We asked AI for a trustworthy solicitor. Then we checked the SRA register.

Data last verified: 3 October 2026. Figures re-checked against their primary sources under the Whito rolling re-verification programme.

Collected: 3 October 2026. 18 AI answers: ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode, asked the same question in six UK cities. 93 firm names from the five English cities checked against the Solicitors Regulation Authority register the same day.

Ask an AI engine for a trustworthy solicitor and it will give you names. The question that matters is whether those names are real, regulated firms, and whether the answer shows you how to check.

On 3 October 2026 we asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode the same question in six cities: “Recommend a trustworthy solicitor in [city]”. The engines named 111 firms. In the five English cities, 89 of the 93 names matched a firm on the SRA register. That part held up well. The signposting did not: only 1 of the 15 English answers linked to the SRA, and 4 told the reader to check the register at all.

What we found

• The firms were mostly real and regulated. 89 of 93 names given in Manchester, London, Birmingham, Leeds and Bristol matched an SRA-regulated firm on 3 October 2026.
• Four did not match cleanly. One name fitted two different regulated firms in different cities. One was not on the register as a firm. One was listed by the SRA as not regulated by an approved regulator, a law centre charity. One was not found as a firm, though a solicitor of that name works at another organisation.
• Signposting was rare. 6 of 15 English answers mentioned the SRA. 4 advised checking the register. 1 linked to sra.org.uk.
• The engines rarely agreed. Across six cities they named 96 different firms. Only one firm was named by all three engines in the same city.

Engine by engine

Two answers called a named firm “SRA-regulated”, one from Google AI Mode and one from Gemini, both in Birmingham. Both firms matched an SRA-regulated firm on the register. Neither answer linked to the register entry.

Where the answers gave reasons to trust a firm, they leaned on legal directories, review sites and awards: rankings in Legal 500 or Chambers, review scores, success rates the firms publish themselves, and accreditations. None of those is a regulator. The register is the one source that says a firm is allowed to practise, and it was the source the answers pointed to least.

City by city

Glasgow is outside the SRA’s scope. Solicitors in Scotland are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland. We did not check the Glasgow names against its register because we have not yet read its terms of use for this kind of check, so those 18 names are published as not checked. Two of the three Glasgow answers named the Law Society of Scotland. Gemini did not.

Low agreement is the pattern we have seen before. Ask three engines the same question and you get three mostly different shortlists. A firm named by one engine is often invisible in the other two. See our public register study of 26 September 2026 and the AI citation map.

If you are choosing a solicitor

Use the AI shortlist as a starting point, not a check. Search the firm on the SRA’s Solicitors Register (England and Wales) or the Law Society of Scotland’s register in Scotland. It takes a minute and is free. Check the firm’s own website shows the SRA’s clickable digital badge, which SRA-regulated firms must display.

A business that is not on the SRA register is not necessarily doing anything wrong. Many legal services can lawfully be provided by people who are not solicitors. But you lose the protections that come with a regulated firm, such as the SRA Compensation Fund, so know which you are choosing.

If you run a law firm

This is Start stage work. Your SRA number in plain text on your own site, next to the SRA digital badge, gives people and AI engines the same fact the register holds. The answers that recommended firms quoted directory rankings and review scores because that is what they could find on the open web. Make the register fact just as easy to find. Not sure what an AI engine reads on your site? The free Visibility Check takes about twenty seconds and needs no email.

What this does not prove

• A match on the register says a firm is authorised. It says nothing about quality, price or how a case will go.
• Not found means not found on the SRA register search under the name the engine gave, on 3 October 2026. A trading name can differ from the registered name. It is not an allegation about any business.
• “Trustworthy” is the wording of our prompt, not our verdict on any firm.
• One run per prompt, on one day, in a signed-in UK browser. Answers change from day to day and between accounts.
• This study uses the prompt from our register series, “Recommend a trustworthy solicitor in [city]”. Our August profession series asked “Who is the best solicitor in [city]?”, so the two are not directly comparable.

How we did it

On 3 October 2026 we asked each engine “Recommend a trustworthy solicitor in [city]” for Manchester, London, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol and Glasgow. ChatGPT was used in a temporary chat with web search, Gemini in the free app on its default model, and Google AI Mode in a UK browser. We recorded every firm named in order, every regulatory claim made about a firm, and whether the answer mentioned or linked a register. Where an engine failed to produce any answer on the first attempt, we asked once more and counted that answer, and say so in the file. We searched each English firm name on the SRA’s public register the same day, using the most specific name the answer gave, and recorded the outcome only. A name that fitted more than one regulated firm was recorded as ambiguous, not as a match.

The data behind this page

The file holds every answer and every firm name, its position, the engine’s wording about regulation, and the SRA outcome with its date. Ask for it through Whito Data and we will quote a fixed price in writing. Nobody can pay to be added to a study, removed from one or moved within one. How Whito makes money.

Cite this research

Whito Research (2026). We asked AI for a trustworthy solicitor. Then we checked the SRA register. On 3 October 2026, 89 of 93 firms named by three AI engines in five English cities matched an SRA-regulated firm, but only 1 of 15 answers linked the SRA. https://whito.co.uk/solicitors/research/ai-solicitor-recommendations-sra-check/. Free to quote with a link.

Corrections and right of reply

If your business is named in this research and you think we have a fact wrong, email hello@whito.co.uk. We check it against the register, correct it within five working days if we are wrong, and publish your statement alongside if you want us to. Full route: corrections, right of reply and removals.

Questions

Do AI engines recommend real solicitors?

Mostly, in our test. On 3 October 2026, 89 of 93 firm names given by ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode in five English cities matched a firm on the SRA register. Source: Whito, SRA register searched 3 October 2026.

Do AI answers tell you to check the SRA register?

Rarely. Of 15 answers for English cities on 3 October 2026, 6 mentioned the SRA, 4 advised checking the register and 1 linked to sra.org.uk.

How do I check a solicitor is regulated?

Search the firm or person on the SRA Solicitors Register at sra.org.uk for England and Wales, or the Law Society of Scotland register in Scotland. SRA-regulated firms must also display the SRA digital badge on their website.

Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode recommend the same solicitors?

Rarely. Across six UK cities on 3 October 2026 the three engines named 96 different firms, and only one firm was named by all three in the same city.

Whito

Whito is an independent UK research publisher. We publish research on how UK businesses are found, trusted and priced: what they cost to market, how their sectors work, and who actually gets recommended. Studies are free to read, every figure carries the date it was checked, and nobody pays to appear.

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