The SRA's AI Warning: What It Means for Hiring and for Your CV

In August the SRA published a warning notice on using AI safely and responsibly. Legal IT Insider reported that the SRA had received 42 reports of possible AI misuse in the year to July 2026, and the notice makes clear that solicitors who ignore it risk disciplinary action. Back in May, a judge referred two solicitors to the SRA after AI generated cases that did not exist were put before the court.

Most of the commentary is about risk and compliance. I look at it from a hiring point of view, because I think it changes what a good lawyer looks like on paper.

AI on your CV

A couple of years ago, putting AI tools on your CV made you stand out. Now pretty much everyone uses something. Writing 'proficient in AI' tells a hiring partner nothing, and after the August notice it can make them a bit nervous.

What they want to know is how you use it. What you use it for, what you would never use it for, and how you check what it gives you. If you can explain that clearly in a couple of sentences at interview, you are ahead of most people.

Checking is the skill now

Here is my slightly different take. Look closely at the fake citation cases. Someone used a tool, nobody checked what it produced, and it went in front of a judge. To me that is a checking failure and a supervision failure first, and a technology problem second.

'Attention to detail' has been a CV cliché for years. I reckon it is about to become the thing firms test for hardest. A careful 3 PQE who verifies everything is worth more now than a fast one who doesn't.

The other view

Some firms have responded by banning public AI tools outright. I understand why. A ban can also push people into using them on their own phones, out of sight, which is arguably worse. Other firms have gone the opposite way and built AI into most of their work. I expect more candidates to start asking which camp a firm is in.

Neither approach is wrong as such. What will put a good candidate off is a firm with no clear policy at all.

If you are hiring

Ask about it at interview. Something like, tell me about a time you caught a mistake in work you did not write yourself. Or, how would you check a piece of research a tool produced for you. The answers tell you a lot about judgement.

Think about your supervisors too. The notice puts more weight on the people signing work off. A senior associate who supervises well is a harder hire than a junior who uses AI well, and probably the more valuable one.

If you are thinking about a move

Ask the firm what its AI policy is and how work produced with these tools gets checked. It is a fair question, it shows you take it seriously, and the answer tells you a fair bit about how the firm is run.

If you are building a team and want to talk through how to test for this when you hire, when would you be free for a quick chat next week?

Sources

• SRA Update issue 154
• Law Society Gazette, judge refers two solicitors to SRA over AI generated authorities