Chief Justice William Alstergren of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) has issued a practice direction on artificial intelligence (AI) use in court, crafted by the FCFCOA’s AI committee following internal and external consultations.
AI tools are now integrated into many everyday applications, such as writing aids, search engines, transcription services, and document handling platforms, as outlined in the new guidelines.
The guidelines state that any AI use should be consistent with professional and legal obligations, including duties to the courts, compliant with confidentiality and data security requirements, and used in a manner that does not jeopardise the safety of children and other court users.
The goal of these guidelines is to build trust in the justice system by ensuring that AI is applied fairly, accurately, responsibly, and securely, while upholding professional ethics and the fair conduct of legal matters.
Court users should verify and proofread any AI-generated content, refer only to existing and accurate legislation, case law, and other sources, adapt material to the country’s legal context, and ensure the authenticity of evidence and other material.
For expert evidence utilising AI, the practice direction requires experts to follow the practice direction when preparing their reports or opinions, and lawyers engaging private expert witnesses to give them a copy of the practice direction and ensure that the expert certifies that they have reviewed the document.
When asked whether and how they used AI, explain what tool they utilised and how they reviewed any output, and raise any issues regarding improper AI use with the presiding judicial officer if they may impact the integrity of proceedings.
When dealing with the inappropriate utilisation of AI, the practice direction explains that the FCFCOA can disregard the affected material, issue cost orders or other orders, or refer matters to the relevant regulatory body.
Court users’ obligations under this practice direction apply regardless of whether a product is expressly described as AI, GenAI, smart, assistive or similar, and court users should refrain from altering or generating material in a misleading way.
The FCFCOA’s AI committee developed the practice direction to address the increasing use of AI in court proceedings, and it is intended to provide guidance to court users on the proper use of AI in these proceedings.
