The Kings Bench Division of has disapproved the rising use of Artificial Intelligence tools by legal practitioners to generate fake cases, becoming a rising practice in the profession.
The division of the high court told senior lawyers to take urgent action to prevent the misuse of artificial intelligence after dozens of fake case-law citations were put before the courts that were either completely fictitious or contained made-up passages.
Reports indicate that lawyers are increasingly using AI systems to help them build legal arguments, but two cases this year were blighted last week by made-up case-law citations that were either definitely or suspected to have been generated by AI.
In a £89m damages case against the Qatar National Bank, the claimants made 45 case-law citations, 18 of which turned out to be fictitious, with quotes in many of the others also bogus. The claimant admitted using publicly available AI tools and his solicitor accepted he cited the sham authorities.
In a regulatory ruling responding to the cases on Friday, Dame Victoria Sharp, the president of the King’s bench division, said there were “serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the justice system if artificial intelligence is misused” and that lawyers misusing AI could face sanctions, from public admonishment to facing contempt of court proceedings and referral to the police.
She called on the Bar Council and the Law Society to consider steps to curb the problem “as a matter of urgency” and told heads of barristers’ chambers and managing partners of solicitors to ensure all lawyers know their professional and ethical duties if using AI.
