Supervision
What the regulator fears from AI, and what the software does
The Solicitors Regulation Authority published a warning notice on the misuse of AI on 17 August 2026. It names invented authorities, and client information placed beyond the firm's control.
- Every answer cites an authority you can open, or says none exists.
- Client material stays in the United Kingdom and trains no model.
- A qualified fee earner approves anything that leaves the firm.
- Supervision produces an artefact, a standing report of the files showing drift.
Illustrative. Three screens from the working software, on invented files. The platform, screen by screen.
What the regulator has said
Both are open: the warning notice on the misuse of AI, and the guidance on effective supervision, updated on 12 June 2026.
What the two documents say
AI produces fictitious cases that look convincing, correspondence put into an open tool enters the public domain, and the solicitor answers for the output because AI has no legal personality. Firms must have effective governance, systems and controls.
The guidance asks that AI output receive human review, with an authorised individual keeping ultimate responsibility.
The question is whether your firm can evidence that supervision.
The notice, concern by concern
i.
Authorities that do not exist
Answers cite a source you can open.
What the software does
Research answers cite an authority you can open, and where none exists it says so. That shortens the work of checking without removing it.
The same rule governs dates
A limitation date arrives on the diary with the provision it came from and the arithmetic shown. The practice page works one through, and the refusals page quotes four.
ii.
Client information beyond the firm's control
Read where it lives, trains nothing.
What the software does
The notice's example is the client's letter pasted into a public tool. The assistant reads matter data inside the system your firm already runs and keeps no second copy. On the platform route the data is its own.
Where the record is held
Every production record is held in the United Kingdom, including the backups, the search index and the audit log.
Where matter content goes to a language model, that provider is a sub processor of Bracton Ltd, with a data processing agreement open to you at due diligence, processing in the United Kingdom or the European Union, retention of zero or a short disclosed period, and a bar on training.
What was sent, for which matter and on whose action goes to the audit log. The security page says which controls are settled.
iii.
The solicitor remains accountable
A fee earner approves before anything goes.
What the software does
Drafts arrive as drafts, time entries wait for acceptance, and nothing reaches a client or a court without a fee earner reading and releasing it.
A letter approved without being read is your firm's letter. The controls make careful work faster, not careless work safe.
What the audit trail holds
Your firm can show an insurer or regulator what the software proposed, who approved it and when.
iv.
Governance, systems and controls
Three controls, each leaving a record.
What the software does
The notice asks for governance that manages the risk.
What the three controls do
The permission screen holds who can do what, drawn from the rules that enforce it rather than a table somebody typed.
Where an action would breach a rule the software declines, names the provision and says what would put it right. Some name nobody, because a rule is not a permission.
The drift report is built overnight, so by morning the files nobody senior has looked at, the fixed fees past their scope and the dates approaching are listed, with the action drafted.
Behind them sit a published AI policy and a permission model whose limits are on the controls page. It governs the application, not the database beneath.
v.
What stays with your firm
The judgement and the insurer's question stay yours.
What the firm still does
No software discharges a firm's obligations under the notice, whatever the supplier says.
The four that stay
The compliance officer's judgement stays theirs, and Bracton offers no view on whether a reporting threshold is met. The written policy on AI stays the firm's, and the notice expects one.
So does training the people who read the morning list, and the conversation with the insurer.
What this page is not
It is not a claim of approval. The SRA approves, certifies and licenses no legal software.
It is not a record of the software in service. Where a control cannot be tested from outside, the security page says how you get assurance.
What is described is the specification the product is built to, and the position Bracton Ltd will put in writing before you sign. Unsettled matters are named.
The questions before signing are on the answers page, and the platform on its own page.
Contact
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