is adopted. What that means for a firm of five to fifty people, the paragraph to add to the client care letter, the time recording rule to settle with the team, and the habit of treating a machine's draft with the scepticism owed to a trainee's. Also in this episode, Legora's five hundred and fifty million dollar raise, Womble Bond Dickinson's AI Labs, the Opinium poll for Uswitch on the public asking AI before a solicitor, and from the bench the SRA confirming that its compliance officer rules will not start in January.
Oct 19

Copilot for legal is on by default, what law firms do

Microsoft made Copilot for legal generally available on 15 October 2026 with more than twenty legal skills in Word and Cowork, and its admin guidance says the legal plugin in Word is enabled by default for every commercial Microsoft 365 Copilot subscriber. A firm that bought Copilot as an office assistant now holds a contract review tool nobody in the firm chose. What that means for a smaller firm's decision, its SharePoint permissions, the supervision of tracked changes that look like a colleague's, and its playbook. Also in this episode, a LexisNexis survey on who owns AI governance, the AI board at Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, and from the bench the Master of the Rolls at Legal Geek on clients who ask the machine first and judges who stop checking.
Oct 12

Upper Tribunal, a paralegal and ChatGPT, what law firms do

The Upper Tribunal has published a decision in which a paralegal drafted the grounds of appeal and the skeleton argument with ChatGPT, the grounds cited cases that do not exist and quoted a first-tier judge on things he never said, and the firm filed the skeleton after the tribunal had pointed out the misquotation. Two people reported themselves to the SRA and the Home Office was invited to apply for wasted costs. What that means for a smaller firm's supervision of juniors, for the moment a court says a document is wrong, for the tools that may hold client material, and for the evidence clients supply. Also in this episode, the ICO's changes from ten AI developers and its call for evidence on AI agents, the Law Commission's product liability proposals for AI, Co-op Legal Services scoring client calls with AI, and from the bench the judiciary's position statement on its own use of AI.
Oct 5

Page limits on AI court filings and what law firms do

Sir Colin Birss, who becomes Master of the Rolls on 1 November, told the International Conference of Legal Regulators that litigants in person using AI might be held to about five pages when they set out their case. He accepted that AI helps people without lawyers and reminded the profession that it must remember it is not trusting the tool. What that means for a smaller firm answering long machine drafted papers, for the documents it files itself, and for fixed fee help to people acting in person. Also in this episode, the Legal Ombudsman's research on AI written complaints, the SRA's pause on the compliance officer rules, the first Online Procedure Rules service, and the Court of Appeal on blind eye knowledge.
Sep 28

AI slop in court and the costs risk for law firms

Sir Robert Buckland, Lord Chancellor from 2019 to 2021, told the Costs Law Reports conference on 24 September that the courts need no new rule for AI generated filings, because the costs regime already gives them the answer. He argued against blanket sanctions on litigants in person and allowed lawyers no excuse. What that means for a smaller firm answering machine drafted material, and for the documents it files itself. Also in this episode, the Southwark ruling letting counsel record a trial, the close of the AI Growth Lab, and the High Court's decision that the SRA cannot compel production of a client's privileged documents.
Sep 14

Online Procedure Rules 2026 and the AI code for law firms

The Online Procedure Rules 2026 came into force on 7 September, the first procedural code in England and Wales written for a screen rather than adapted from paper. For now they reach specified possession claims only. What matters to every firm is the rule committee's next piece of work, a voluntary code of practice with standards for the responsible and ethical use of AI across digital justice services. Also in this episode, the JUSTICE warning on AI transcription in family proceedings, the SRA's contested change to who may hold the compliance officer roles, and a venture fund backed by fifty general counsel.
Sep 7

Clients are asking AI first, what law firms should do

One in six people with a legal problem now consult an AI chatbot about it, and among the under twenty fives it is better than one in four. What research published on 1 September by JUSTICE and the Administrative Fairness Lab means for a firm of two to twenty fee earners, along with the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal strike off of 4 September, the AI Growth Lab deadline of 27 September and the first wave of EU AI Act inspections.

7 Episodes

The Monday round of the AI news that matters to smaller UK law firms. Saqib Khan, a former law firm owner and fee-paid county court judge, takes each week's developments in legal AI, SRA guidance and the rules that govern solicitors, separates the noise from the parts that touch your practice, and sets out in plain terms what a sensible firm does about them. Written for owners and partners of firms with two to twenty fee earners.

Creator

Saqib Khan, Adliora
Years Active

2026
Episodes

7
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Adliora Limited
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The Legal AI Brief