UK judges have issued a significant warning that legal professionals could face life imprisonment for utilizing artificial intelligence tools to fabricate legal documents. This ruling, delivered by High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson, comes in response to two notable incidents where lawyers relied on non-existent cases to strengthen their arguments in high-profile legal cases.
The first incident involved a lawyer cited in an 80 million pound lawsuit over a breach of a financing agreement involving the Qatar National Bank. In this case, the lawyer cited 18 fabricated cases, which were later revealed to be non-existent. The client in the case, Hamad Al-Haroun, accepted responsibility for unintentionally misleading the court with false information produced by publicly available AI tools. However, judges criticized the lawyer for relying on the client for the accuracy of their legal research, rather than conducting their own due diligence. This highlights the importance of legal professionals taking responsibility for the accuracy of the information they present to the court.
In the second incident, a lawyer cited five fake cases in a tenant’s housing claim against the London Borough of Haringey. Although the barrister Sarah Forey denied using AI, judges found her explanation for the discrepancies to be insufficient. As a result, both lawyers were referred to their professional regulators, but no further disciplinary action was taken. Sharp emphasized that submitting false material as if it were genuine could be considered contempt of court or, in the most serious cases, perverting the course of justice, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The judges’ decision underscores the growing concerns about the potential misuse of generative AI in the legal system. As AI tools become more sophisticated, the risk of their misuse in legal proceedings increases, necessitating stricter regulations and oversight to ensure the integrity of the judicial process.