The Manifesto, Mapped to the Codes

Nothing here asks for new regulation.

The obvious objection to a manifesto like this is that it is special pleading: a profession dressing its self-interest in a vow. So here is each of the twelve declarations set against the rules that already bind lawyers in England and Wales, the SRA Standards and Regulations for solicitors and the BSB Handbook for barristers. Almost every declaration turns out to be an existing obligation, read back to the profession in the language it was first made in.

The map.

A note on citations. Solicitor references are to the SRA Principles and the SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs, except where marked as the Code of Conduct for Firms. Bar references follow the BSB Handbook's own notation: CD is a Core Duty, r is a rule, g is guidance, and the letter that follows names the part, so rC3 is rule 3 of the Code of Conduct and gC65 is paragraph 65 of its guidance. Core Duties and rules are mandatory; guidance must be had regard to. Quotes were verified against the versions in force on 22 July 2026, including BSB Handbook version 5.0, and should be re-checked against the current published versions before being relied on.

Declaration	SRA Standards and Regulations: the Principles and the Codes of Conduct	BSB Handbook: the Core Duties and the Code of Conduct for barristers
IA profession is a vow, not a job	Solicitors Act 1974, section 1: no one may act as a solicitor unless admitted, on the roll, and holding a practising certificate. Principle 2: you act in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors' profession.	rI2: the BSB cannot waive any rule so as to permit a person who has not been called to the Bar by an Inn to practise as a barrister. The call is the gateway; no call, no practice.
IIThe machine can draft; a lawyer can profess	Paragraph 3.5: where you supervise others providing legal services, you remain accountable for the work carried out through them. The regulated act is taking responsibility, not producing text.	rC20: you are personally responsible for your own conduct and for your professional work. You must use your own professional judgement.
IIIBe AI-native where it saves time and money	Principle 7: you act in the best interests of each client. Paragraph 3.2: you ensure that the service you provide to clients is competent and delivered in a timely manner. Slow and expensive is not a virtue the Code protects.	gC65: nothing in rC20 prevents delegating or outsourcing to any other person discrete tasks… which such other person is well-equipped to provide. Delegation is expressly lawful; the machine is a delegate.
IVBe professed where judgement is sought	Paragraph 3.4: you consider and take account of your client's attributes, needs and circumstances. Code introduction: you are personally accountable… and must always be prepared to justify your decisions and actions.	CD7: you must provide a competent standard of work and service to each client. CD2: you must act in the best interests of each client.
VLaw is a permanent disagreement	Paragraph 2.4: you only make assertions or put forward statements, representations or submissions to the court or others which are properly arguable. Judging what is properly arguable is sitting inside the disagreement.	rC9: your duty of honesty and integrity means you must not draft any contention which you do not consider to be properly arguable. The rule locates the judgement in you, not the material.
VILawful and just are not the same word	Principle 1: you uphold the constitutional principle of the rule of law, and the proper administration of justice. Principle 3: independence. The Code reaches justice's door; conscience walks through it.	CD1: you must observe your duty to the court in the administration of justice. CD4: you must maintain your independence.
VIIThe bottleneck is the point	Paragraph 3.6: you ensure that the individuals you manage are competent to carry out their role. Code for Firms 2.1: effective governance structures, arrangements, systems and controls. Supervision is mandated architecture, not optional caution.	CD10: take reasonable steps to manage your practice… competently and in such a way as to achieve compliance with your legal and regulatory obligations.
VIIIApproval without engagement is counterfeit	Paragraph 1.4: you do not mislead or attempt to mislead your clients, the court or others, either by your own acts or omissions or allowing or being complicit in the acts or omissions of others. Passing on unexamined machine output is complicity by omission.	rC3.1: you must not knowingly or recklessly mislead or attempt to mislead the court. gC65: where tasks are delegated or outsourced, you remain personally responsible for such work.
IXThe burden of responsibility	SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules: every firm must maintain professional indemnity insurance on the SRA's minimum terms; discipline runs from SRA fines to strike-off by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Both attach only to persons and firms.	rC76: ensure that you have adequate insurance… which covers all the legal services you supply. rC77: a self-employed barrister must be a member of BMIF. The guidance adds that even where civil liability is contracted to an entity, the individual stays personally responsible under rC20 for the professional judgements made.
XThe client's protections are sacred	Paragraph 6.3: you keep the affairs of current and former clients confidential unless disclosure is required or permitted by law or the client consents. Privilege at common law is built on that confidence.	CD6: you must keep the affairs of each client confidential. rC15.5: you must protect the confidentiality of each client's affairs. The Handbook's guidance calls CD6 central to the administration of justice.
XIThe record proves the vow was kept	Paragraph 7.2: you are able to justify your decisions and actions in order to demonstrate compliance. Code for Firms 2.2: firms keep records to demonstrate compliance. The manifesto asks for the artefact the rule assumes.	CD9: you must be open and co-operative with your regulators. CD10: manage your practice in such a way as to achieve compliance.
XIIAny firm can be AI-native; every firm must remain professed	Legal Services Act 2007: reserved legal activities may be carried on only by authorised persons. The whole statutory scheme is this declaration in long form.	Part 3 Scope of Practice rules: what each BSB authorised person may do, and no one else.

Both regulators have already said it.

Neither regulator has ignored the machine, and neither has reached for new rules. The SRA's Risk Outlook report on artificial intelligence in the legal market, published in November 2023, put the position in a sentence: you will remain responsible and accountable for the outputs from AI you are using, with an example that could have been written for this site: if you use a third party chatbot to provide initial legal advice, you remain responsible for any errors in that advice. However well controlled a system is, it went on, firms will still need to check its outputs for accuracy, and clients should be suitably informed of how AI is involved in their cases. The same regulator has since authorised firms that deliver legal services through AI, which is the other half of the manifesto's position: the machine is welcome, and the accountability is not negotiable.

The Bar Standards Board went further and issued dedicated Guidance on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Other Technologies, in force from 18 May 2026, prompted in part by the courts' encounters with fabricated citations in Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey. Its method is the method of this page: the guidance explains how existing duties and rules under the BSB Handbook apply when using AI and other technologies. Announcing it, the BSB said its aim was to support barristers in adopting new technologies in a way that strengthens, rather than compromises their professional obligations.

So the mapping above is not a lawyer's stretch; it is the regulators' own reading. Asked about AI, both gave the manifesto's answer: no new rules are needed, because the old duties already cover the machine. What they leave to each practice is the discipline that proves the duties were kept, and that is where the declarations go further than the codes.

Nothing here asks for new regulation.

The map.

Both regulators have already said it.

Read what the codes are mapped against.