SRL Filing Accountability Assistant for Brisbane Boutique Firms: Help Self-Represented Clients File With AI Disclosure

You run a six-lawyer firm in Brisbane. A client engaged you on a limited-scope retainer for an Administrative Review Tribunal matter — you drafted submissions, they file under their own name as a self-represented litigant. They’ve also been using ChatGPT to polish their witness statement. The ART practice directions on AI use require disclosure. They didn’t disclose. You weren’t asked. Now the directions hearing is in five days and you don’t know what’s actually in the bundle they lodged. The SRL Filing Accountability Assistant is built for this gap — the place where unbundled assistance, an SRL client, and AI-use disclosure obligations all sit on top of each other.

The problem

Boutique firms increasingly offer unbundled or limited-scope services to clients who cannot afford full representation, especially in ART matters (NDIS, Centrelink, migration, veterans’ affairs reviews). The economic logic is sound — but it creates a real compliance gap. The Administrative Review Tribunal’s practice directions and guidance on AI use require parties to disclose where generative AI has been used to prepare materials filed with the Tribunal. Self-represented litigants are bound by the same disclosure rule as represented parties, and most don’t know it exists. When the boutique firm has touched the matter — even in a limited capacity — the firm’s name is associated with the filing trajectory. If an AI-generated submission goes in undisclosed, the awkward questions come back to the practitioner who advised on it.

The threat is not “the SRL used AI”. The threat is that nobody on the file thought to check, disclose, or document the check.

What the SRL Filing Accountability Assistant does

The SRL Filing Accountability Assistant is an agent designed for the unbundled-services context. It works with the SRL directly (under your firm’s branded interface or referral) to prepare each filing for lodgement with the ART or other Australian tribunals and courts. Specifically, it:

• Scans the SRL’s draft filing for indicators of AI-assisted drafting (the SRL self-attests, and the agent flags patterns consistent with AI generation for confirmation)
• Generates the AI-use disclosure statement in the format the Tribunal expects, based on what the SRL confirms they used and how
• Produces a filing readiness pack — the draft, the disclosure statement, and a one-page accountability log the SRL signs before lodgement
• Sends a copy of the accountability log to the supervising boutique firm so the matter file reflects what the SRL did, what was disclosed, and when

The agent does not draft legal argument and does not represent the SRL. It is an accountability and disclosure layer between the SRL’s drafting process and the Tribunal’s filing window.

How it works

1. The boutique firm sets up the matter in the agent and shares a secure link with the SRL client.
2. The SRL uploads or pastes their draft filing. The agent asks plain-language questions about what tools they used (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, none) and for what (research, drafting, polishing, translation).
3. The agent generates a draft AI-use disclosure statement aligned with the ART practice direction wording. The SRL reviews and confirms.
4. The agent produces the filing readiness pack: clean draft, disclosure statement, accountability log. The SRL lodges the pack with the Tribunal under their own name.
5. The supervising firm receives the accountability log into the matter file — evidence that disclosure was prompted, prepared, and signed off before lodgement.

Why this matters in Brisbane

Brisbane boutique firms carry a disproportionate share of ART work — NDIS reviews, DVA matters, migration decisions, Centrelink appeals — where clients often cannot fund full representation and unbundled assistance is the only viable model. The Administrative Review Tribunal’s practice directions and guidance set the disclosure expectations the SRL is bound by, regardless of whether they have a lawyer in the background. Under the Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules, a Queensland solicitor advising on a matter where AI use is reasonably foreseeable has a clear interest in ensuring the client’s disclosure obligations are met — because the practitioner’s own candour duty does not switch off when the retainer is limited in scope. The Assistant is the practical workflow that closes the loop.

Sources

1. Administrative Review Tribunal — Practice Directions and other guidance: https://www.art.gov.au/help-and-resources/professionals-and-practitioners/practice-directions-and-other-guidance
2. Law Council of Australia — Australian Solicitors’ Conduct Rules: https://lawcouncil.au/policy-agenda/regulation-of-the-profession-and-ethics/australian-solicitors-conduct-rules
3. AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute): https://www.austlii.edu.au/

Exegesis capability references:

• SRL Filing Accountability Assistant Agent spec
• RuleCheck by Exegesis — open-source citation verifier

Join the waitlist

Join the waitlist — be first in line when access opens for Brisbane boutique firms running unbundled SRL work

The SRL Filing Accountability Assistant is in design. We’re scoping pricing around boutique-firm economics — per-matter, per-client-seat, or small-firm licence. Join the waitlist and tell us how your unbundled engagements actually run; that’s what will shape the tier you sit in.