# Should lawyers who use AI be severely punished?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-lawyers-who-use-ai-be-severely-punished/1018452>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Tags:** ai\
**Created:** [May 16, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-lawyers-who-use-ai-be-severely-punished/1018452 "2025-05-16T17:03:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\
**Post date:** [December 25, 2025, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-lawyers-who-use-ai-be-severely-punished/1018452/81 "2025-12-25T09:21:20Z")

</div>

Moderating:

The topic is decisions (etc.) written by AI, not by clerks. For the purpose of this thread, it doesn’t matter much whether the decision was written by the judge, or ghost written for the judge by a clerk. Let’s get back on topic, please.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-lawyers-who-use-ai-be-severely-punished/1018452/82 "2026-01-01T19:57:40Z")

</div>

> [@SCAdian](#):
>
> Any signs that this idiocy is going on outside the US, too?

Here’s a fairly detailed news article about issues that have come up in Canadian courts. One point it makes is that clients and self-reps are now doing their “research” through AI, which increases their risks and can get them hit with court costs personally.

> **[Increasing AI use in Canadian courtrooms carries risk of errors, penalties:...](https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/increasing-ai-use-in-canadian-courtrooms-carries-risk-of-errors-penalties-lawyers/)**
>
> A Toronto family lawyer asks clients if they’ve used artificial intelligence. And most of the time, he says, the answer is yes. Almost every week, his firm receives messages written or driven by AI, a shift Ron Shulman says he noticed in the last...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2026, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-lawyers-who-use-ai-be-severely-punished/1018452/83 "2026-01-23T12:16:23Z")

</div>

And two recent cases from Cabada. In one, the Alberta Court of Appeal ordered the lead lawyer on a file to pay $17,000 costs personally to the other party, for costs thrown away responding to the AI hallucinations in the lawyer’s brief. (Text of judgment is circulating, but I can’t find a link.)

The other is more serious. Not only did the lawyer file a brief with hallucinations, it’s alleged that she denied doing so to the judge on the case. The judge referred it to the Attorney General for Ontario for possible criminal contempt proceedings.

> **[Toronto lawyer faces criminal contempt proceedings after admitting to...](https://www.lawtimesnews.com/news/general/toronto-lawyer-faces-criminal-contempt-proceedings-after-admitting-to-misleading-court-about-ai-use/393117?hsmemberId=contacthsid&tu=CONTACT.EMAILMID&utm_campaign=Editorial-LT-NS&utm_content=CONTACT.EMAILMID&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-25032770)**
>
> An Ontario judge called the case 'very unusual' and said he could not recall any comparable matters

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-lawyers-who-use-ai-be-severely-punished/1018452.md?page=4)