Firm introduces structured safeguards for AI-assisted research and document review activity
Intellectual property advisers Murgitroyd have launched a new responsible artificial intelligence framework designed to guide the firm’s use of AI across patent and trade mark workflows while maintaining professional standards and client confidentiality.
The framework forms part of a multi-year programme to integrate artificial intelligence into the intellectual property lifecycle and reflects growing expectations across the profession that AI deployment should be accompanied by clear governance structures and oversight.
According to the firm, AI tools are already embedded across research and document-review functions supporting patent and trade mark work, contributing to improvements in speed, consistency and analytical insight.
The responsible AI framework is structured around five core principles intended to support safe deployment in legal practice: accuracy and reliability, transparency and explainability, security and confidentiality, ethical alignment with professional standards, and human oversight of all AI-assisted outputs.
The firm said the approach avoids reliance on “black-box” outputs and ensures that expert review remains central to client-facing work.
Such safeguards reflect broader regulatory expectations across the legal sector that AI tools must operate within existing duties relating to competence, confidentiality and professional judgment.
Over the past 18 months, Murgitroyd has implemented a structured four-stage adoption model — identify, evaluate, select and deploy alongside the creation of an internal AI hub and authorised toolset to support controlled implementation across the practice.
The firm has also adopted the ipQuants Qthena platform for research and document-review activity and introduced an internal “AI Champions” programme designed to accelerate training and adoption across teams.
These measures form part of what the firm described as an “AI-enabled, expert-led” approach intended to enhance productivity while maintaining governance standards expected in regulated intellectual property services.
Barry Moore, director of patents at the firm, said responsible deployment — rather than adoption alone — is likely to distinguish providers as AI becomes a baseline capability within the intellectual property sector.
He said clients increasingly expect efficiency gains from AI tools but not at the expense of confidentiality, legal integrity or professional judgement.
The framework is aligned with regulatory expectations set by professional bodies overseeing patent and trade mark practitioners, including the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys and the Intellectual Property Regulation Board.