AI for conveyancing in Australia: where it helps, the tools, and the risks

The best AI for conveyancing, by job

Check what your practice management system already includes first. If you run LEAP or Smokeball, matter-level AI is already there or one add-on away. The standalone tools fill specific gaps.

Where CallNote fits, and who it is not for

CallNote does one job. A client rings with a question about the finance date or a building report, you give advice, and the call needs a file note. CallNote takes the call transcript and writes the note in your format. It never records calls and never joins a meeting. Transcripts arrive automatically from Aircall, Dialpad or Microsoft Teams, or you paste or upload one. After an in-person meeting you can dictate your own recap as a voice memo, and CallNote writes the note from that.

There is no conveyancing template. You start from the general template, or paste one of your own past file notes and CallNote builds a template with your headings and order. It has no connection to LEAP, Smokeball or PEXA, so the note goes onto the matter by copy and paste or as a PDF. It connects directly to Clio, HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

It is not for you if you want contract review, document automation or settlement figures. It also adds little if your calls produce no transcript and you would rather type the note yourself. To see what your current notes cover first, try the free law firm file note compliance checklist.

AI for contract and vendor statement review

This is where AI saves the most reading time. The contract arrives as a long PDF with the title search, plans, dealings and certificates bundled in. AI can split it up, pull out the key facts and flag clauses that need a closer look.

InfoTrack's Contract Review tool is the clearest example we found. InfoTrack says it bookmarks each document in a single PDF upload, flags special conditions with risk ratings (release of deposit, land tax, rent back, unauthorised work, strata conditions and others), checks that the title reference and vendor names on the title search match the contract, notes caveats, easements and covenants, and checks section 10.7 planning certificates for items such as environmental flags and road widening. It also calculates the settlement date from the contract conditions and can send extracted data into LEAP or Smokeball. Section 10.7 certificates are a NSW instrument, and InfoTrack's own FAQ calls it NSW Contract Review, so check coverage before relying on it in another state.

InfoTrack says the tool supports your due diligence and does not replace it. You can edit or hide its findings before exporting a client report, which matters because the report goes out under your name.

Victoria and section 32 statements. We did not find an AI tool that reviews a Victorian vendor statement under section 32 of the Sale of Land Act 1962 and states that on its own site. Smokeball says it generates contracts of sale, Section 32s and disclosure statements pre-filled with matter details, but that is document automation for the vendor's side, not AI review. LEAP says its AI prompt library covers residential sales and purchases in all states. For a buyer, a general matter AI can summarise a section 32 you have saved to the file. Check every item it reports against the document.

What to check before you rely on a contract review

• Which state's documents it was built for. A tool trained on NSW contracts and certificates may miss what matters in a Queensland or Victorian contract.
• What it does not read. Ask whether it reads handwritten amendments, poor scans and annexures.
• Where the output goes. If the report goes to the client, you own every line in it. Edit before sending.
• A record of your own review. Note on the file what you checked yourself and what you told the client. The conveyancing file notes guide covers what that note should say.

Search summaries and matter questions: LEAP and Smokeball

Many Australian conveyancing practices run on a practice management system, and two widely used ones, LEAP and Smokeball, now build AI into the matter.

LEAP says Matter AI reads what is saved in the matter (documents, emails, attachments, scanned PDFs and handwritten notes) and answers questions with references to the documents it relied on. Its Matter Summary gives case details, current status and critical dates, with a chronology. LEAP says LawY, its legal research assistant, is included at no extra cost, and that you can send a LawY answer to qualified Australian lawyers to verify. For property matters, LEAP lists an AI prompt library for residential sales and purchases across all states, settlement adjustments for every state and territory, and PEXA workspace creation from a matter through InfoTrack.

Smokeball describes Archie as an AI assistant that works inside the matter. It says Archie gives document and matter summaries linked to the source, compares documents to catch conflicting terms, suggests next steps, and reviews documents against playbooks of rules your firm defines. It also lists Archie Apps, including tools for analysing bank statements, building a chronology and turning a recording into a transcript. Smokeball says Archie runs under zero-data-retention agreements, works only within the matter you are in, and that Smokeball is certified to ISO 27001:2022. On its pricing page, Archie is an add-on to the Boost, Grow and Prosper+ plans.

If you are choosing between the two, our comparison of Smokeball and LEAP AI goes further. For a wider list, see the best AI tools for small law firms in Australia.

