Former NSW Minister, digital reform advocate and solicitor, the Honourable Victor Dominello, says the legal profession is entering a pivotal era where trust and human accountability will matter more than ever as AI becomes embedded in daily practice.
Ahead of his keynote at the Queensland Law Society’s Symposium, Mr Dominello said that while AI’s potential to transform legal work was undeniable, it also presented profound challenges for a profession built on tradition, discretion and judgment.
‘Lawyers must double down on trust’
Mr Dominello said trust had always been the profession’s bedrock — and in the age of AI, that responsibility only intensified.
“We have a fiduciary relationship with the client, so we have to double down on trust, arguably more than anybody else,” he said.
For firms introducing AI tools, he believes trust must be intentionally designed into every part of the workflow, from client engagement to data handling and internal governance.
That includes stronger digital security, airtight privacy protections, and transparency, where clients understand what data is being shared and how tools are being used.
The good news, he says, is that lawyers already excel at this. In a highly regulated profession, “trust is encoded into our DNA”.
This legacy of trust provides the ideal framework for the next frontier. As we enter the agentic age, our expertise in defining rights and obligations will evolve into a vital new stream of work – providing independent advice on the delegation of power to AI agents.
It is a natural shift to apply familiar concepts like constructive, delegated, and ostensible authority to build the ‘consent architecture’ required before these agents can act on a client’s behalf.
Culture changes harder than the technology
Mr Dominello says the biggest hurdle for law firms will not be technical but cultural.
“People say it’s a big tech change, it’s not, it’s a mind change.”
He likens AI adoption to buying a $1,000 golf club – the club might be impressive, but the big improvement only comes when people change their swing, this requires changing muscle memory which in turn requires plenty of training and practise.
That mindset shift, he argues, is something governments around the world are struggling with, but lawyers will face it too.
AI already delivering productivity gains
Mr Dominello points to the Victorian Amicus platform, which he says has delivered measurable efficiency gains. In complex litigation, the ability to synthesise and analyse vast document sets could be transformative.
“This could save not hours, but days and weeks in complex litigation.”
But he is clear that AI must never replace a lawyer’s professional responsibility.
“Your value proposition is that wisdom layer over the top. If lawyers just say yes to the bot without critical judgment, that’s when we get into trouble.”
A warning for younger lawyers
Mr Dominello is particularly concerned about early-career practitioners relying too heavily on automated tools.
He cites emerging research showing a possible “reverse Flynn effect”, suggesting new generations may not be outperforming their predecessors cognitively, a shift he thinks may have a relationship to the onset of overwhelming digital clutter and “doomscrolling”.
Less lived experience, he says, means less ability to discern good from bad output.
“A bot is synthetic, you can’t build wisdom in a vacuum.”
Accountability cannot be automated
Even as AI becomes more capable, Mr Dominello insists humans must remain accountable.
“Ultimately, we can’t put a bot in jail if something catastrophically fails.”
Just as the corporate veil can be pierced to hold directors responsible, lawyers will need to remain clear eyed on accountability behind any AI-assisted work.
How firms can demonstrate safe and ethical AI use
According to Mr Dominello, the answer is transparency. He suggests firms will need to give clients clear choices about when and how AI is used and obtain explicit consent before applying it to their matters.
“Say to clients – this is where we’re using it, this is how we’re using it, these are the results… Would you like us to use it for you?”
He says this mirrors the approach he took as NSW’s Minister for Customer Service while rolling out the state’s now well‑known digital driver’s licence.
With an eventual 85 per cent adoption rate and 93 per cent satisfaction, the program has been studied internationally.
His key lessons:
- strong leadership and “air cover” from above
- patience and persistence
- starting small and building momentum
- focusing on usefulness and usability
For small and medium firms – where to begin
Asked what single step small firms should take first, Mr Dominello says the answer is humility.
“The most valuable characteristic of leaders today isn’t hubris — it’s humility. Accept that we don’t know everything. Keep an open mind and ask plenty of questions.”
He urges lawyers to stay curious, experiment in safe environments and literally dedicate some time each day to learning about the tools that are already reshaping their sector.
“It’s not a question of if it’s going to happen. It’s happening.”
Mr Dominello will be the keynote speaker at Symposium 2026, Friday 13 March.
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