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Professional indemnity explained
Lexis+ with Protégé, formerly Lexis+ AI, is LexisNexis's generative AI service for legal research, drafting and document analysis, with an agentic assistant called Protégé. It matters for PII because citation-linked research still has to be checked by a lawyer before it is relied on.
Part of: Solicitors PI insurance
In short
LexisNexis says Lexis+ AI links its answers to the underlying authority and automatically checks linked citations against its own content, and that Protégé checks its own drafts before a lawyer's final review. Those features reduce risk; LexisNexis does not say they remove it. Under Ayinde and the SRA's August 2026 warning notice, the firm must still verify authorities and supervise the work. On our reading of the SRA minimum terms, a negligence claim from Lexis-assisted work should usually fall within qualifying cover, subject to the policy terms.
A research tool that links to real authorities lowers one kind of risk, but it does not move responsibility. The SRA warning notice on the misuse of AI (17 August 2026) says AI has no separate legal personality, case law must be checked as genuine, relevant and verifiable, and supervisors are accountable for AI-assisted work by juniors.
In Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey; Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank [2025] EWHC 1383 (Admin), the Divisional Court said lawyers must check the accuracy of AI-assisted research by reference to authoritative sources before relying on it (para 7). A link to a genuine case does not show that the case says what the summary says, or that it is still good law for the point. So if Lexis-assisted work goes wrong, the claim is against the firm and its solicitors PI insurance is usually the policy that responds.
These are LexisNexis's own published statements. Apex has not verified them and does not assess or recommend any product.
| Area | What LexisNexis says | Date or source |
|---|---|---|
| UK launch | Lexis+ AI generally available in the UK, with conversational search, drafting, case summaries and document analysis | June 2024 (press release) |
| Protégé | A personalised assistant with agentic capabilities that drafts transactional documents, suggests workflow actions, stores documents in Vaults and builds timelines | 21 July 2025 (press release) |
| Current name | "Lexis+ with Protégé (formerly Lexis+ AI)" | UK product page |
| Citations | Direct links to the underlying citable authority, with all linked citations automatically checked against LexisNexis content; citations can be checked for status and treatment | 2024 press release and UK product page |
| Self-checking | Protégé checks its own drafts before passing them to lawyers for final review | 2025 press release |
| Training | Customer data is not used to train public AI models or improve performance for other customers; opt-out personalisation settings | UK product page |
| Hosting | Primary and back-up locations in Europe | UK product page |
At the 2024 UK launch, LexisNexis said uploaded documents were always purged at the end of each session. Protégé now offers persistent Vaults, so firms should ask how current retention works. The product page we reviewed refers to Europe rather than the UK specifically, so confirm the location if UK residency matters to your clients.
LexisNexis frames its automated citation checks as reducing, not eliminating, hallucination risk. There are at least three things a link cannot tell you:
The judicial guidance on AI (updated 8 October 2025) warns that AI may make up fictitious cases, citations or quotes, and says judges may need to confirm that lawyers independently verified AI-assisted research. Ayinde also says a lawyer is not entitled to rely on the lay client for the accuracy of citations (para 81). See AI legal research and fake citations.
Under the SRA minimum terms, qualifying cover must indemnify civil liability in connection with private legal practice (clause 1.1), and insurers may exclude only the matters in clause 6 (clause 4.2). On our reading, none mentions AI. Our view, which the SRA has not stated expressly, is that a negligence claim from Lexis-assisted research or drafting is treated like any other claim, subject to the excess, limits and aggregation rules.
Fines and penalties are a permitted exclusion, and wasted costs orders may raise their own questions under a policy, so notify promptly and check with your broker. Top-up layers are commonly on the insurer's own wording; see AI exclusions and clauses. For who carries the loss between firm, individual and vendor, see who is liable when legal AI gets it wrong.
Uploading client documents for analysis or storing them in Vaults brings the SRA notice's point on safeguards into play: client data should go into AI tools only with appropriate contractual, technical and organisational safeguards. A security incident involving a vendor platform is usually a matter for cyber insurance for solicitors first, so check how your policy treats incidents at a third party provider. See legal AI, confidentiality and cyber insurance.
These scenarios are illustrative only and do not describe any real firm or claim.
Example 1: a real case, wrong point. A solicitor uses AI-assisted research for a limitation question. The linked case exists, but the summary overstates what it decided. The advice is wrong and the client's claim becomes time-barred. The citation check worked; the legal check did not happen. This is a standard negligence claim for PI.
Example 2: a self-checked draft. Protégé produces a transactional document and checks its own draft. The fee earner treats that check as the review and sends it out. A definition does not match the commercial deal. LexisNexis describes final review as the lawyer's role; the firm's sign-off record will matter if a claim follows.
Use these for a fair presentation at renewal (telling your PI insurer about legal AI tools) and notify circumstances promptly if a problem surfaces (notification of circumstances). For other tools, see legal AI tools and your PII. Apex arranges solicitors' PI and cyber cover; a broker reads every enquiry.
LexisNexis's UK product page now describes the service as "Lexis+ with Protégé (formerly Lexis+ AI)". Lexis+ AI launched in the UK in June 2024 and Protégé, an assistant with agentic capabilities, followed in July 2025. Check your contract for the features and terms that apply to your firm.
Yes. LexisNexis presents its citation checks as reducing hallucination risk, not removing it. Ayinde requires lawyers to check AI-assisted research against authoritative sources, and the SRA's August 2026 notice says case law must be checked as genuine, relevant and verifiable. A valid link does not prove the case supports your point.
LexisNexis's UK product page says customer data is not used to train public AI models or to improve performance for other customers, and describes a private model with opt-out personalisation. That is the vendor's own statement, so confirm the position in your contract and record it.
On our reading of the SRA minimum terms, qualifying cover should usually respond to a negligence claim, because AI is not a permitted exclusion. Fines and penalties can be excluded, and top-up layers may use different wording. Cover always depends on the policy terms, limits and excess.
The supervising solicitor and the firm. The SRA's August 2026 notice says supervisors are accountable for AI-assisted work by juniors, and Ayinde says reliance on others' work, such as a trainee's, still needs checking against authoritative sources. Record who checked the authorities before the memo was relied on.
Tell us which tools your firm uses and how they are supervised. We will check how your PI, cyber and management liability respond, and what insurers will ask at renewal. No fee and no obligation. Or call 0117 325 0027.
Book a PI programme review Get a solicitors PI quoteApex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
