Authored By: Shongile Tsiri
University of South Africa
Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the way legal services are delivered around the world. Lawyers can now use AI tools to conduct legal research, review contracts, draft legal documents and organize large amounts of information in a matter of minutes. These developments have improved efficiency and reduced the time spent on routine legal tasks. As a result, AI is becoming an important part of modern legal practice, including in South Africa.
Despite these advantages, the growing use of AI raises important legal and ethical concerns. AI systems can produce inaccurate information, reflect bias in their outputs and create risks to client confidentiality. These challenges raise an important question: can lawyers rely on AI without compromising their professional duties and the administration of justice?
This article argues that although AI has the potential to improve the delivery of legal services in South Africa, it should remain a tool that supports lawyers rather than replaces them. Human judgment, professional ethics and appropriate regulation are essential to ensure that AI is used responsibly. The article first examines the benefits of AI in legal practice before discussing its legal and ethical challenges and proposing the need for clear regulatory guidance in South Africa.
The Growing Use of Artificial Intelligence in Legal Practice
Artificial intelligence has become one of the most significant technological developments affecting the legal profession. AI refers to computer systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as analyzing information, recognising patterns and generating written content. In recent years, law firms, legal departments and individual practitioners have increasingly adopted AI to improve the delivery of legal services.
One of the main advantages of AI is its ability to complete routine legal tasks quickly and accurately. Lawyers can use AI-powered software to conduct legal research by searching through thousands of court judgments, statutes and legal articles within minutes. This saves valuable time
and allows legal practitioners to focus on more complex matters that require legal reasoning and professional judgment. AI can also assist with drafting contracts, preparing legal opinions, reviewing large volumes of documents during litigation and identifying relevant legal authorities.
The use of AI can also improve access to justice. Legal services are often expensive, making it difficult for many South Africans to obtain legal assistance. AI-powered legal platforms and chatbots can provide basic legal information at a lower cost, helping members of the public better understand their legal rights and responsibilities before consulting a lawyer. Although these tools cannot replace professional legal advice, they can make legal information more accessible to people who might otherwise struggle to afford it.
Furthermore, AI has the potential to improve efficiency within the justice system. Courts and legal institutions manage large volumes of documents and case files every year. AI technology can assist with organising records, summarizing lengthy documents and reducing administrative delays. This could contribute to a more efficient justice system and help reduce case backlogs.
Despite these benefits, AI is not without limitations. While it can process information at remarkable speed, it cannot exercise human judgment, understand the unique circumstances of every case or apply legal principles with the same level of reasoning as a qualified legal practitioner. Legal practice requires careful interpretation of the law, ethical decision-making and consideration of fairness and justice. These responsibilities cannot simply be delegated to technology.
For this reason, AI should be viewed as a valuable assistant rather than a replacement for lawyers. Its greatest strength lies in supporting legal professionals, while the final responsibility for legal advice and decision-making must always remain with human practitioners.
Legal and Ethical Challenges of Using Artificial Intelligence
Although artificial intelligence offers many benefits to the legal profession, its use also raises important legal and ethical concerns. Lawyers have a professional duty to provide competent legal advice, protect client confidentiality and act in their clients’ best interests. These duties remain the responsibility of the lawyer, even when AI is used to assist with legal work.
One of the biggest concerns is the accuracy of AI-generated information. AI tools can produce responses that appear convincing but contain incorrect legal principles, outdated legislation or fictitious case citations. This problem, often referred to as “AI hallucination”, can have serious consequences if lawyers rely on AI without checking the information. Providing incorrect legal advice may prejudice a client’s case, damage public confidence in the legal profession and expose legal practitioners to professional misconduct or negligence claims.
Another concern is client confidentiality. Lawyers regularly deal with sensitive personal and commercial information. If confidential documents are uploaded to public AI platforms without proper safeguards, there is a risk that privileged information could be exposed or misused. Legal practitioners must therefore ensure that any AI tool they use complies with confidentiality obligations and data protection requirements. Protecting client information is a fundamental part of maintaining trust between lawyers and their clients.
