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Regulation Tracker / Australia

Guidelines for New South Wales Judges in respect of use of Generative AI

Chief Justice of New South Wales · New South Wales

last revised 2024-11-21last verified 2026-09-041 versioncountry page →

GuidanceIn forceProhibitionVerification dutyConfidentialitySupervisionDisclosure

map categories:Judges' use of AIAI barred from deciding casesCourts' own AI deploymentSupervision of AI workDisclosure of AI use in filings

Issued by the Chief Justice of New South Wales on 21 November 2024 alongside Practice Note SC Gen 23 and developed with the other heads of jurisdiction, these guidelines apply to all courts in New South Wales. They prohibit generative AI in the reasoning and drafting of judgments and list red flags for detecting undisclosed AI use.

Applies to
judges, court-staff
Effective
21 Nov 2024
Current version
Original · 21 Nov 2024
Last verified
04 Sept 2026
Official text
supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/documents/Practice-and-Procedure/Practice-Note…

What the document requires

  • Judges must not use generative AI in formulating reasons for judgment or in assessing or analysing evidence preparatory to reasons.
  • Generative AI must not be used for editing or proofing draft judgments, and no part of a draft judgment may be submitted to a generative AI program.
  • Any generative AI research output must be closely scrutinised and verified, and must not substitute for personal research by traditional methods.
  • Associates, tipstaves and researchers must disclose generative AI use to the judge and separately verify any output.
  • Judges may require litigants and legal representatives to disclose AI use and to give an assurance about the verification process followed.
  • Lists red flags of AI-generated content, including non-existent citations, out-of-jurisdiction case law, non-specific repetitive language and foreign spelling.

Version history

VersionDateWhat changedSource
Originalcurrent2024-11-21First version recorded.official

Sources

Cite this record

SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "Guidelines for New South Wales Judges in respect of use of Generative AI" (Chief Justice of New South Wales, Original, 2024-11-21), safelegalai.com/regulation/australia/au-nsw-judges-generative-ai-guidelines (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.

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