Client updates and correspondence

Conveyancing clients want to know where things are: has finance been approved, are searches back, is settlement still on Friday. Both LEAP and Smokeball now draft replies from the matter. Smokeball says Archie in Outlook summarises email threads and drafts responses pulling from the matter. LEAP says its AI-powered Generator produces letters, emails and forms from past work, LawY, LEAP forms or By Lawyers precedents.

Read every draft before it goes. A wrong settlement date or an adjustment figure in a client email is the kind of error that turns into a claim. Never let an AI-drafted message carry bank account details. That rule is covered below.

Notes from client phone calls

This is the job the matter-level AI tools do not reach, because the advice is given on the phone and nothing lands in the matter unless someone writes it up. The calls that matter most in conveyancing are the ones where you explain a special condition before the client signs, confirm the cooling-off or finance date, recommend a search the client declines, or take instructions on a settlement problem.

Your options are to type the note yourself, dictate it, or have it written from a transcript. If your phone system or Microsoft Teams already produces transcripts, a tool such as CallNote turns each one into a note in your format, which you review and file. For what a finished note looks like, see our real examples. For which call transcripts arrive automatically, see AI note takers for law firms in Australia.

If any tool records or transcribes a call, consent rules apply. As general information: New South Wales, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT generally require all parties to consent to recording a private conversation, while Victoria, Queensland and the Northern Territory generally allow a party to the conversation to record it. Phone calls are also covered by the federal Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979. Telling the client at the start of the call is the safe habit in every state. See is it legal to record phone calls in Australia.

The risks: confidentiality, fraud and AML

Client confidentiality

The Statement on the use of artificial intelligence in Australian legal practice, published in December 2024 by the Law Society of New South Wales, the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia and the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner, says lawyers cannot safely enter confidential, sensitive or privileged client information into public AI chatbots such as ChatGPT. It points to the confidentiality rule in the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules (r 9.1) and says that if lawyers use commercial AI tools with client information, they need to review the contract terms to make sure the information is kept secure. It also says lawyers remain responsible for their own judgement when advising.

That statement is written for lawyers. Licensed conveyancers are regulated under their own state licensing laws, so check your regulator's rules, but the practical test is the same: know where client data goes, whether it is kept, and whether it is used to train a model, before you paste anything in. Our law firm AI policy template turns this into a one-page policy.

Payment redirection fraud

Property settlements move large sums, which makes them a target for scammers who send fake bank details by email or text. PEXA warns that scammers now use AI to write convincing messages and lists AI voice cloning among the scams to watch for. That means a call that sounds like your client, or a message that reads like your own email, is not proof of anything.

• Confirm any bank account details, and any change to them, by calling the client on a number you already hold on the file, never one supplied in the message.
• Tell clients at the start of the matter that your bank details will never change by email.
• Use a secure channel for bank details. PEXA Key is a free app that sends bank details between buyer, seller and practitioner through PEXA instead of phone, text or email, backed by PEXA's Secure Communication Guarantee.
• Keep AI drafting tools away from settlement statements and payment instructions unless every figure and account number is checked against the source.

AML/CTF obligations from 1 July 2026

AUSTRAC says lawyers, conveyancers and real estate professionals who provide the newly regulated designated services are regulated from 1 July 2026. For a conveyancing practice that means enrolment, an AML/CTF program, customer due diligence on each client and record keeping. AI tools do not change those obligations. A tool that drafts a summary does not verify identity or rate risk. Onboarding products such as InfoTrack's handle the checks, and AUSTRAC publishes a conveyancer program starter kit. What to record on the file, and for how long, is in our guide to Tranche 2 AML records for conveyancers.

Checklist before you use any AI tool on a property matter

1. Start with your practice management system. List what LEAP, Smokeball or your current system already includes before buying anything else.
2. Read the data terms. Where is client data stored and processed, is it kept, and is it used to train a model? Get the answer in writing.
3. Check the Privacy Act position. The Privacy Act 1988 covers businesses with annual turnover above $3 million and some smaller businesses. If it covers your practice, the Australian Privacy Principles apply to client data you put into any tool.
4. Test on a closed matter. Run a finished file through the tool and compare its output with what you know happened.
5. Decide who checks. Every AI output that reaches a client, the other side or the file needs a named person to check it.
6. Keep payment details out. No AI drafting near bank details or settlement figures without a manual check against the source.
7. Record the advice yourself. Whatever the AI produced, the file note of what you told the client is still yours to make.

Common questions