In one Toronto court, a lawyer cited cases that simply don’t exist. In British Columbia, another lawyer used made-up citations to back a legal argument. In both cases, the judges delivered sharp warnings: check your use of AI.
Artificial intelligence is moving rapidly into Canadian law offices and courtrooms, reshaping how legal work is done. Lawyers use AI to speed up research, summarize case law, draft filings, and review contracts, saving hours or even days of billable time. AI is lowering costs, accelerating work, and could improve access to legal services.
But those same tools are introducing new types of risks into a system that has depended on accuracy and accountability since the days of quills and ink bottles. Fake or mistaken case citations generated by so-called AI hallucinations can erode confidence in the justice system. Other risks include confidentiality breaches and AI’s ability to generate arguments faster than lawyers can verify them….