49% of UK lawyers say there should be government regulation of the use of AI within the legal profession, according to the 2024 Future of Professionals report by Thomson Reuters, a leading global content and technology company.

However, 67% of UK lawyers believe professional bodies like the Law Society and Bar Council should regulate the use of AI in law – with 18% of lawyers wanting both the Government and professional bodies to have a role in regulating AI.

42% of UK lawyers believe regulators should specifically audit the algorithms used by legal AI systems.

Kriti Sharma, Chief Product Officer for Legal Tech at Thomson Reuters, says that lawyers in the UK recognise that there is a need for guardrails to help them harness AI technology’s full potential in an ethical and safe way.

Says Kriti Sharma: “In the legal profession and in the judicial system there needs to be trust in the results that AI is generating. While many firms are putting their own guardrails in place now, they recognise that further safeguards could help establish broad accountability in the AI ecosystem needed to drive further AI adoption”.

59% of UK lawyers surveyed said that AI tools should be certified. Kriti says that the legal profession is recognising the importance of using professional grade AI tools, grounded in specialist legal content. Certification of these AI products either by suppliers or industry bodies would give lawyers reassurance that the AI tools they use meet the demanding standards of the profession.

The research also found that 40% of UK lawyers think that encouraging whistleblowing reports about the misuse of AI within law firms or the broader legal system is important for enforcing responsible use of AI in law.

Adds Kriti: “It’s natural for lawyers to look to their professional bodies as the first line of regulation of the use of AI. Concerns around ethics and accuracy are crucial to responsible use of AI – issues that are central to how organisations like the SRA already regulate the profession.”

The Future of Professionals report by Thomson Reuters also finds that 54% of UK lawyers believe that the responsible development and use of AI should be enforced through the introduction of certification processes for AI systems.

* The Law Society is the independent professional body for solicitors in England & Wales. The Solicitors Regulation Authority is its regulatory body for solicitors. It is formally part of the Law Society but is operationally independent