AI Has Its Place in Law, But Lawyers Who Treat It as a Replacement Can Risk Trust, Ethics, and Their Clients' Futures |
AI has its place in law, but if lawyers treat it as a replacement for human judgment, they risk losing credibility, trust, and ultimately the very justice they serve.
Every generation of lawyers faces its own technological shift. The introduction of digital legal research, electronic filing, and cloud case management has all transformed how we work. None of those innovations replaced the lawyer. They enhanced our capacity. Today's frontier, artificial intelligence, should be no different in principle, yet its rapid rise has brought both profound opportunity and real danger. And if we are not careful, we will look back at this moment and see that we ignored the lessons right in front of us.
I started my legal career like many: mastering legal research, poring over precedents, and developing the instinct that only comes from years of study and courtroom experience. Those instincts, knowing how to interpret a precedent, when to challenge an argument, and how to protect a client's rights, can't be downloaded or automated. AI can surface information faster, distill documents in seconds, and highlight relevant patterns across thousands of cases. But that speed alone does not equate to understanding, accountability, or ethical responsibility.
We already see the consequences of over-reliance on AI in real cases. Courts across the United States and abroad are increasingly encountering legal filings that contain fabricated case citations and nonexistent precedents generated by AI. Judges have sanctioned attorneys and fined law firms when they failed to verify these outputs before submitting them in court. In Massachusetts, one