The rapid adoption of generative AI is revolutionising the way we work. According to recent researchFootnote 1 by The Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), 61% of UK professionals surveyed already use generative AI, with four in five using it on a weekly basis. By the end of 2025, 71% expect to be using generative AI technology at work.
The rapid adoption of generative AI by the legal sector comes as no surprise with many efficiency and productivity gains on offer; legal professionals can now summarise documents, identify key points in a case and conduct legal research with greater speed and efficiency.
However, integrating generative AI into legal workflows can create operational risk and raise legal and ethical issues. CLA’s research reveals that over three quarters of UK professionals surveyed upload, copy and paste third-party content into prompts. Without the appropriate permissions in place, this practice exposes organisations to potential risks, including copyright infringement.
Good governance is crucial when seeking to implement new and innovative technologies like generative AI. To manage the risks associated with the use of generative AI at work, employers should consider putting in place frameworks and policies early on to provide guidance and training to staff and aid understanding of the technology, its opportunities and limitations. This includes workplace policies that identify permitted and prohibited tools and uses of generative AI in the workplace, and licensing to support the lawful use of third-party content, including published content, as prompts in tools.
THE CLA LAW LICENCE AND NEW GENERATIVE AI PERMISSIONS
The CLA Law Licence plays a pivotal role in supporting good governance and managing compliance risk within the legal sector. It provides law firms with the permissions needed to copy and use published content from CLA’s repertoire in daily operations. The CLA Law Licence extends copyright permissions beyond a legal database, to include industry publications, websites and journals. The new CLA workplace generative AI permissions, launched in May 2025, further enhances the CLA Law Licence to support the responsible use of generative AI tools in the workplace.
The new workplace generative AI permissions allow professionals to lawfully copy and use select published content as prompts for permitted generative AI tools, subject to the terms and conditions of the licence. This enables firms to leverage the benefits of generative AI while ensuring that the use of published content, as permitted by the licence, complies with UK copyright law.
Joel Smith, a partner in Simmons & Simmons’ London IP group, explained how CLA’s extended licence permissions support innovation without compromising compliance: “The CLA has made a point of engaging proactively with stakeholders to produce a business-friendly licence, intended to meet the needs of the legal sector. This framework enables law firms to responsibly explore the benefits of innovation that generative AI tools have to offer, whilst also using high-quality published content in prompting.”
EMPOWERING INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY THROUGH LICENSING
The use of published content as prompts in generative AI tools without permission risks copyright infringement, potentially impacting a law firm’s reputation, revenues and its social responsibility credentials. The CLA Law Licence update seeks to support firms to explore the benefits of generative AI responsibly and remain competitive in an evolving digital landscape. What’s more, CLA’s licensing revenues are distributed back to authors, publishers and visual artists, ensuring creators and rightsholders are remunerated for the use of their works. This approach supports the sustainability of the creative ecosystem, incentivising creators to continue to invest their time and effort to create new, quality and original content.
EMBRACING THE FUTURE OF GENERATIVE AI
As the legal sector embraces the transformative potential of generative AI, it is essential to do so with a commitment to good governance practices and legal compliance; and this includes licensing. In doing so UK law firms can lead the effort in ethical and sustainable generative AI innovation.
To learn more about the CLA Law Licence and generative AI licensing solutions, visit the CLA website (https://cla.co.uk/).
