AI Judicial Guidance, England and Wales (October 2025)

What happened

The judiciary of England and Wales issues guidance to its judges on artificial intelligence and has updated it as the tools have changed. The current version is dated October 31, 2025 and replaces the April 2025 version. It is issued in the names of the Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr; the Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos; the Senior President of Tribunals, Lord Justice Dingemans; and the lead judge for AI, Lord Justice Birss.

It applies to judicial office holders and to their clerks, judicial assistants, legal advisers and support staff.

What was issued or decided

The guidance sets out how judges should treat their own use of AI and how they should respond to AI use by others. On their own use, it states: "Any information that you input into a public AI chatbot should be seen as being published to all the world," and "Judicial office holders are personally responsible for material which is produced in their name."

On lawyers, it states: "All legal representatives are responsible for the material they put before the court/tribunal and have a professional obligation to ensure it is accurate and appropriate." It adds: "Provided AI is used responsibly, there is no reason why a legal representative ought to refer to its use."

On unrepresented litigants, it notes that AI chatbots may be the only source of assistance some receive. Where it appears a chatbot may have been used, it states that "it is appropriate to inquire about this, ask what checks for accuracy have been undertaken (if any)." Among the signs of AI-produced material it lists "References to cases that do not sound familiar, or have unfamiliar citations (sometimes from the US)." On evidence, it states: "Judges should be aware of this new possibility and potential challenges posed by deepfake technology."

Where it stands

The October 2025 guidance is the version in force as of September 11, 2026. It is guidance to judges, not a rule of court, and it does not impose a disclosure requirement on lawyers, parties or experts. The Civil Justice Council, through a working group chaired by Lord Justice Birss, is separately considering whether the procedural rules should require disclosure of AI use in witness statements and expert reports.

How it maps to the Standard

The guidance applies to judges several of the obligations the Standard applies to experts. Treating anything entered into a public chatbot as published corresponds to Clause 6, custody and confidentiality. Personal responsibility for material issued in the judge's name corresponds to Clause 2, non-delegation.

For an expert, the practical point is the judge's instruction to ask what checks were made. An expert whose report is questioned on this ground will be asked the same thing. Clauses 3 and 4 require the checks to have been made, and Clause 7 requires a record of them made at the time.

Sources

• Courts and Tribunals Judiciary · October 31, 2025
  Artificial Intelligence (AI) Guidance for Judicial Office Holders
• Courts and Tribunals Judiciary · October 31, 2025
  Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Judicial Guidance (October 2025)

What could not be confirmed

The date of the first version of the guidance (widely reported as December 2023) was not confirmed in the sources opened. Reports that Microsoft Copilot Chat was made available to judges alongside the update were not confirmed in the guidance text retrieved.