Our library team look at increasingly common enquiries of whether or not a case citation is real in the age AI
The library team has recently had more enquiries about checking citations for cases, legislation and commentary to ensure that they exist and are accurate. This comes with the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), and AI being used more regularly for legal research.
For example, the library had an enquirer wishing to track down an explanatory memorandum to an act. The library team searched using the extensive library collections – including databases such as PIO, which contains parliamentary materials, and Westlaw, Lexis+ and vLex, which contain legislation, free online sources of information such as legislation.gov.uk and Google Books, as well as hardcopy materials and indexes – but we were unable to find the explanatory memorandum anywhere. Upon further investigation, we found that the original reference had been given by counsel after using a free AI tool.
Another similar enquiry came from a member wanting to find a statutory instrument, which the library researched using the SI number and the title, and found that they didn’t match up in UK legislation. It appeared as though an AI tool had combined a UK SI number in the citation with the title of a piece of legislation available online from Malta.
Additionally, we have been asked to check that cases are real and not AI generated (for example, when submitted by the other side in a dispute), by checking citations.
AI tools can be powerful and appear factual, but legal information needs to be reliable and accurate, and a lot of the free gen-AI tools are prone to hallucinations or incorrect facts, so caution is needed. Any references to cases, legislation or commentary, as well as the underlying information should be checked for accuracy. If you come across a reference potentially from an AI tool that you can’t find elsewhere, the Law Society library can help by checking our collections including databases and hardcopy resources to see if we can find it from a reliable source.
The Law Society library is now offering bitesize legal research training. Access 30-minute, one-to-one, legal research sessions tailored to your needs, available every Wednesday afternoon, in person, in the library or online. You will receive an overview of legal databases, the scope of our resources and how to effectively search for case law, legislation, commentary and precedents.
