Civil Justice Council consultation on AI in court documents

What happened

The Civil Justice Council is the advisory body that recommends changes to civil procedure in England and Wales. It formed a working group, chaired by Lord Justice Birss, on the use of AI in preparing court documents. According to Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, the working group published an interim report and consultation on February 19, 2026, with responses due April 14, 2026.

The consultation treated different documents differently. For statements of case and skeleton arguments signed by a legal representative, it proposed that no additional rule was needed, given existing professional obligations. For trial witness statements, it proposed a declaration that "AI has not been used for the purposes of generating the content of such a statement."

For expert reports, the Expert Witness Institute reports that the consultation proposed amending the statement of truth used by experts so that "the expert's report identifies and explains any AI which has been used, other than for administrative uses such as transcription." Administrative use was described as use that "merely corrects spelling or grammar, provides transcription, operates as accessibility software, or assists with formatting and otherwise does not generate substantive content." The consultation also asked whether experts should name the specific tool used.

What was issued or decided

After the consultation closed, the working group published an update on the responses, summarized on the Civil Justice Council's page. For advocacy documents, it reported "a high degree of alignment across respondents that...no additional formal requirements relating specifically to AI are currently necessary." For witness statements, it stated that it was "actively exploring whether a proportionate and workable approach can be developed."

For expert evidence, the update describes the working group's direction as "towards introducing proportionate transparency in relation to expert evidence." Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer reported on the update on July 2, 2026.

Where it stands

The working group has said it will prepare a draft report with recommendations, and the Council's page states that a final report is anticipated later in 2026. No change to the Civil Procedure Rules or to the practice direction on expert evidence had been made as of September 11, 2026. Any rule change would follow the final report.

How it maps to the Standard

The expert-report proposal corresponds to Clause 8 of the Standard, disclosure. If adopted, it would turn that clause from a matter of case-by-case orders into a standing requirement for experts in civil proceedings. The line it draws between administrative and substantive use is a practical one. It asks whether the tool generated content that entered the report.

An expert can meet such a requirement accurately only if Clause 7 has been observed: a contemporaneous record of which system was used, for what purpose and on what material. The proposed witness-statement declaration engages Clause 2, non-delegation, in a different form. The evidence must be the witness's own.

Sources

• Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (Civil Justice Council) · June 2026
  Use of AI in preparing court documents
• Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer · February 2026
  Civil Justice Council publishes consultation on use of AI for preparing court documents
• Expert Witness Institute · February 2026
  Civil Justice Council Consultation on Use of AI for Preparing Court Documents
• Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer · July 2, 2026
  Civil Justice Council publishes update on consultation responses regarding use of AI for preparing court documents

What could not be confirmed

The consultation document itself was not opened; the proposals are described from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer and the Expert Witness Institute. The exact publication date of the working group's update was not confirmed (reported in late June or early July 2026).