Hill Dickinson implements AI policy to ensure “safe and proper” usage

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International law firm Hill Dickinson LLP has implemented regulations on the general use of generative AI by its staff following a "significant increase in usage”. On Tuesday, BBC News reported that the firm had blocked general access to several AI tools after it had seen an email from the firm to employees. The email revealed that there were more than 32,000 hits to ChatGPT over a seven-day period in January and February.

In response to the BBC News report, Hill Dickinson said that it aims to positively embrace the use of AI tools while ensuring “safe and proper” use. The law firm clarified in a statement that its AI policy, established in September 2024, “does not discourage the use of AI” but requires staff to have “an approved case for using AI platforms”. Once approved, access is reinstated, and the firm has granted several requests in the past six months.

Hill Dickinson added: "Like many law firms, we are aiming to positively embrace the use of AI tools to enhance our capabilities while always ensuring safe and proper use by our people and for our clients."

It recognises the benefits of using AI, but the firm is “mindful of the risk it carries” and aims to “ensure there is human oversight throughout”. In the same vein, Law Society chief executive Ian Jeffery said that AI "could improve the way we do things a great deal" but the tools "need human oversight”.

The law firm has also confirmed that the number of ChatGPT hits referred to inputted prompts, not individual visits, and that no client or internal files had been uploaded during the monitored period.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said that “there remains a lack of digital skills across all sectors in the UK”, which could pose a risk for law firms and their clients if practising lawyers “do not fully understand the new technology that is implemented."