Plan for AI legal assistants in England and Wales ‘cannot replace funding and staff’, lawyers say
Summary
England and Wales plan to test artificial intelligence (AI) legal assistants in crown courts to reduce the backlog of cases. Lawyers warn that AI should not replace proper funding and extra court staff, and the AI system must be carefully reviewed.Key Facts
- Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy will announce a trial of AI legal assistants in crown courts to help speed up cases.
- Judges will use AI tools to find trial-ready cases and group similar hearings together.
- The Law Society, representing 200,000 solicitors, says AI must not cut staff or funding and requires thorough evaluation.
- Last year, AI-generated fake legal citations caused problems in at least two cases.
- A review found AI “hallucinations,” or wrong information, influenced police decisions in a football fan ban case.
- The crown court backlog hit over 80,000 cases in 2024, more than twice the number before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Some court trials are not scheduled until 2028 or even 2030 due to delays.
- The government plans to reduce jury trials to help fix the justice system and clear the backlog.
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