Plan for AI legal assistants in England and Wales ‘cannot replace funding and staff’, lawyers say | AI (artificial intelligence)
A plan to introduce AI-powered virtual legal assistants to royal courts has sparked warnings that the technology should not be used to “replace vital funding and additional court staff”.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy will announce on Tuesday that artificial intelligence assistants will be prosecuted in a bid to reduce the backlog of cases in England and Wales.
The Justice Department said judges are already planning to use a new artificial intelligence tool to help identify cases ready for trial and group similar hearings together.
But the Law Society, which represents more than 200,000 solicitors, said the technology should not be used to cut staff costs and the pilot should be “thoroughly evaluated”.
Last year, two lawsuits were vacated due to fabricated case law citations that were certain or suspected to have been generated by AI.
In his speech at London Technology Week, Lammy said: “Artificial intelligence has the power to transform the way we live, work and manage for the better.
“This positive impact can be seen in our justice system, with thousands of days of administrative work saved for our probation staff and the emergence of new tools aimed at reducing court backlogs and providing faster justice to victims.”
There are concerns about the dangers of increasing the use of artificial intelligence. The review into the ban of Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from attending a match against Aston Villa in November 2025 found that an “AI hallucination” produced by Microsoft Copilot helped police justify the decision. A report prepared by the police before the match made reference to a non-existent match between Tel Aviv and West Ham.
Ian Jeffery, chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales, said: “For the use of AI in the crown court to be effective, the pilot needs to be thoroughly evaluated. The results of these evaluations should be made public, along with the impact of AI on the justice system.”
“While new technology improves access to justice, it cannot replace vital funding and additional court staff. Robust safeguards are needed to protect us all and maintain the integrity of the justice system.”
Last year, in an £89 million damages case against Qatar National Bank, plaintiffs cited 45 case law, 18 of which turned out to be fabricated. The plaintiff admitted to using publicly available artificial intelligence tools, and his lawyer admitted to citing fake authorities.
Separately, when the Haringey Law Center challenged the London borough of Haringey for allegedly failing to provide temporary accommodation to its client, its lawyer cited fictitious case law five times. Suspicions were raised when the lawyer defending the council had to repeatedly question why he could not find any trace of the so-called officials.
The number of cases waiting to be dealt with by crown courts in England and Wales has reached a record high this year, with more than 80,000 cases; This was more than double the figure of 38,108 in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Figures obtained under freedom of information laws showed 2,600 crown court cases in England and Wales were not listed until at least 2028, with 29 not expected to be heard until 2030.
The government has announced plans to reduce jury trials in a bid to overhaul the justice system and reduce the backlog.
