AI Rules for Canadian Lawyers, by Law Society

“The Court expects parties to proceedings before the Court to inform it, and each other, if documents they submit to the Court, that have been prepared for the purposes of litigation, include content created or generated by artificial intelligence ("AI"). This shall be done by a Declaration in the first paragraph stating that AI was used in preparing the document, either in its entirety or only for specifically identified paragraphs (the "Declaration").”

“However, a Declaration is not required if AI was used to merely suggest changes, provide recommendations, or critique content already created by a human who could then consider and manually implement the changes. A Declaration is required when the role AI plays in the preparation of materials for the purpose of litigation resembles that of a co-author.”

“To ensure accuracy and trustworthiness, it is essential to check documents and material generated by AI. The Court urges verification of any AI-created content in these documents.”

“Failure to comply with the Notice may result in consequences for parties and/or counsel, including the imposition of an adverse cost award or an order to show cause why the party or counsel in question should not be held in contempt.”

“Ideally, client confidential information, including any information identifying the client, would be omitted from anything that was supplied to the generative AI tool to maintain client confidentiality.”

“Generative AI tools can create work product that appears very polished, but be careful to not lose sight of your responsibility to review the content carefully and ensure its accuracy.”

“With this obligation in mind, it is prudent to make your client aware of how you plan to use generative AI tools in your practice, generally, and on their specific file(s).”

“If you are thinking about using generative AI in your practice, you should check with the court, tribunal, or other relevant decision-maker to verify whether you are required to attribute, and to what degree, your use of generative AI.”

“Recognizing that this happens, any lawyer using Gen AI for substantive legal work must proceed with caution and ensure that they independently verify all information generated by the platform. Lawyers should never rely on Gen AI to judge its own accuracy.”

“Never include confidential or potentially identifying information in prompts.”

“Inform Clients: Be clear with your clients about your safe use of Gen AI in your retainer letter. Let them know that you use it, what you use it for, the reasons why, as well as its benefits and limitations.”

“Treat any Gen AI output as a first draft only. Consider anything generated by Gen AI as being produced by a law student who requires supervision.”

“A lawyer must review all generative AI outputs for accuracy, including, but not limited to, any legal analysis and citations to authority, and correct any errors or misleading arguments before submission to the tribunal.”

“A lawyer must not input any confidential and/or privileged client information to a generative AI tool that lacks adequate confidentiality and security protections.”

“If a lawyer uses an AI tool to generate work product more efficiently, they cannot charge hourly fees reflecting the time it would have taken the lawyer to generate the work product themselves.”

“Professional judgment cannot be delegated to generative AI and remains your responsibility at all times.”

“Always review all generative AI results for accuracy including but not limited to, citations and any legal analysis and argument. Ensure that anything submitted to the tribunal is accurate, complete and appropriate.”

“If confidentiality or privilege cannot be adequately protected by anonymizing client information, informed consent should be sought from the client before using the tool.”

“Always independently verify any information produced by generative AI that you intend to rely on. The verification process should be completed by a human being, not the AI system itself.”

“Where the generative AI system lacks appropriate confidentiality, security, and retention safeguards, do not input confidential, privileged, proprietary, or potentially identifying client information in the system.”

“If a licensee is billing by the hour, they can only charge for the time actually spent by the licensee on the file, even if a generative AI tool has made the task much more efficient.”

“Thoroughly validate any content generated by AI systems before presenting it to the tribunal to ensure that AI-generated evidence, cases, or arguments are accurate and reliable. Keep a record of the steps you took to confirm the accuracy of this information.”

“Le simple fait d'entrer des informations protégées par le secret professionnel dans un tel système ouvert (c'est-à-dire un système accessible au public et dont les données ne sont pas stockées en interne) constitue une violation, même sans reproduction ou divulgation effectives.”

Our translation: the mere act of entering information protected by professional secrecy into such an open system (one accessible to the public whose data is not stored internally) is a breach, even without actual reproduction or disclosure.

Under its good practices, the guide asks lawyers to obtain clients' informed consent, in writing, to the use of AI in their file, after explaining the risks. (Our summary of the French text; see the guide.)

A two-hour course, “Encadrer l'IA générative dans la pratique du droit”, is mandatory for all members from April 1, 2026 and must be completed before April 1, 2027 (Barreau notice to members, April 1, 2026).

“Review and verify outputs: AI tools can produce hallucinations, outdated law, incorrect citations, or misleading summaries. Always verify the accuracy, jurisdiction, and reliability of any AI-generated content before using it in legal work.”

“Public AI tools that are free or low-cost should generally be avoided, as they often lack sufficient privacy safeguards and may place sensitive client information at greater risk.”

“Ensure billing is transparent and accurate: If AI was used to assist with legal research, drafting, or analysis, clearly describe this in the statement of account rather than implying the work was done manually.”

“Accordingly, the lawyer has the duty to review any generative AI results to ensure compliance with their professional obligations in the same manner as using human assistance in delegation of work. The lawyer is professionally responsible for any output generated.”

“If a lawyer is using generative AI technology to assist with a client’s matter, the lawyer should properly inform the client of the nature and scope of the use of that technology as well as any risks associated with its use.”

“As for best practices, artificial intelligence isn’t perfect so make sure you understand the limitations of AI software before using it and carefully review any work created by artificial intelligence to confirm it is complete, accurate, and relevant.”