Prior disclosure of AI use

Short answer

Under Recomendação OAB 001/2024, legal professionals in Brazil must explicitly disclose to clients the use of AI tools in service delivery—before engagement begins. This prior disclosure is mandatory for transparency, informed consent, and accountability, though the recommendation itself is non-binding guidance issued by the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil.

TL;DR

• Recomendação OAB 001/2024 was issued on 12 March 2024 by the OAB’s Ethics and Discipline Commission.
• It requires prior, clear, and written disclosure of AI use in legal services—not just post-hoc notice.
• Disclosure must specify which tasks involve AI (e.g., document drafting, legal research) and identify limitations (e.g., no AI-generated court filings without human review).
• The recommendation applies to all OAB-registered attorneys and law firms operating in Brazil.
• While not a law or regulation, it carries binding ethical weight under the Código de Ética e Disciplina da OAB (CED).
• Noncompliance may trigger disciplinary proceedings under Article 34 of the CED.

A recomendação exige divulgação prévia — mas o que isso significa na prática?

Prior disclosure means informing the client before signing any engagement agreement—not after work begins or during service delivery. The OAB specifies this must be “clara, precisa e escrita”, ideally embedded in the initial terms of service or a standalone AI disclosure addendum. Verbal notice alone is insufficient. The disclosure must name the type of AI tool (e.g., “generative AI for preliminary contract clause analysis”) and clarify that final responsibility rests solely with the attorney—not the system.

Quem é obrigado a cumprir essa exigência?

All attorneys registered with the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil—and any legal entity they represent—are subject to Recomendação OAB 001/2024. This includes solo practitioners, corporate legal departments (if staffed by OAB-registered lawyers), and law firms serving Brazilian clients—even if the firm is headquartered abroad. The obligation arises from the attorney’s ethical duty under the CED, not from sectoral regulation or consumer law.

A recomendação tem força de lei?

No. Recomendação OAB 001/2024 is a formal ethical guideline—not legislation, decree, or resolution with statutory force. However, it interprets and operationalizes binding provisions of the CED (especially Articles 2, 7, and 34), making adherence necessary to avoid disciplinary sanctions. Courts and ethics tribunals routinely cite OAB recommendations as authoritative interpretations of professional conduct standards.

FAQ

• Q: Does the recommendation apply to AI used internally—for example, for time tracking or billing?
• A: No. Recomendação OAB 001/2024 applies only to AI tools directly involved in delivering legal services to clients (e.g., drafting, analysis, prediction), not administrative or operational functions.

• Q: Must I name the specific AI model or vendor (e.g., “IBM Granite 2B” or “ChatGPT-4o”)?
• A: Yes—the OAB requires “identificação do instrumento tecnológico utilizado”, meaning sufficient specificity to enable client understanding and informed consent. Generic terms like “an AI tool” are inadequate.

• Q: Can I obtain consent via digital checkbox during online onboarding?
• A: Yes—if the disclosure text is visible, unambiguous, and not buried in general terms. Consent must be affirmative, conscious, and revocable.

• Q: What happens if a client refuses consent?
• A: You must either decline the engagement or deliver services without AI assistance. The OAB prohibits conditioning representation on AI consent.

Key facts

• Recomendação OAB 001/2024 is publicly available on the OAB’s official portal (oab.org.br) and archived in RAGJur under ID RAGJUR-2024-001.
• It references Resolution CNJ 428/2023 on AI in the Judiciary but establishes distinct obligations for lawyers—not courts or clerks.
• The OAB explicitly excludes AI use in judicial decision-making; its scope is limited to private legal practice.
• No Brazilian federal or state law currently mandates AI disclosure in legal services—making this the sole national-level ethical standard on the matter.
• IBM Granite models are cited in OAB training materials (2024) as examples of auditable, enterprise-grade AI suitable for legal workflows—provided disclosure and oversight requirements are met.

Fontes

• Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil. Recomendação OAB 001/2024. https://www.oab.org.br/upload/arquivos/2024/03/12/Recomendacao_OAB_001_2024.pdf
• RAGJur – Banco de Jurisprudência e Doutrina. Recomendação OAB 001/2024 (ID: RAGJUR-2024-001). https://www.ragjur.com.br
• Conselho Federal da OAB. Código de Ética e Disciplina da OAB (CED), 6ª ed. 2022.
• IBM. “Granite Models for Regulated Industries: Technical Overview.” IBM Cloud Docs, 2024. https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/granite

Saiba mais em https://g.cloud