The ACT Bar Association has partnered with a local technology firm to provide barristers with formal training in the use of artificial intelligence, in what is believed to be an Australian-first agreement.
Under the deal, Sydney-based AI Legal Assistant will run a series of education workshops for Canberra barristers on how to use generative AI tools safely and accurately in legal work. The program will run for 18 months from the start of 2026.
Founded in Sydney in 2023, AI Legal Assistant develops agentic AI tools specifically for legal professionals.
The ACT Bar Association is the professional body representing and regulating barristers in the ACT.
The use of generative AI in the legal profession has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, after courts around the world were presented with fabricated or incorrectly cited cases generated by AI and not properly checked by lawyers.
Those incidents have prompted regulators and professional bodies to tighten rules around AI use, with some lawyers publicly reprimanded or penalised for relying on AI-generated material without adequate verification.
In September this year, a Victorian-based lawyer became the first legal practitioner in Australia to be sanctioned for submitting AI-generated cases to a court.
The ACT Bar Association’s agreement with AI Legal Assistant takes a different approach, aiming to show that AI can be used safely and responsibly by lawyers when supported by proper training, rather than focusing solely on punishment.
AI Legal Assistant chief executive Samuel Junghenn said AI had become a “convenient scapegoat” for errors that had long existed in legal practice.
“Junior lawyers have always missed incorrect citations, and senior lawyers have always failed to catch them,” Junghenn told Information Age.
“The difference now is that practitioners can blame software instead of accepting responsibility for their own work.”
Australian-first deal
The new agreement marks the first time an Australian bar association has inked such a deal and intervened when it comes to AI usage.
The Australian startup was approached by the ACT Bar Association about the collaboration, AI Legal Assistant CEO Bec Robertson said.
“We can’t leave something so significant in the hands of each individual lawyer or barrister to figure out, that’s not going to lift the standard,” Robertson told Information Age.
“What will lift the standard is an industry-wide collaboration that is driven by curiosity about how we can all implement legal AI safely and effectively.”
ACT Bar Council President Prue Bindon said that legal technology is now an “essential competency for modern practice”.
“Rather than leaving our members to navigate AI adoption alone, we’re providing structured education,” Bindon said.
“This partnership ensures barristers have access to quality training and proven technology that meets professional standards.”
According to a 2024 UNESCO survey of lawyers from nearly 100 countries, just under 45 per cent were actively using AI in their work, but less than 10 per cent had received proper institutional training or guidelines.
A separate study found that less than a third of legal professionals felt “somewhat informed” about AI, and 17 per cent said they had a knowledge gap when it came to the technology.
‘Recipe for professional risk’
AI Legal Assistant CEO Samuel Junghenn said that lawyers around the world are already commonly using generative AI tools but lack the appropriate training to do so properly.
“That’s a recipe for professional risk,” Junghenn said.
“Barristers face unique challenges as sole practitioners without the IT departments or training budgets that large firms have.
“This partnership with the ACT Bar Association isn’t about selling software – it’s about establishing a sustainable model for professional education that other bar associations can follow.”
The legal industry will not be able to “regulate its way to competence”, Junghenn said.
“What we need is mandated education for using AI tools, just like their continued professional development, because this is fundamentally a new way of practising law that requires a new skill set,” he said.
“If we want to minimise mistakes and progress the industry in a sustainable way, we need to be honest: there’s no shortcut to AI competency.
“Education must come first, regulation second.”
From the start of next year to June 2027, AI Legal Assistant will run three dedicated virtual Continuing Professional Development events with Canberra barristers and provide quarterly technical newsletters and support for members.
The first virtual training session is set to be held in late March at the ACT Bar Conference.
It’s important that AI is seen as a skill for lawyers that needs to be trained, Robertson said.
“They’ve spent years at law school learning how to be lawyers.
“How could we possibly expect them to suddenly learn AI skills in a matter of months without proper training?” she said.
“That would be akin to taking a first-year law student and expecting them to argue a brief before the High Court of Australia without any experience or training.
“If we shame lawyers for making mistakes, all we do is perpetuate the fear of AI, and fear is never a good platform for innovation and improvement.
“If we blame lawyers for these mistakes, we put them in a silo rather than help the whole industry learn together.”
AI Legal Assistant is also in talks with bar associations from other states and territories, and is looking to expand its training to other legal organisations.
