This week in legal AI — New Zealand

5 updates on the record, 2023-09-21 to 2026-09-05.

• Rule revised · NZ Law Society · 2026-02-24
  Generative AI guidance for lawyers — February 2026 update
  Updated guidance on verification, privacy and privilege, client communication and fee review; first published in 2024. Guidance from the New Zealand Law Society, updated 24 February 2026, on how the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act rules apply to generative AI. Lawyers must verify all output, protect privacy and privilege when entering information, disclose AI use to clients where appropriate, and review whether fees remain reasonable when AI reduces the time spent.
  Primary source: NZ Law Society — February 2026 update
• Incident · New Zealand · 2026-02-11
  Jones v Family Court at Whangārei [2026] NZSC 1
  New Zealand's Supreme Court dismissed a self-represented litigant's leave application after his submissions cited hallucinated authorities from an AI application — real case names with wrong citations and misattributed cases. The Court awarded NZ$500 costs and warned that reliance on unverified AI outputs may, in serious cases, amount to obstruction of justice or contempt of court.
  Primary source: Jones v Family Court at Whangārei [2026] NZSC 1 (SC167/2025) — Courts of New Zealand (official judgment PDF)
• Rule · NZ Law Society · 2024-01-01
  Generative AI guidance for lawyers — Original (2024)
  Guidance from the New Zealand Law Society, updated 24 February 2026, on how the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act rules apply to generative AI. Lawyers must verify all output, protect privacy and privilege when entering information, disclose AI use to clients where appropriate, and review whether fees remain reasonable when AI reduces the time spent.
  Primary source: NZ Law Society — Original (2024)
• Rule · Courts of New Zealand · 2023-12-07
  Guidelines for use of generative artificial intelligence in Courts and Tribunals
  Three sets of guidelines issued by the Chief Justice of New Zealand on 7 December 2023 for judges, lawyers and non-lawyers using generative AI in courts and tribunals. Existing duties continue to apply, users must verify all AI output and protect confidential information, and there is no mandatory disclosure of AI use. The guidelines remain unchanged as of September 2026.
  Primary source: Courts of New Zealand — Original
• Rule · NZ Privacy Commissioner · 2023-09-21
  Artificial Intelligence and the Information Privacy Principles
  The New Zealand Privacy Commissioner's expectations for agencies using generative AI under the Privacy Act 2020, published 21 September 2023 with a companion page on generative AI. The Office approves or endorses no AI technology or provider and expects a privacy assessment before an agency uses an AI tool on personal information.
  Primary source: NZ Privacy Commissioner — Original

Source: SafeLegalAI (safelegalai.com), published by Cognesio LLP. Data CC BY 4.0. Scope: New Zealand. As of 2026-09-05. Records: safelegalai.com/tracker/nz · Feed: RSS