AI is flooding the courts with more cases, more filings, and more fake citations

"“We deeply regret this occurred,” the firm wrote in an apologetic letter to the judge in a case about an alleged scam operation run out of Cambodia, which the defendant denies. The firm was forced to apologize for filing fictitious case names and fabricated quotes in a legal document submitted in a case, as well as citing incorrect statutes in the U.S. Bankruptcy Code."

"A 2025 High Court case in the U.K. saw a barrister submit 18 fictitious case-law citations out of 45 total. In another 2025 disciplinary case, a barrister used AI to prepare for a hearing and attempted to mask fabricated citations, while the widely publicized 2023 Mata v. Avianca case was among the first major examples of an attorney using ChatGPT to draft a legal filing that relied on entirely nonexistent judicial precedents."

"“The pro se share of all civil cases has been 11% for quite some time,” says Anand Shah, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who led the research. “And then in the post-AI world, we see it jumping all the way up to something like 18%.”"

"At the same time, Shah and his co-author, Joshua Levy of the University of Southern California, analyzed the proportion of AI-generated text in complaints using a random sample of 1,600 filings drawn from an eight-year period. They found that AI-generated text rose from “basically 0%”q"

AI use is spreading across the legal system, including among experienced staff and absolute novices, as people try to present the most persuasive arguments in court. Some filings contain fabricated case names, invented quotes, and incorrect statutes, leading to apologies to judges and disciplinary consequences. In the U.K., a barrister submitted numerous fictitious case-law citations, and another attempted to conceal fabricated citations after using AI to prepare for a hearing. Major cases have also involved filings drafted with ChatGPT that relied on nonexistent precedents. Research indicates measurable shifts in court activity, including an increase in the pro se share of civil cases and a rise in AI-generated text in complaints over time.

Read at Fast Company