Using AI on client documents as a lawyer in Canada

What the law societies say

Law Society of Ontario, April 2024: “Carefully consider what information needs to be provided in the generative AI system and redact any identifying, sensitive, or confidential information. If confidentiality or privilege cannot be adequately protected by anonymizing client information, explain the potential risks to your client and obtain your client’s informed consent before using the tool.”

Law Society of British Columbia: client confidential information, “including any information identifying the client, would be omitted from anything that was supplied to the generative AI tool.” Law Society of Alberta: “Never include confidential or potentially identifying information in prompts.”

The Canadian Bar Association’s ethics toolkit adds that “obtaining client consent to the use of generative AI is not a panacea,” and the Barreau du Québec emphasises proactive, transparent communication with clients.

Where lawyers use AI, and what to strip first

Common tasks and the details they tend to carry:

• Summarizing disclosure or discovery: party and witness names, addresses, dates of birth
• First drafts of letters and memos: client names, file numbers, opposing counsel
• Reviewing agreements: party names, signatories, account and property details
• Preparing chronologies: exact dates, locations and third parties that identify people together

A workflow that matches the guidance

1. Decide what the task needs; leave out anything it does not.
2. Replace identifying details with consistent placeholders, on your own computer.
3. Read the entire copy, including headers, tables and signature blocks.
4. Use the reviewed copy with the AI tool your firm permits.
5. Restore names locally, then verify the output as you would a junior’s draft.

Sending completed forms to clients for review

Before a form is filed, the client should confirm what you entered. Sending the fillable file invites accidental edits: a retyped answer, a cleared field, a pressed Reset button, or a viewer that shows the fields blank. A static copy with the answers printed into the page lets the client review exactly what you prepared, while corrections come back to you and go into the fillable original.

For government XFA forms that clients cannot open in Preview, a static copy also means they can review without installing Adobe Reader. File the original form as the issuing body requires; for IRCC barcode forms, that is the validated file from Adobe Reader.

What removing identifiers does not do

It does not make every use appropriate. The Law Society of Ontario’s white paper warns that “anonymizing is not perfect,” and your duties of competence and supervision apply to the AI’s output. Keep your firm’s policy, your client’s instructions and your regulator’s guidance in charge.