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Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the core foundations of becoming a barrister – including legal knowledge, practice management, advocacy and client relations – remain unchanged.
However, the increasing use of AI in legal services brings new skills, risks and opportunities that pupils and early career barristers should recognise and integrate into their practice, whether they use AI or not. Done well, the new generation of barristers could lead a changing Bar, seizing the opportunities these tools present while critically managing their risks.
In May, the Bar Standards Board issued Guidance on the Use of AI and Other Technologies to help the Bar do just that. Our AI guidance explains how our professional conduct rules apply. Crucially, it also sets out the key principles of safe and responsible technology adoption. This framework is key in overcoming barriers to innovation identified in our recent Technology at the Bar research, helping the profession to adopt technologies, safely, effectively and confidently.
Pupils and early career barristers can consider these three main points from the guidance when thinking about how to innovate in your practice:
We encourage barristers to consider risk as a framework for evaluating AI and technology initiatives. There are three aspects that should be considered when mitigating risks:
It is important to note that these risks can intersect. For example, using a so-called ‘open’, general purpose (non-legal) AI product (the tool) to draft court documents (the use), for vulnerable clients in a case that hinges on protected characteristics with a potential for bias (the application).
Effective management starts well before the moment you actually use the technology. Our guidance sets out technology adoption and risk management principles at all stages of uptake. Our guidance covers early-stage activity, including:
We encourage barristers to think early and often about both the benefits and risks a particular tool may present for their practice or a client, and to take actions to minimise risk.
Our Technology at the Bar research highlights the collaborative nature of technology training, adoption and governance in many chambers. Pupils and early career barristers who have gained digital skills in their earlier training could help lead the discussion on responsible and effective technology use in chambers. A barrister’s personal technology and AI use could also be a good starting point for innovation, but it is important to consider the additional accuracy, data security and client protections needed when using these technologies professionally at the Bar.
Pupillage is a first chance to put vocational training into professional practice, applying legal knowledge, advocacy skills and ethical standards to actual clients’ needs. Combining this essential foundation with the technological and ethical principles in our guidance can help you use AI in ways that support your practice and advance your clients’ best interests.
We will continue to support barristers with resources to enable responsible technology use, particularly those early in their careers. Careful innovation can enable the Bar to better serve clients and the public.
BSB Guidance on the Use of AI and Other Technologies: tinyurl.com/2k8kw9wx
BSB Technology at the Bar research: tinyurl.com/mtbrpc6c
Henry Fingerhut is Policy Manager at The Bar Standards Board.
In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the core foundations of becoming a barrister – including legal knowledge, practice management, advocacy and client relations – remain unchanged.
However, the increasing use of AI in legal services brings new skills, risks and opportunities that pupils and early career barristers should recognise and integrate into their practice, whether they use AI or not. Done well, the new generation of barristers could lead a changing Bar, seizing the opportunities these tools present while critically managing their risks.
In May, the Bar Standards Board issued Guidance on the Use of AI and Other Technologies to help the Bar do just that. Our AI guidance explains how our professional conduct rules apply. Crucially, it also sets out the key principles of safe and responsible technology adoption. This framework is key in overcoming barriers to innovation identified in our recent Technology at the Bar research, helping the profession to adopt technologies, safely, effectively and confidently.
Pupils and early career barristers can consider these three main points from the guidance when thinking about how to innovate in your practice:
We encourage barristers to consider risk as a framework for evaluating AI and technology initiatives. There are three aspects that should be considered when mitigating risks:
It is important to note that these risks can intersect. For example, using a so-called ‘open’, general purpose (non-legal) AI product (the tool) to draft court documents (the use), for vulnerable clients in a case that hinges on protected characteristics with a potential for bias (the application).
Effective management starts well before the moment you actually use the technology. Our guidance sets out technology adoption and risk management principles at all stages of uptake. Our guidance covers early-stage activity, including:
We encourage barristers to think early and often about both the benefits and risks a particular tool may present for their practice or a client, and to take actions to minimise risk.
Our Technology at the Bar research highlights the collaborative nature of technology training, adoption and governance in many chambers. Pupils and early career barristers who have gained digital skills in their earlier training could help lead the discussion on responsible and effective technology use in chambers. A barrister’s personal technology and AI use could also be a good starting point for innovation, but it is important to consider the additional accuracy, data security and client protections needed when using these technologies professionally at the Bar.
Pupillage is a first chance to put vocational training into professional practice, applying legal knowledge, advocacy skills and ethical standards to actual clients’ needs. Combining this essential foundation with the technological and ethical principles in our guidance can help you use AI in ways that support your practice and advance your clients’ best interests.
We will continue to support barristers with resources to enable responsible technology use, particularly those early in their careers. Careful innovation can enable the Bar to better serve clients and the public.
BSB Guidance on the Use of AI and Other Technologies: tinyurl.com/2k8kw9wx
BSB Technology at the Bar research: tinyurl.com/mtbrpc6c
Henry Fingerhut outlines what the Bar Standards Board AI guidance means for early career barristers
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