--- title: AI for UK Solicitors url: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/ai-for-uk-solicitors type: programme published: 2026-03-14 last_reviewed: 2026-07-16 reviewed_by: daniel-mercer publisher: The Study Guild --- # AI for UK Solicitors An 8-week live programme for UK solicitors on using AI within SRA obligations, privilege and confidentiality, taught by a solicitor and legal technology lead. ## Programme facts - Price: £499 (payment plans available, never discounted) - Format: Live online + self-paced - Live contact hours: 16 - Expected self-study hours: 24 - Duration: 8 weeks - Level: Intermediate - Tutor: daniel-mercer ## Learning outcomes - Assess whether a given AI tool may lawfully touch material subject to privilege - Build a matter-level risk assessment your COLP will accept - Redesign one drafting or review workflow with supervision controls that hold - Verify AI-produced citations against primary sources as a matter of routine - Draft a firm AI policy that maps to the SRA Standards and Regulations - Explain your firm's data handling accurately to a client who asks ## Curriculum 1. **How these systems fail** — A working model of generative AI focused specifically on the failure modes that create professional risk. Topics: Why models fabricate citations; Confidence without knowledge; Context limits and long documents; Where legal-specific tools genuinely differ 2. **Privilege and confidentiality** — The analysis that determines whether a tool may see privileged material at all. Topics: Legal professional privilege and third-party disclosure; Reading vendor data processing terms properly; Sub-processors and where data actually goes; Recording the assessment you made 3. **The SRA framework in practice** — Mapping AI use to existing obligations on competence, supervision and client care. Topics: Competence and delegation; Supervision proportionate to risk; Client communication and engagement letters; What must never be delegated 4. **Document review and disclosure** — Where AI-assisted review is defensible, and the controls that make it so. Topics: Technology assisted review and its precedents; Sampling and recall rates; Defending your methodology; When to decline the automation 5. **Drafting with supervision** — Using AI in first-draft work with review checkpoints that actually get performed. Topics: Precedent-anchored drafting; House style and clause banks; Review gates that survive time pressure; Version control and audit trail 6. **Research and the citation trap** — Verifying legal research output against primary sources, and the professional consequences of failing to. Topics: Reported cases of fabricated authorities; Verification workflow; Building a checked internal knowledge base; Duties to the court 7. **Writing the firm policy** — A short, specific AI policy and the training that makes people follow it. Topics: Permitted and prohibited uses; Tool approval routes; Incident reporting; Review cadence 8. **Assessment clinic** — Live critique of each learner's risk assessment and workflow proposal. Topics: Presenting your assessment; Stress-testing controls; Common gaps; Getting sign-off internally ## Assessment A written risk assessment and workflow proposal for your own firm, covering confidentiality, privilege, supervision and verification. Marked by Daniel Mercer against a published rubric that maps each criterion to the relevant professional obligation. Individual written feedback within ten working days, with one free resubmission. ## Upcoming cohorts - 2026-10-06 to 2026-11-24 — Tuesdays 17:30–19:30 UK, 8 weeks (open, cap 20) - 2027-02-09 to 2027-03-30 — Tuesdays 17:30–19:30 UK, 8 weeks (open, cap 20) ## Can UK solicitors use AI tools on privileged material? Only where the firm has established that the tool does not constitute disclosure to a third party in a way that waives privilege, and has the contractual terms to support that position. This turns on the specific vendor arrangement, so it requires reading the terms rather than assuming them. Privilege is the sharpest issue in legal AI adoption because the consequence of getting it wrong is not a fine but the loss of a client's protection. In practice this means enterprise arrangements with explicit confidentiality and no-training commitments, reviewed by someone who understands what the words mean. It also means revisiting the position when the vendor changes its terms. ## What does the SRA require when using AI in legal practice? The SRA has not prohibited AI use. Existing obligations continue to apply unchanged: competence in the work delivered, supervision proportionate to risk, confidentiality, and honest client communication. The practical requirement is that you can evidence how each obligation is met when a tool is involved. Check the SRA's current guidance directly rather than relying on any summary, including this one — it is periodically updated. The framing we teach is that AI does not create new duties; it creates new ways to breach existing ones. That reframing is what makes the compliance work tractable. Sources: - [SRA Standards and Regulations](https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/standards-regulations/) — Solicitors Regulation Authority ## How serious is the risk of AI fabricating case citations? Serious enough that courts in several jurisdictions have sanctioned lawyers for filing non-existent authorities. Models produce plausible case names, citations and holdings with complete fluency. The only reliable control is verifying every authority against a primary source before it leaves the firm. ## How does this differ from a general AI course? A general course teaches prompting technique. This programme starts from privilege, confidentiality and the SRA framework, and is taught by a qualified solicitor who led legal technology for a national firm. You finish with an assessed risk assessment for your own firm, not a set of tips. ## Common questions **Do I need to be technical?** No. The programme assumes legal qualification and no technical background whatsoever. Nothing in it requires coding. **Does this count towards continuing competence?** The programme provides a record of hours, learning outcomes and assessment which supports your continuing competence declaration. The SRA's regime is self-declared against your own development needs, so no provider can complete it for you. **Is Daniel currently practising?** No — Daniel is a non-practising solicitor and this is stated on his profile. He is not providing legal advice on the programme, and the programme is not a substitute for advice from your own COLP or regulator. **Can my firm enrol several people?** Yes, and we cap any single firm at four places per cohort so the discussion is not dominated by one practice's circumstances. --- Source: https://thestudyguild.com/programmes/ai-for-uk-solicitors · The Study Guild