Can solicitors use ChatGPT? Confidentiality, privilege and the SRA

Last verified 6 November 2026. AI memory features change quickly; dated claims were checked on this date.

Solicitors can use AI, but putting client material into a public tool like ChatGPT risks breaching client confidentiality and waiving legal privilege. The Upper Tribunal said so in February 2026.

What the Upper Tribunal said about solicitors using ChatGPT

The case, in the Immigration and Asylum Chamber, began with false case citations in applications to the tribunal. One solicitor said he had put client emails and Home Office decision letters into ChatGPT.

Judge Fiona Lindsley said that placing such information in the public domain would “breach client confidentiality and waive legal privilege”. That solicitor had already reported himself to the SRA. The tribunal referred a senior solicitor in the other matter to the SRA, as Legal Futures reported on 24 February 2026.

The false citations got the headlines. The confidentiality point is the one every firm should read twice.

Does using ChatGPT waive legal privilege?

It can, if confidential material goes into a public tool. Privilege depends on confidentiality. Once the information is treated as placed in the public domain, the protection is at risk.

What the Law Society’s AI guidance asks solicitors to do

The Law Society published new guidance, “Using artificial intelligence in legal practice”, in October 2026. Three things every firm can do this month:

1. Name the approved tools. Personal accounts are not among them.
2. Write down what never goes in: client documents, names and matter details in public tools.
3. Keep a record of which tool was used on which matter, by whom and when.

How solicitors can use AI safely

None of this means firms should stay away from AI. It means your use needs to be something you could explain to a client and to a regulator, with a record to back it up.

See how AI Twin works for solicitors, and read the plain guide to AI memory for what each assistant keeps.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Legal Futures, 24 February 2026: solicitor faces probe after putting client documents into ChatGPT
• Local Government Lawyer: Law Society publishes new guidance on artificial intelligence use