Explainer
What is the legal services AI Growth Lab?
The government's advisory AI Growth Lab starts with legal services. This page sets out which regulators take part and when the LSB expects the lab to launch.
Guides for law firms weighing up AI.
Practical guides on AI readiness, choosing a legal AI tool and what human review should involve.
Read the guidesOriginal Margo Legal material. Operational guidance, not legal advice or a product recommendation.
Guide
Playbooks a tool can follow
How to write positions a review tool can apply and a lawyer can check.
Explainer
What do the SRA's 2024/25 annual reports say about AI?
The Solicitors Regulation Authority's annual reports for 2024/25 discuss AI mainly in two places: its work with firms that use AI, and its own supervision. This page sets out what the reports say, in the SRA's own terms.
Explainer
What is the Information Commission's call for evidence on agentic AI?
The Information Commission (still known as the ICO) is gathering evidence on the data protection risks of agentic AI until 20 November 2026. This page sets out what the call covers, in the regulator's own words.
Checklist
Questions to ask a legal AI vendor: a checklist for UK law firms
A vendor-neutral checklist for law firms in England and Wales on what to ask a legal AI vendor about data, supervision, security, cost, training and exit.
Explainer
Can law firms charge clients for time AI saved?
The Law Society's AI practice note says firms on time-based fees should bill only time actually and properly spent, not time AI saved.
Explainer
What do consumers expect from AI legal tools?
The Legal Services Board names five protections consumers expect from AI legal tools, and found almost no standards made for consumer-facing ones.
Guide 09
The one-page AI policy for a law firm: a working template
A copy-ready one-page AI use policy for law firms in England and Wales, mapped clause by clause to the SRA's August 2026 warning notice.
Guide 01
The law-firm AI readiness maturity model
Five evidence-based stages, from informal experimentation to a managed operation, with the next practical move at each stage.
Guide 02
How to evaluate a legal AI tool
A six-step evaluation method that starts with a frozen task, representative inputs and an agreed failure condition.
Guide 03
Rules, extraction and reasoning are different jobs
A practical way to choose the least variable method for each step and make the human review path explicit.
Guide 04
What human review means for legal AI
A review standard with a named reviewer, source checks, budgeted time, corrections and a visible failure route.
Guide 05
Seven data and security questions for a legal AI vendor
A written first pass across data types, locations, access, model improvement, retention, controls and failure.
Guide 06
The SRA's AI warning notice: what small firms in England and Wales need to do
On 17 August 2026 the SRA published a warning notice, Misuse of AI. It does not ban AI. It says solicitors stay accountable for every output, and names two risks: false information and client confidentiality.
Guide 07
How to build a contract review playbook that AI can actually follow
Most contract playbooks fail the moment AI gets involved. How law firms and in-house legal teams in the UK and US can write playbooks that AI tools can follow - and lawyers can trust.
Guide 10
What a legal AI readiness audit should actually cover
The seven things a proper legal AI readiness audit must examine for a small law firm - from shadow AI and data flows to supervision and vendor safeguards - plus the red flags when buying one.
Guide 11
The real cost of AI for a small law firm, worked out properly
A five-part model for costing AI honestly in a 2-20 fee-earner firm - licences, setup time, verification, risk work and exit - with a fully worked illustrative example.
Guide 12
The minimum viable AI governance set for a small law firm
Margo Legal's recommended six-document AI governance set for a 2-20 fee-earner firm - usage policy, tool register, data-flow map, verification standard, vendor terms review and incident route - and what each should contain.
Turn reading into evidence
Run the two checks in order.
Use the systems check for the operating environment, then score one workflow for volume, ownership and value.
Latest analysis
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New practical guides
- How to run a controlled legal AI pilot in a small law firm
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New analysis
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Small-firm AI buyer guides
- Can ChatGPT review a contract? What it can and cannot do for a small firm
- Harvey and Legora alternatives for small UK law firms
- The best AI tools for small law firms in the UK (2026)
- AI contract review software in the UK: a small firm's buyer's guide (2026)
- AI for law firms: what it is, what the SRA expects, and where a small firm starts (2026)