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Richtlijnen voor advocaten voor het gebruik van Artificiële Intelligentie (OVB/Avocats.be guidelines on AI for lawyers)

Orde van Vlaamse Balies and Ordre des barreaux francophones et germanophone (Avocats.be)

last revised 2025-02-01last verified 2026-09-041 versioncountry page →

GuidanceIn forcePermissiveVerification dutyConfidentialityCompetence

map categories:Bar guidance on generative AIDuty to verify AI outputClient data in AI toolsTechnological competenceClient consent and transparencyVendor due diligenceSupervision of AI work

Joint guidelines of Belgium's two bar federations, dated 1 February 2025, on lawyers' use of AI. They add no new deontological duties but apply existing ones: AI is neither forbidden nor mandatory, cited sources must be verified, professional secrecy must never enter a tool, and there is no duty to tell clients AI was used.

Applies to
lawyers, firms
Effective
See version history
Current version
First version (bilingual NL/FR) · 01 Feb 2025
Last verified
04 Sept 2026
Official text
www.ordevanvlaamsebalies.be/ovb_filesystem/ovb/OVB_OBFG_Richtlijnen-AI…

What the document requires

  • 'Het gebruik van AI is niet verboden, noch verplicht' — use is a matter of the lawyer's own freedom and responsibility.
  • The lawyer must know the basics of AI and large language models.
  • The lawyer verifies the result including the sources cited — that the legislation, doctrine and case law relied on actually exist.
  • No documents or information covered by professional secrecy may be entered into an AI tool, unless the lawyer is absolutely certain it runs in a closed environment with adequate safeguards.
  • Personal data must be pseudonymised and kept out of prompts; where processing is essential the lawyer is transparent and seeks consent or another legal basis.
  • There is no duty to communicate AI use to the client, any more than for other IT applications; chatbot users must be told the system is automated.
  • Terms of use must be examined for training, transfer and storage, further processing, localisation, open/closed character, liability and IP/licence conditions.

Version history

VersionDateWhat changedSource
First version (bilingual NL/FR)current2025-02-01Joint guidelines of the two Belgian bar federations, announced 31 January 2025 and dated 1 February 2025.official

Sources

Cite this record

SafeLegalAI Legal AI Regulation Tracker, "Richtlijnen voor advocaten voor het gebruik van Artificiële Intelligentie (OVB/Avocats.be guidelines on AI for lawyers)" (Orde van Vlaamse Balies and Ordre des barreaux francophones et germanophone (Avocats.be), First version (bilingual NL/FR), 2025-02-01), safelegalai.com/regulation/other/be-ovb-obfg-richtlijnen-ai-advocaten (accessed 2026-09-04). Data: CC BY 4.0.

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