Bias is another challenge. AI systems learn from existing data, and if that data contains historical bias or discrimination, the AI may produce unfair or prejudiced outcomes. In the legal profession, biased results could affect legal research, document review or decision-making, particularly in matters involving vulnerable groups. Lawyers must therefore critically evaluate AI-generated outputs instead of accepting them as objective or accurate.
The increasing use of AI also raises questions about accountability. Unlike human practitioners, AI cannot be held legally or ethically responsible for mistakes. Responsibility always remains with the lawyer who chooses to rely on the technology. This means that legal practitioners must exercise independent professional judgment before submitting documents to court, advising clients or making important legal decisions.
These challenges demonstrate that AI should not replace the knowledge, experience and ethical responsibilities of legal practitioners. Instead, it should be used as a supporting tool that improves efficiency while allowing lawyers to remain fully responsible for the quality, accuracy and fairness of the legal services they provide. Maintaining human oversight is essential to protect the integrity of the legal profession and the proper administration of justice.
The Need for AI Regulation in South Africa
The growing use of artificial intelligence in legal practice makes it clear that South Africa needs a legal and ethical framework to guide its responsible use. While existing laws, such as the Constitution and the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), provide some protection for privacy and personal information, they do not specifically regulate the use of AI by legal practitioners. As AI continues to develop, relying only on existing laws may not be enough to address the unique challenges that AI presents.
The Legal Practice Council should take the lead in developing clear guidelines on the responsible use of AI by lawyers. These guidelines should emphasize that AI is a support tool and not a substitute for professional legal judgment. Lawyers should be required to verify all AI-generated legal research, case citations and drafted documents before relying on them in court or advising clients. They should also ensure that confidential client information is not entered into AI systems that cannot guarantee adequate privacy and security.
Legal education also has an important role to play. Universities and practical legal training programmes should teach future lawyers how to use AI responsibly and ethically. Students should understand both the benefits and the risks of AI so that they can use technology without compromising their professional duties. Continuous professional development programmes should also provide practicing lawyers with training on emerging AI technologies and best practices.
South Africa should adopt a balanced approach that encourages innovation while protecting the integrity of the legal profession. Proper regulation should promote the responsible use of AI without preventing technological advancement. By developing clear standards now, the legal profession can benefit from AI while maintaining public confidence in the justice system.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is transforming the legal profession by making legal research, document drafting and case management faster and more efficient. These developments have the potential to reduce costs, improve productivity and expand access to legal information. However, the use of AI also creates significant legal and ethical challenges, including inaccurate information, confidentiality risks, bias and uncertainty about accountability.
This article has argued that AI should remain a tool that assists legal practitioners rather than replacing them. The responsibility for providing accurate legal advice, protecting client confidentiality and exercising professional judgment must always remain with the lawyer. Technology can improve the delivery of legal services, but it cannot replace the human reasoning, ethical decision-making and accountability that are central to the administration of justice.
As AI becomes more common in legal practice, South Africa should develop clear ethical guidelines and regulatory standards for its responsible use. Such measures will allow the legal profession to embrace innovation while protecting clients, upholding the rule of law and preserving public trust in the justice system.
BIBLIOGRAPHY (OSCOLA)
Legislation
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014.
Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
Cases
Mavundla v MEC for Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs (KwaZulu-Natal) and Others [2025] ZAKZPHC 2.
Books
Richard Susskind, Tomorrow’s Lawyers: An Introduction to Your Future (2nd edn, Oxford University Press 2017).
Richard Susskind, Online Courts and the Future of Justice (Oxford University Press 2019).
Journal Articles
John O McGinnis and Russell G Pearce, ‘The Great Disruption: How Machine Intelligence Will Transform the Role of Lawyers in the Delivery of Legal Services’ (2014) 82 Fordham Law Review 3041.
Harry Surden, ‘Artificial Intelligence and Law: An Overview’ (2019) 35 Georgia State University Law Review 1305.
Reports
European Commission, Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (2019). UNESCO, Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021). Websites
Legal Practice Council South Africa, ‘Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners, Candidate Legal Practitioners and Juristic Entities’ https://lpc.org.za accessed 6 August 2026.
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, ‘Justice Services’ https://www.justice.gov.za accessed 6 August 2026.
